Words for fellow newbies!!

magicmed

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Messages
404
Hey all I'm sure you've noticed me hanging out on the boards pretty regularly here recently. Well I thought I might be able to assist some of the newer members with a perspective they can associate with, someone who is new to the hobby/boards, but is dedicated to learning and caring for these animals, like hopefully they are as well. So I thought i would start this thread and just give a few pointers for some of the others.

1. Ask questions! This hobby is great, these boards are great, they apparently have a bad rep, but I have not seen it. So my first bit of advice is COMMUNICATE. Don't be shy or fearful, these people want nothing more than to make sure your T is cared for and that you enjoy the experience!

2. Don't feel pressured! ESPECIALLY on subjects like handling and old world species. There's a lot of misconceptions about experienced T owners needing to handle, or having to have an OBT. Well nothing is future from the truth. Most people don't handle, and no one's going to rip on you for only keeping new worlds.

3. Listen: some of the members here have DECADES of experience. And others don't have that much experience but diligently research these animals. There is a world of great info right here with these people. Don't be foolish and neglect it.

4. Throw away all online caresheets for these animals, don't listen to pet stores, and don't listen to your buddy thst has had a G. Rosea for 6 months. YouTube videos are mostly crap. Just READ here!

5. DON'T TOUCH during premolt! I know it's tempting to check on the burrowed spider, but you're going to do more damage than anything, once the spider walls up its den, just leave it be.

6. Have FUN. Enjoy your T's because that's why you have them. Create little world's in their enclosures and enjoy these animals as the wonderful display animals they are.

7. keep adding info! There's so much we don't understand about these animals, why not help in trying to discover what these guys are all about?

8. Always be prepared! Work on a clean, low table, catch cup and tongs ready, any T tools you like to use havr in arms reach.


Well that's all I could think of off the top of my head, feel free to add!

ADDITIONS

9. Use scientific names! Common names are junk, one common name can easily describe 5 different species, just avoid the confusion, it's actually really useful in figuring out related spiders as well

10. Post pictures!! It doesn't matter what you're asking about, many aspects of t behavior can be attributed to husbandry. Posting pictures of your T AND enclosure can help diagnose any problems, as well as help us point out something that could be wrong that you overlooked.

11. Use the search function. Many common questions are asked regularly, just do a quick search, there's nothing to say after you search that you can't still post. Information does change over time, just use some discretion.
 
Last edited:

magicmed

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Messages
404
Forgot one of the most important ones! Don't be afraid to buy T's right here from the classifieds section! We have amazing breeders and dealers that are always updating their stock. You will find some of the best prices and quality from breeders here such as @cold blood :)
 

EulersK

Arachnonomicon
Staff member
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
3,292
The only dumb question is the one that doesn't get asked . Just don't ask them at a LPS (local pet shop) . Ask them here .
Not only do we have very knowledgeable members, but most questions get answered within ten minutes. Not even an exaggeration.

Also, I'm digging your new title ;)
 

Vanessa

Grammostola Groupie
Joined
Mar 12, 2016
Messages
2,423
It would be awesome if more people were in the habit of providing photos of their setup prior to having the spider living in it. There is nothing wrong with having it set up a couple of days in advance and it would prevent additional stress to an animal who is already stressed out by being moved.
It would be so beneficial to your spider to be able to go right into an enclosure that has been set up as ideally as possible beforehand so they can just relax and start getting comfortable.
 

magicmed

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Messages
404
Not only do we have very knowledgeable members, but most questions get answered within ten minutes. Not even an exaggeration.

Also, I'm digging your new title ;)
This guy here is the true exception when it comes to YouTube videos being junk. @EulersK can you post the link to your videos? They're the best I've seen on YouTube :) I just don't have the link off hand
 

Crone Returns

Arachnoangel
Joined
Mar 22, 2016
Messages
990
It would be awesome if more people were in the habit of providing photos of their setup prior to having the spider living in it. There is nothing wrong with having it set up a couple of days in advance and it would prevent additional stress to an animal who is already stressed out by being moved.
It would be so beneficial to your spider to be able to go right into an enclosure that has been set up as ideally as possible beforehand so they can just relax and start getting comfortable.
Yeah and do your research BEFORE you get your beastie. I research my little brains out before I got my T. That way I had a clearer idea on what I could handle.
 

Haemus

Arachnosquire
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
128
#8 really speaks to me lately. I've found that having square and circular catch cups extremely useful for maneuvering in corners. Now I horde all sizes and shapes of plastic cups lol
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
Hey all I'm sure you've noticed me hanging out on the boards pretty regularly here recently. Well I thought I might be able to assist some of the newer members with a perspective they can associate with, someone who is new to the hobby/boards, but is dedicated to learning and caring for these animals, like hopefully they are as well. So I thought i would start this thread and just give a few pointers for some of the others.

1. Ask questions! This hobby is great, these boards are great, they apparently have a bad rep, but I have not seen it. So my first bit of advice is COMMUNICATE. Don't be shy or fearful, these people want nothing more than to make sure your T is cared for and that you enjoy the experience!

2. Don't feel pressured! ESPECIALLY on subjects like handling and old world species. There's a lot of misconceptions about experienced T owners needing to handle, or having to have an OBT. Well nothing is future from the truth. Most people don't handle, and no one's going to rip on you for only keeping new worlds.

3. Listen: some of the members here have DECADES of experience. And others don't have that much experience but diligently research these animals. There is a world of great info right here with these people. Don't be foolish and neglect it.

4. Throw away all online caresheets for these animals, don't listen to pet stores, and don't listen to your buddy thst has had a G. Rosea for 6 months. YouTube videos are mostly crap. Just READ here!

5. DON'T TOUCH during premolt! I know it's tempting to check on the burrowed spider, but you're going to do more damage than anything, once the spider walls up its den, just leave it be.

6. Have FUN. Enjoy your T's because that's why you have them. Create little world's in their enclosures and enjoy these animals as the wonderful display animals they are.

7. keep adding info! There's so much we don't understand about these animals, why not help in trying to discover what these guys are all about?

8. Always be prepared! Work on a clean, low table, catch cup and tongs ready, any T tools you like to use havr in arms reach.


Well that's all I could think of off the top of my head, feel free to add!

I think the ONE piece of advice you forgot is to tell people to SEARCH both google and forum. We get TONS of questions that have been answered eons ago if someone would put a few minutes into searching!!

I don't expect someone to know that this forum is indexed by the Google search engine.

But I don't expect people to treat this forum as a fast-food service window either, put EFFORT into the pet you OWN!

So many people post a question and in the time they wait for a response they could have learned the answer themselves!

Sometimes the answer can be found by typing the question directly into google.

If people treated their "SEARCH" for T info as if the info would save the life of their child/parent/sibling I guarantee questions would drop by at least 80%. They would find the answer instead of sitting around on their bottom.

Instead they don't invest the time and expect others to take the time out their day to answer it and SPOON FEED them.

It's pure laziness MOST of the time.
 

Abyss

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 15, 2016
Messages
281
Excellent post!!!
Add a few to ur list tho
1) provide photos when asking for help of the T and enclosure
2) be specific and use scientific names NOT common names
 

BorisTheSpider

No this is Patrick
Old Timer
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
488
I think the ONE piece of advice you forgot is to tell people to SEARCH both google and forum. We get TONS of questions that have been answered eons ago if someone would put a few minutes into searching!!

I don't expect someone to know that this forum is indexed by the Google search engine.

But I don't expect people to treat this forum as a fast-food service window either, put EFFORT into the pet you OWN!

So many people post a question and in the time they wait for a response they could have learned the answer themselves!

Sometimes the answer can be found by typing the question directly into google.

If people treated their "SEARCH" for T info as if the info would save the life of their child/parent/sibling I guarantee questions would drop by at least 80%. They would find the answer instead of sitting around on their bottom.

Instead they don't invest the time and expect others to take the time out their day to answer it and SPOON FEED them.

It's pure laziness MOST of the time.
Unfortunately that's never going to happen . That's why there's so many my rose hair is acting weird questions all the time because people won't use the search tool and won't use the search function. It would be great if they did but they're just not going to. Years ago back in the early nineties I was part of a forum that was set up for sharing video files . This was many moons before YouTube would show up and downloading was the only way to do video sharing. Anyway , I got put in charge of moderating the technical question forum and everyday without fail 15 to 20 times a day people would come in and ask the same question over and over and over , " how do I watch a video file?" . It got to the point where I started deleting the question just cuz I got so tired of seeing it asked . It amazes me that no matter how many times people would see it they would still start a new thread asking exactly the same thing. Needless to say I didn't hang out as a mod for very long.
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
If people treated their "SEARCH" for T info as if the info would save the life of their child/parent/sibling I guarantee questions would drop by at least 80%.
But then what would we do with all our time? Out of bordom start another naming thread some people can flip out? :p
 

Tim Benzedrine

Prankster Possum
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 4, 2004
Messages
1,496
Generally, if a post is by "Tim Benzedrine", don't waste your time reading it. Oops. Too late. Oh well, you'll know better next time.

(Actually, I was gonna make the "use scientific names" suggestion, but then just before I hit submit, I noticed somebody had beat me to it)
 
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