Just exactly how uninformed is the general public?

protheus

Arachnoknight
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Ok, so I was in a pet shop the other day getting crickets, and it just happens that I was there at the right time for Joe Redneck and his father(?), who were also looking around the shop, to have a wonderful discussion on arachnids.

Would you believe that everything we know about our bugs is wrong? It seems that the juvenile (4"?) T. blondi will "rip your hand off," and the P. imperator can kill you.

Needless to say, I was absolutely astounded at their level of expertise. :)

So, I figured I would post a question:

Is this kind of thing common? How common? What does one do when confronted with something like this. On the one hand, I could have said something to them at the risk of offending them, given their unfathomable amount of knowledge on the subject. I didn't, but wonder whether I should have any way?

Maybe we should start a billboard advertising campaign or something. ;)

Chris
 

cichlidsman

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a lot of people i know off don't know much, i try to teach them a little. everybody seem to think that there venum will kill you.
 

protheus

Arachnoknight
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cichlidsman said:
a lot of people i know off don't know much, i try to teach them a little. everybody seem to think that there venum will kill you.
Ok, but ripping one's hand off? It only has two teeth, and weighs less than your lunch ;)

Chris
 

luther

Arachnodemon
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I take a different invertebrate from my collection into my office at work every day. I set up an internal webcam so they others in the building can tune in and watch the animal's behaviour during the day. I have encountered a huge lack of general knowledge and a wealth of popular myths. Many people believe that tarantulas are "poisonous" and invariably deadly. Most think that they suck your blood up through their fangs. Many think that tarantulas are spiders and that spiders are insects. Nearly everyone however finds them interesting, although most find them scary.

Yesterday I took in a huge, gravid female Extatosoma tiaratum. I explained how their eggs have a small nipple that the local ants find irrestable. The ants drag the eggs back to their nest where they eat the nipple. The eggs lay safely in the ant's nest for several months, before hatching into a nymph that looks just like the ant. The nymph than leaves the nest and searches out the nearest food. My work mates were genuinely fascinated and may just have learned something. It heped that during the day she fired out a few eggs on camera for their entertainment.

How cool is that?

I think that there is a general ignorance about invertebrates and their life cycles. I do what little I can to correct this. I enjoy taking my inverts into my children's school for presentations. I find that kids are much more open minded that their parents.
 

protheus

Arachnoknight
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luther said:
I take a different invertebrate from my collection into my office at work every day. I set up an internal webcam so they others in the building can tune in and watch the animal's behaviour during the day. I have
I've thought about taking my P. regalis to work. It's a spiderling, and lives in a flower-vase with a lid for the moment. ;) Other people have fish in vases, so I think there might not be too many complaints.

Possibly also a P. imperator.

luther said:
encountered a huge lack of general knowledge and a wealth of popular myths. Many people believe that tarantulas are "poisonous" and invariably deadly. Most think that they suck your blood up through their fangs. Many think that tarantulas are spiders and that spiders are insects. Nearly everyone however finds them interesting, although most find them scary.

Ahh, well, I don't buy the whole "true spider" thing, myself. :) I do know the difference between an areanomorph (spelling?) and a myglomorph (again?), though. I also know that there's a good chance if it has 8 legs and 2 body segments, it's not an insect ;)

People do synonymize insect and bug incorrectly.

Anyway, they ought to know that sometimes even animals which really are dangerous won't kill you, if you're a stupid australian who taunts them for fun and profit ;)

Chris
 

earthgirl

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Apr 25, 2004
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Some people can be "reached"

I have to say that many of my friends and co-workers had largely misunderstood and feared tarantulas, but after I tell them how they really are and share some of my stories about them, most develop a mild respect and interest in them now (although some still have fear). Some now even find them beautiful (my B.smithi).

On "casual Friday" I wore my ATS "Dancing Desert Tarantulas" t-shirt to work. One of my co-workers saw that and said that she is so afraid of spiders [and snakes] that she would now have nightmares. I told her some of the myths about them, but she admitted that she had an "unreasonable" fear.

I suppose almost everyone fears something. Some people fear clowns (click here for a laugh, or a shudder)

http://www.ags.uci.edu/~dcoble/clowns/clowns.html

;P
 

cichlidsman

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protheus said:
Ok, but ripping one's hand off? It only has two teeth, and weighs less than your lunch ;)

Chris
i myself have never heard anything like that
 

pitbulllady

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I've found that the general public is VERY ignorant when it comes to things like spiders and snakes, but at the same time, they are also very intrigued and most people are willing to learn something, if it's taught in a non-confrontational manner. It amazed me that the the two people you saw in the pet shop even knew one kind of spider from another, but the fact that they did opened the door for a really good learning experience, if you'd taken the time to teach them. Bringing up your own personal experiences with tarantulas is a plus, since that way, they can't accuse you of just spouting meaningless "book learnin'", as we call it down here in the South.
Being a teacher and a talker, I could NOT have passed up that opportunity to educate people about the animals, and who knows, perhaps some of the pet shop staff might have picked up something useful themselves! Often-TOO often-pet shop employees turn out to be some of the most ignorant and LEAST willing to learn when it comes to reptiles and arachnids!
I had a similar experience recently when I drove to a large city about an hour away to meet up with a local who had some snakes he was selling. We agreed to meet in the parking lot of a convencience store/gas station right off the Interstate, since he was not good at all with giving directions and the more he tried to tell me how to get to his house, the more confusing it got. Anyway, he was totally paranoid about the customers "freaking out" when they came out to go to their cars and seeing the snakes, and admitted that he tended to become very confrontational whenever anyone said something "out of line" in situations like that, but I saw it as an opportunity to change some minds. A family that was on their way to Myrtle Beach from somewhere up North parked next to us, and naturally, their kids immediately noticed the animals we had. Initially, Mom wanted to grab her kids and hold them back, and she and Dad started in with questions like "but aren't they 'poisonous'?" and stuff like that, even though all of these were native non-venomous snakes, mostly Rat Snakes and Coachwhips. I began telling them about the snakes, going into details about some of the ways to distinguish between a venomous and non-venomous North American snake, telling them about how the Rat snakes were constrictors and how many rodents they could eat, and how the Coachwhip was the fastest snake in North America. I could see their initial horror beginning to erode, and before long, even Mom came over and wanted to touch one of the largest Rat Snakes! These people drove away knowing a little bit more than they had had when they got there, and most of all, they could go back home when their vacation ended and tell their friends and other family members that they had actually touched a live SNAKE..and it WASN'T slimy! PLUS, the entire experience had been FREE! As I like to tell my own students, knowledge IS often free, but ignorance can be VERY expensive!

pitbulllady
 

Kismet

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There are lots of folks who think it’s dangerous beyond belief to hold a T but are perfectly happy wrestle around with a great big dog, the latter of which could potentially do a heck of a lot more damage! (though I’d gladly play with both!)

The strange thing that I’ve found is that people are generally fascinated by spiders, even those who struggle to understand why anyone would want to keep them ask endless questions about how dangerous they are, what they eat, how they develop, how big they get etc and they’re actually surprised by the answers.

I think it comes down to familiarity, if you don’t know a lot about something you tend to make assumptions and talking to other people with limited knowledge just confirms them, it’s human instinct to fear the unknown. Without anyone to provide an alternative perspective and solid facts you get crazy scary stories…the likes of a 4” T ripping your hand off!!!!
 

xBurntBytheSunx

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i used to pretty much assume that if they could sell something in a pet shop it probably wasn't poisonous to kill you... i would guess though that considering that most people are afraid of scorpions and spiders that they probably assume that they can kill you
 

protheus

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xBurntBytheSunx said:
i used to pretty much assume that if they could sell something in a pet shop it probably wasn't poisonous to kill you... i would
Better not make that assumption, either ;)

Chris
 

chuck

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ignorance is bliss....no wait, its a pain in the ass. i live where they are outlawed, but for what reason? i guess those rednecks also wrote the law banning arachnids in nyc. FOOLS :mad:
 

protheus

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chuck said:
ignorance is bliss....no wait, its a pain in the ass. i live where they are outlawed, but for what reason?
Because they're vicious, deadly killers, which could rend a man in two, turning all who observe this atrocity to stone with their magical gaze! They can leap 78 times their body length to strike an unwary traveler with extended fangs, and have an insatiable appitite for human blood.

Chris
 

chuck

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protheus said:
Because they're vicious, deadly killers, which could rend a man in two, turning all who observe this atrocity to stone with their magical gaze! They can leap 78 times their body length to strike an unwary traveler with extended fangs, and have an insatiable appitite for human blood.

Chris

i imagined you saying that with an english accent as sorcerer Tim from Monty Python and the Holy Grail when he spoke of the rabbit. ;P
 

crshadow

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Funny, I heard the same voice in my head as I was reading it.
:)

-Jeremiah
 

FryLock

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Odd that i know someone just like Tim the Enchanter (no one that knows him tell him i said that Leon/G/ect :D)
 

protheus

Arachnoknight
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crshadow said:
Funny, I heard the same voice in my head as I was reading it.
It's because I thought it in that voice when I posted that ;)

My powers are indeed great.

Chris
 

chuck

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i could just imagin the government creating a propoganda film to outlaw tarantulas. having a giant B.smithi hand puppet, leaping from one neck to the other. and the governor would be watching from afar laughing at the people falling like flies to the unstoppable B.smithi. telling all us fellow hobbiest "i warned yoU..." as he has his 2 fingers infront of his mouth, imitating the huge fangs on the B.smithi
 
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jayco_heat

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Around the time of my birthday I had friends from out of town over. One of my friends brought his girlfriend along. So as i fiddle behind the bar (wher I keep my T's. )she boldy walked over to my A. Semmanni, opened his inclosure and darted her hand twords Leonard Little. Of corse he darted into his whole. "What the f&^$%$ is your problem!" I yelled out. Didnt mean to snap at his ladyfriend like that, but hey.

So she goes on to say how she's not afraid, and that T's dont have venom, because the pet shop wont sale venemouse T's. :? duh, All T's are venemouse, and the only reason I let her try to pet him is because he's realy a big wimp. But I did'nt know she would spook em like that. My C. Ceratogryus is just a sling, but I wont be letting just any-1 pet him once he's an adult. People like this can hurt themselves. What if he was an agressive KICKER, and blasted her hand with hairs....I would rather have some scared ignorrance around my T's than some dip-s$%# who thinks there Jack the crocodile hunter, atleast the scaredy cats wont bother him.
 
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