Why Germany?

Frédérick

Arachnobaron
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Hey people! I wondered for a long time why is the tarantula hobby so popular and advanced in Europe and especially Germany? I've seen many posts of germans and other europeans talking about the hobby in their country and it seems they have a special taste for arachnids and have lots of rare species that are affordable up there...but what explains this popularity? my anthropological interests are growing on me i suppose lol

Fred
 

Talkenlate04

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I personally think it’s because most of the breeders over there tend to pick one or two genus to focus on and get really, really good at breeding them. With everyone staking a claim in a different species and less repetition with breeding efforts they seem to produce very well. That is just my perception I guess.
They also do a lot of importing though that is a factor. Having access to more then we would normally has to be a factor.
 

syndicate

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yeah id mention that because alot of the euro guys have dif import/export laws they tend to have species before we do giving them a head start on breeding things before we have them here.it could also be due to the hobby has been more popular there longer than it has here.
 

metallica

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i think Europeans travel more, and so make good contacts world wide. making imports easier. proffesional socienties like the BTS and the DeArGe also help with articles of the spiders in their habitat.
 

Tescos

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I also think it is because we have really good beer over here also.;)














and sausages!
 

Talkenlate04

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i think Europeans travel more, and so make good contacts world wide. making imports easier. proffesional socienties like the BTS and the DeArGe also help with articles of the spiders in their habitat.
I agree.... seems like information sharing, REAL GOOD information sharing happens more often over there then it does here. Not to sure why that is, but I think it's true.

I have been getting some articles that were translated for me to read and they are very informative.......

Maybe us lazy Americans don't take as much time as we could writing down our individual findings in an article format and sharing things. :rolleyes:


and sausages!
Oh wow yes! I'll give you that, you all know your pork! :worship:
 

Drachenjager

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I agree.... seems like information sharing, REAL GOOD information sharing happens more often over there then it does here. Not to sure why that is, but I think it's true.

I have been getting some articles that were translated for me to read and they are very informative.......

Maybe us lazy Americans don't take as much time as we could writing down our individual findings in an article format and sharing things. :rolleyes:


Oh wow yes! I'll give you that, you all know your pork! :worship:
the beir is better than the wurst
 

metallica

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also, when buying spiderlings most here buy a group rather then a single specimen. making the odds better in getting males/ females.
 

Frédérick

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I also think it is because we have really good beer over here also.;)


The canadian ones are not bad too, but i know, nothing compared to yours obviously...:drool: If you ever go to Quebec, try the Unibroue brand, pretty good! ;)

I had the idea to focus on a particular genus as well, to become some sort of an "expert" in it and getting an increased productivity on the long run...I really hope the hobby will extend much more in North America, here in Quebec we are very few hobbyists...but we do have Tarantula Canada though, fortunately! Is importing so hard in the States or is it just long and frustrating?
 

Paramite

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I live in europe, but I still think it's amazing how big the hobby is in Germany. Here in Finland, for example, there are only few hundred hobbyists or so. But it doesn't really matter, because it's really easy to order Ts from germany. :D
 

Talkenlate04

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also, when buying spiderlings most here buy a group rather then a single specimen. making the odds better in getting males/ females.
Another good point. I have read a few things that said breeders buy things in groups of ten or more most of the time to ensure they have a breeding group that will be worth while.
 

Fenrir

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Germany seems advanced in quite a few pet trades not just Ts. Their vivarium building techniques annihilate ours w/ ease. German dart frog vivariums are beautiful. Europe is much more diverse and traveled than the US, which is why so much of our country is ignorant of others cultures. We do one up other countries on a few things like movies but european commercials are so much better than ours, budweiser excluded. Also having been an isolationistic country for a good portion of our history does not help our ignorance nor make other countries want to sell rare goods to us. Imagine if you lived in say Montana and drove 4 hours in any direction and went through 2 states. You would hear one language, English. Do that same drive in Germany or any other European country it will be much different. Funny that we are culturally retarded b/c of our sheer size. We need german imports! I say mass hordes of Ts and frogs. Chicken spiders and D. Histronicus.

Off-Topic
Btw how is pf a word?
 

vvx

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Germany also only works 35 hours a week/has much more vacation time on average than in America right? (Though I imagine Finland is similar so that kind of blows that theory away...)
 

tin man

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I kind of think that those rare tarantulas are more common in europe, because many rare species are in Europe, so they are more common (less expensive).
 

fartkowski

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I believe the people in Europe also breed alot more than North Americans.
 

RottweilExpress

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There's some good reasons in this thread I suppose. But that does not explain why Germany, and only Germany has such a big hobbyist crowd. You don't see much (in my case internet sites, forum members, advertisements) from the neighbouring countries such as France, Italy or Spain. Just...Germany.

Tiny Denmark has a good few though, and here in Sweden we have a good group too. But it's nowhere near the trade in Germany. It's also always germans dominating the insect part section on our biggest fairs too.
 

problemchildx

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The answer could be as simple as... People are more laid back in Europe and are into a wide variety of things. Most people in America are afraid, or hate spiders.. Whereas most of the orginial taxonomy and classification of species was done by Europeans.. And then you've got the BTS, which outlasts any other Tarantula Society.
:?
 
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