will you introduce your children and/or nieces and nephews to the invertebrate keeping hobby

in the title

  • yes

    Votes: 138 95.8%
  • no

    Votes: 6 4.2%

  • Total voters
    144

Lil Paws

Arachnosquire
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
137
Absolutely! Inverts are the only caged pets we'll own. We bought our B. Albo (our first T) as a "classroom pet," and I ended up giving my daughter hissing roaches so she had pets she could handle and be completely responsible for caring for. She loves to mist them and feed them. She has a tarantula anatomy book and got a nice model for Christmas. She gets to feed our B. Albo with supervision.
 
Last edited:

athlete96

Arachnosquire
Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Messages
78
If it ever gets to the point where I have to tell my dad about my animal collection then I will show my nieces. One is just like me as a kid, a huge animal fanatic, and I'd like to show her my collection. I know they'd be really interested in it.

For now though, only my mom (in my family) knows, and I am keeping it that way.
 

GenXtra

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 28, 2017
Messages
39
I have no kids but have 2 nephews. They're your stereotypical 21st century suburb kids. Unless its on television or their computer, it's boring to them. I have however peaked their interest with things (launching model rockets, collecting backyard bugs, playing with Tonka toys in the dirt, etc.) outside the 110 volt requirement realm.

They're (my step-family) not aware of my arachnadiction, but this spring/summer I plan on taking a T & scorpion with me on one of my Sunday visits.

I can probably correctly predict the reaction from the parents, which will be shock/disgust, but the boys will be intrigued I'm sure.

At the end of the day, I can honestly say I will have tried to broaden their mind(s) by introducing them to something fascinating they will likely never see.
 

louise f

Arachnoangel
Joined
Jul 8, 2012
Messages
936
Of course, my youngest son 2 years old this summer 3 years old. Have already shown very big interest in the spiders. So i know he will be a Tarantula lover already.. That a boy <3 :kiss:
My 16 year old loves them too. And the oldest 20 years old he hates them. :D:D
 

CyclingSam

Arachnoknight
Joined
May 22, 2016
Messages
214
When my daughter was 3 she could differentiate between an B. emilia and a B. hamorii. She is now four and she knows the latin names for almost all 28 of my spiders.

Also, here is a picture that she painted of a B. hamorii last year (then it was B. smithi). Not quite anatomically accurate, but I'll take it.
Lydia B. simith water color II.jpg
 

louise f

Arachnoangel
Joined
Jul 8, 2012
Messages
936
When my daughter was 3 she could differentiate between an B. emilia and a B. hamorii. She is now four and she knows the latin names for almost all 28 of my spiders.
That is amazing <3 You must be very proud of her.:kiss: Latin names is no joke. And even a lot adults i know having a hard time saying them correct.
 

draconisj4

Arachnobaron
Joined
Apr 11, 2017
Messages
455
My kids are long grown and out of the house, both of them grew up with my red tail boa (now passed on). My son has no interest in exotic pets, my daughter is a reptile person without much interest in inverts. My youngest grandson is 3 and crazy about inverts and reptiles both. He has proudly held a very large hissing cockroach and petted snakes at a reptile show and is fascinated by my beetles. I'm hoping his interest will last as he will more than likely inherit my collection. Time will tell.
 

Coradams

Arachnoknight
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
157
I already have. My sister-in-law insists on my niece being brought up all "girly" - you know, all glitter and make up and high heels. I hate gender stereotypes and do my best to be a corrupting influence. When she was little, I took her out with my boys making mud pies and catching frogs. She has already said that she wants to hold my B. smithii (but that will have to wait until my T is a little bigger and tamer.) She hasn't asked for a T of her own yet but she did talk her dad into getting her a bearded dragon. I consider that progress. lol
 

Lokee85

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 8, 2017
Messages
195
I already have. My sister-in-law insists on my niece being brought up all "girly" - you know, all glitter and make up and high heels. I hate gender stereotypes and do my best to be a corrupting influence. When she was little, I took her out with my boys making mud pies and catching frogs. She has already said that she wants to hold my B. smithii (but that will have to wait until my T is a little bigger and tamer.) She hasn't asked for a T of her own yet but she did talk her dad into getting her a bearded dragon. I consider that progress. lol
My daughter is both super girly and a "tomboy." She loves makeup, mud fights and her two baby Ts. :cool:
 

ItzXskrilla

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Messages
26
My son is four. He has two bearded dragons and loves my T's. Primarily the feeding part. Typical boy. I teach him we don't touch them and we respect them in their house.
Now... my wife's family, haha won't even stay at our house when they come down from Oregon, I think partly do to the T's.
They are coming down this summer, not staying with us but will be over at our place frequently. I can't wait to see what happens. I won't offer them to look out of respect. But if the kids want to see, then I will allow them to take a peak!
 

MrTwister

Arachnoknight
Joined
Mar 17, 2017
Messages
251
Already have, my two boys will watch the spiders sometimes, other than that have not shown much interest, which is fine. As long as I’m able to counter the social stigma that spiders are bad and scary, I’m happy.
 

Coradams

Arachnoknight
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
157
My daughter is both super girly and a "tomboy." She loves makeup, mud fights and her two baby Ts. :cool:
Congratulations Mom! Your daughter sounds very well-balanced and adventurous. I don't mind if girls like "girly" things like makeup, I just don't think kids should be restricted to gender stereotypes. Let them explore what they want![/QUOTE]
 

NukaMedia Exotics

#1 Tarantula Vendor in the USA! Ships Nationwide.
Joined
Jul 31, 2017
Messages
695
Well to first answer the question I don't want kids and I don't have any siblings so there's not going to be nieces/nephews for me either. Hypothetically if I changed my mind and had kids, they would be introduced to them because I own them. Now would I really push for their involvement in taking care of them or anything definitely not. However if they found them interesting by watching them from a young age and later wanted to get involved I probably would let them in some form (and only with a less threatening species).
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
To all the folks here saying '... I would never have childrens' etc I say 'Never say never, in life'.

There's always a Chris LXXIX behind the corner, offering a free 'punctured' condom when 'you' don't expect that :angelic: :troll:
 

grammastolla54

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 24, 2018
Messages
12
i don't belive i would.. its hard in my opinion to get ppl into a hobby that most FEAR! don't get me wrong its hard finding ppl that are like a great handful of us.. i was lucky enough to find a companion in my life that shares the same intrest:)

Well to first answer the question I don't want kids and I don't have any siblings so there's not going to be nieces/nephews for me either. Hypothetically if I changed my mind and had kids, they would be introduced to them because I own them. Now would I really push for their involvement in taking care of them or anything definitely not. However if they found them interesting by watching them from a young age and later wanted to get involved I probably would let them in some form (and only with a less threatening species).
its hard to find anyone these days in are lives to take up something as cool as this!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

NukaMedia Exotics

#1 Tarantula Vendor in the USA! Ships Nationwide.
Joined
Jul 31, 2017
Messages
695
its hard to find anyone these days in are lives to take up something as cool as this!
Lmao my girl atm doesn't actually care when she comes in my room with 13 Ts and a scorpion, actually asked to hold one lol (got denied btw). A few others have thought they were cool too and asked about them, I honestly would've assumed more would freak out haha.
 

grammastolla54

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 24, 2018
Messages
12
Lmao my girl atm doesn't actually care when she comes in my room with 13 Ts and a scorpion, actually asked to hold one lol (got denied btw). A few others have thought they were cool too and asked about them, I honestly would've assumed more would freak out haha.
One of the funniest moments of my life is when I was at my parents and my mom actually took and held my 6"+ golden knee and put it in my dads face haha I've never seen a grown man flip back in a chair and cry at the same time lol
 

Phenix

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 30, 2017
Messages
7
My daughter used to be so scared of creepy crawlies when she was around 4-6 or so, almost to a phobia level.. Around when she was 6/7, we ran across a little mantid nymph on our melons, and it's cute little cat-like actions (we had quite a few cats), helped her see bugs in a bit of a different light. When we didn't see that mantid anymore, we decided to get a "pet" one, and ended up ordering a Sphodromantis viridis, who unfortunately molted in transit and both last walking legs were very twisted. She ended up being quite a special-needs girl, had to be hand-fed as she could not balance to strike without those last walking legs, and also needed a lot of help with subsequent molts, one of which she lost the two last mangled legs. We were very lucky that she didn't have a fall ending in premature death (almost missed a very precarious molt but managed to help her just in time), and our dear Mrs. Pickles managed to finally grow her legs back just in time during her last molt to adult :). She was such a big part of our everyday life and my daughter ended up loving to feed her honey as a treat and even got the courage to hold her. Our sweet pickle ended up having a very long life for one of her species, about 18 months which is exceedingly geriatric for her species and sex.

With that as background, I was a bit surprised when my daughter decided later that she really wanted a pet spider at around age 8/9. I had her do her research (she wanted a jumping spider at first, then changed to a T), and of course I had to research myself as I know at that age even though it is "her" spider of course the care will ultimately fall on me. She wanted to pick it up at our local reptile expo, and I had her contact the seller and ask them questions. We decided on an B. albopilosum sling as a good starter T and also what the vendor had in stock, which she named Fuzzy Legs :). That was almost 9 months ago, and since them I have become quite enamored of them and of course had to get a few more for myself :) So you can say that I was introduced to them through my child rather than the other way around.
 
Top