And then there were six... (an intro of sorts)

It started innocently enough. My two sons (10,5) and I were at a reptile expo in our area, and one of the vendors was from the Insect Zoo at one of our state universities. And she had a wide array of these really cool looking tarantulas. Now, I've always been a huge "bug" freak, and my rotating collection of random wild-caught creepy crawlies can definitely attest to that. But I'd never *seriously* considered getting a big hairy spider for a pet. Then I saw the insect zoo table, and the veritable buffet of awesomeness that was there.

The next thing I know, I'm walking out with a pair of LPs (between 1" and 2") and recommendations for a really awesome book, The Tarantula Keeper's Guide.

Amazon being my friend, I acquired the book and had read it cover-to-cover within the week. My new 8-legged friends were happily settled in to more comfortable housing and were starting to down roaches like the apocalypse was coming. And I thought, this is cool and there's some awesome species out there, but I think I'll stick with just these two.

That was 7 months ago.

I'm now up to:

4.5" LP female
3.25" LP male

1" G. pulchripes

2.5" A. geniculata

And my most recent acquisitions from a show last weekend, a .5" Avicularia versicolor and a .75" GBB. I would have brought home a teensy little OBT, too, but wisdom got the better of me (luckily, because I'm fairly sure I'm not ready for OW quite yet!) and I left it there for someone else to purchase. Next on my list is at least one G. pulchra sling. 'Cause, well, I'm already hip-deep in big hairy spiders (or future big hairy spiders) so what's one more? Or three...

So much for "two is enough."

It always starts slow... I never thought I'd be able to get into this hobby because I assumed the parental units would say no and the dorm at college would be an issue... After going to a reptile show, I learned that asking for forgiveness works way better than permission.
Now I'm up to a 3" LP, a 2" GBB, and a 2" king baboon who's in premolt

LOL... Good for you, favrielle. Welcome to the hobby.

I, too, started slow. One MF G. rosea that I had for almost a year...... Then a MM B. vagans at Christmas...... Then a G. pulchra in June...... and it just snowballed from there. I had 12 up to this last Tuesday, when 4 more arrived (3/4" G. pulchripes, 3/4" GBB, 1/2" P. subfusca Highland, and a 1/4" LP as a freebie)

I hope you're prepared for your LP's to get very big, very quick....... My big girl, Evita, is a whopping 8.5" DLS.

Good luck, hope to see ya around the Boards.

Yup, my female LP has gone from that 1.5-2ish inches in Dec. to a solid 4.5 inches. She's an awesome girl, despite the occasional grumpy moment. I look forward to the day I can set up her more permanent display enclosure.

I hit 4 in 6 weeks..... none are below 3" either.... and I want 3 more too. I have my sights on an B. Albipilosum, G. Pulchripes, and Euth. Sp. Red. Slings would take up so little room. I have enough big tarantulas to fulfill that need right?

No. 4 is enough.

For now.

:/