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

Paul1126

Arachnoangel
Joined
Jun 14, 2017
Messages
818
Yeah, why not a lot of kids find them interesting because it's different.
My nephew likes to look at the ones that have Burrowed.
If I ever have kids of my own I can guarantee they won't be scared of spiders.
 

Mikew9788

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 14, 2018
Messages
39
It's because of my kids that I just got back into this hobby after a 10 year break. We have a big reef tank, nano freshwater planted tank, western hognose snake, and a blue crowned conure. I do my best to introduce them to nature so they can appreciate it. I've always told them about the tarantulas I had. Only roadblock is my wife who is afraid of every animal on earth for the most part. I figured I'd break the ice with a sling. We got a b. Smithi sling. This blew over pretty quickly. How threatening can something be that lives in a nacho cheese cup? Even though the kids love this little guy he does not have the wow factor to truly spark an intrest. I decided to get a 3 1/2 inch A. Chalcodes that they love. I never had one of these before but I will say she is awesome. Voracious eater and usually out where you can see it. I'm honestly glad I got back into the hobby. There are so many resources now like this great forum. My kids are definitely being taught to love inverts.
 

Greasylake

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jul 23, 2017
Messages
1,324
I have a 9 year old cousin in Mexico I don't get to see very often, but every time he comes to the U.S. he spends most of his time in my room asking me about all the dried insects I have in my pinned collection. He was fascinated when I starting getting some live inverts and much to my aunts dismay starting catching wild aphonopelmas (I suspect hentzi) and keeping them for a few days then releasing them. I have a feeling he'll end up a little I did, and he did manage to convince my aunt to get an iguana which has been living with them happily. My sister however, is scared of flies, so I don't think there's any hope for her. The Male members of my family think my collection is cool and one of my cousins was asking me questions about husbandry but his wife is terrified of it and shut it down(she screamed when she saw a molt I had laying around.)
 

Deb60

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jan 7, 2017
Messages
125
It's because of my kids that I just got back into this hobby after a 10 year break. We have a big reef tank, nano freshwater planted tank, western hognose snake, and a blue crowned conure. I do my best to introduce them to nature so they can appreciate it. I've always told them about the tarantulas I had. Only roadblock is my wife who is afraid of every animal on earth for the most part. I figured I'd break the ice with a sling. We got a b. Smithi sling. This blew over pretty quickly. How threatening can something be that lives in a nacho cheese cup? Even though the kids love this little guy he does not have the wow factor to truly spark an intrest. I decided to get a 3 1/2 inch A. Chalcodes that they love. I never had one of these before but I will say she is awesome. Voracious eater and usually out where you can see it. I'm honestly glad I got back into the hobby. There are so many resources now like this great forum. My kids are definitely being taught to love inverts.
It was my daughter who got me into the hobby , looked after three for six weeks for her . Pretty scared of them to begin with , but got on and fed them etc . Became fascinated by them . After they had gone decided I’d like one myself and got myself a Eauthlus Sp Red . Now I have 37 . My Granddaughter very much takes after my Daughter, she has some tree frogs , Newts , millapides and loves to help out with feeding and cleaning, she even holds some of my daughters snakes as well .
 

Alxuh

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 14, 2018
Messages
15
Of course! Educating people on Ts is one of the best parts! Always great to see fear turn to fascination.
 

Smarteist

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 16, 2018
Messages
3
My kids observe me caring for my T’s and I let them help at a level they’re capable of in areas they show interest on their own. My 9 year old helps make habitats, clean enclosures and water dishes, and can tong-feed the less aggressive T’s (with my supervision). My 7 year old will watch and sometimes ask questions. They are not allowed to own any T’s themselves until they have the skills necessary to have one without injuring themselves or the animal.
 

WildSpider

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jul 14, 2018
Messages
465
I don't have kids yet but when I do (Lord willing) I would love to show them my Ts! My family in general is kind of into this stuff so I'm guessing when I have kids someday (gotta get married still) that they'll be into it too. My siblings don't have kids yet either but if they do someday and were okay with it, I'd love to show my nieces and nephews my inverts!
 
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Jerry

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
594
Already have my kids love tarantula's and fetch me anytime they run into a spider in the house or any other interesting critter for me to catch them we try to figure out what it is and some interesting fact about them I love that they have taken an interest instead of just smashing and the bugs they see
 

Pernicious

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jul 22, 2018
Messages
62
My son actually got me back into spiders after years of sayin never again.. now me n my boy spend a hour every night feeding and sharing info ..hes 17 and still like to play with his dad .i say thats a win
 

buzz182

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
54
My nephew is the reason I got back into the hobby, he is autistic and has many things that make him anxious seeing him scared of spiders made me worry that he would be growing up with something else that makes him anxious. I really do not like spiders myself but I do not feel that way about T's. A family friend let his rosie stay with us for a couple of weeks and after working with my nephew and teaching him it was a pet to look at like a goldfish he became comfortable and first thing in the morning come to my room to just watch the T for 20-30 minutes every morning.
This was the green light for me to get my own and involve him in their care.
 

MintyWood826

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 16, 2018
Messages
401
I'm not planning on having kids, but if I or my siblings ever have them I'm going to introduce them to not being afraid of spiders (assuming I'll not be afraid of huntsmens then).
 

darkness975

Latrodectus
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Aug 31, 2012
Messages
5,610
i was talking with someone on a different thread about how they gave there nephew stick insects and i replied with "are you planning on introducing him to the arachnid and/or the carnivorous invertebrate hobby? it would be really cool to see the next generation be a little more understanding and compassionate towards "bugs" because right now the bad wrap us humans gave these guys saddens me and it would be nice to lessen the bug hatred in the world even if its not by that much" and i was wondering what other peoples answer is. i figured that this belonged in the tarantula chat because Ts are invertebrates and most T owners also have some true spiders and other invertebrates
If I thought there was a chance I would have kids then sure I would. But you kind of need a partner for that last I checked so...
 

WildSpider

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jul 14, 2018
Messages
465
Already have my kids love tarantula's and fetch me anytime they run into a spider in the house or any other interesting critter for me to catch them we try to figure out what it is and some interesting fact about them I love that they have taken an interest instead of just smashing and the bugs they see
This happens with me too! That's probably one of the reasons I have so many, lol :p and they're all so fun!
 

cold blood

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
13,223
Mod note

Please keep the watering hole chatter in the watering hole. Continued thread derailing banter will result in infractions handed out.
 

Drea

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 26, 2019
Messages
105
I have kept true spiders since age four and tarantulas since 8 or 9. It seemed that my 3 children would be automatically interested since they have grown up with tarantulas, snakes, lizards, random inverts, random reptiles in just about every room in my home. My daughter doesn’t care either way, my middle son is a collector of all the other inverts except spiders, my youngest loves snakes but battles with a mild form of arachnophobia.

I felt introductions to tarantulas at an early age for them was equally as important as,

“don’t touch the hot stove or it will burn you”

“ don’t talk to strangers or take candy from people you don’t know because they might hurt you”

“ Don’t open the S. Calceatum door or you might have to stay in the hospital for week or worse.”

“Don’t let out the full grown Colombian Red tails or they might eat your baby brother.”

Introducing my children to tarantulas was a necessary component for their safety.

I have one nephew who is 4 now and lives in Japan. I send him pictures and he keeps telling my brother to take him to aunties house so he can see the pretty spiders.

My older brother groans at this because he has arachnophobia. Probably from all the Lactrodectus I would put in jars and hide in his room so I wouldn’t get caught sneaking them in when we were kids.
 
Joined
Apr 27, 2019
Messages
274
My partner and I have firmly agreed on not having kids, but who knows what the future holds...
If I were to have any tho I would of course encourage any interest in anything related to science and nature, invertebrates included :)

Although I don't like the idea of having my inverts "childhandled" by a jumpy kid :0 I'm almost entirely hands-off with my animals...
 

baconwrappedpikachu

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 18, 2018
Messages
63
I don't plan on having any children, but my neighbors have already brought their nephew over to see our mini-zoo. He had a great time! He loved seeing all the different colors of tarantulas and I let him name one of the slings. Our Neoholothele incei is now officially called "Superhero" with an updated label to match. I still just call it the gold boy, but don't tell the neighbor kiddo that! :angelic:

Here's the funniest part to me, though... his favorite thing was the dubia roaches. I got them out to let him drop one in an enclosure for feeding time, but he just wanted to hold all the different sizes. My neighbor said he talked for hours about 'the beetles' for the rest of the night. Here I was thinking I had a wonderfully varied, albeit small, tarantula collection and all the kid cared about were the feeder roaches. Go figure. :rofl:

I absolutely love getting to talk about my collection and will jump at any opportunity to show it off to people. While it's super awesome to listen to other adults change their minds about spiders as they're looking at the Ts, there's something especially fun about showing kiddos who don't have as many of those learned fears in the first place.
 

brian petersen

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 2, 2019
Messages
4
I would love to. since I am just getting back in my kids have not had much exposure yet. my youngest hates spiders at this point. he is always asking me to kill a spider he sees running up the wall. every time I explain that I will not kill it but I kindly remove it. he may not like T's but my older I think will enjoy them. my wife on the other hand loves most all inverts esp the eight legged kind.
 

kingofall

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Messages
76
I would introduce my cousins and nephews/nieces but none of my family really likes any of my inverts, at best they tolerate them:(. Maybe if I have kids someday then they will like them.
 
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