A good thing turned uh oh

Sana · Nov 28, 2014

I enjoy getting new people interested in the hobby most especially reformed arachnophobes. The problem comes in when somebody unexpected and completely unprepared falls in love with my eight leg friends and then brings one home.

I received a call yesterday morning from a lady who really likes me, but drives me out of my mind. At one point in a past conversation it had come up that I keep T's. She went in that conversation from terrified of the concept to completely in love with my T kids. I thank my g. pulchripes for that as she is always the little sweetheart that steals someone's affections. However, to my horror, the lady proudly announced to me on the phone that she had decided to get her very own T. Uh oh.

The lady has asked me for help to learn about her soon to be pet. I've managed to postpone her trip to the pet store for a few days, thank goodness, by suggesting that we should get together first so I can set her up with some good information about keeping T's.

Now I'm trying to figure out what to do from here. This lady is completely unprepared to have a T, and so exuberant that I'm never sure I can slow her down from her goal. I don't have the time to run over and save her or the T from ever newbie alarm. I don't want to stop someone from joining the hobby, but I want to make sure that the poor T will be ok.

HELP!

ratluvr76 · Nov 28, 2014

help her get set up with an account here and then show her how to navigate the boards. Tell her to spend at least 6 weeks just reading everything she can from old posts to new.

pyro fiend · Nov 28, 2014

ratluvr76 said:
help her get set up with an account here and then show her how to navigate the boards. Tell her to spend at least 6 weeks just reading everything she can from old posts to new.

I woukd have gone with months, buuut.. i auppose weeks could work xD

archaeosite · Nov 28, 2014

Order her The Tarantula Keeper's Guide off Amazon. It's less than $10. Tell her to read the whole thing (twice?!) before buying a new little friend.

cold blood · Nov 28, 2014

archaeosite said:
Order her The Tarantula Keeper's Guide off Amazon. It's less than $10. Tell her to read the whole thing (twice?!) before buying a new little friend.

ratluvr76 said:
help her get set up with an account here and then show her how to navigate the boards. Tell her to spend at least 6 weeks just reading everything she can from old posts to new.

Both good pieces of advice.

I'd say a rosea may be the best choice. If you can set her up with a proper enclosure, pretty much any time that newbie alarm goes off you can be assured it will almost certainly be a false one.

sezra · Nov 28, 2014

cold blood said:
Both good pieces of advice.

I'd say a rosea may be the best choice. If you can set her up with a proper enclosure, pretty much any time that newbie alarm goes off you can be assured it will almost certainly be a false one.

this... theres no way she can go wrong with a rosea. with your help of course.

Fingers crossed she doesnt get one of those infamous devil rosies

IHeartTs · Nov 28, 2014

Set her up on AB, suggest a rosie and maybe go with her if she's buying from a store. I got a friend into the hobby and when he showed me a picture of his new furry friend it was a MM. I also had a pet store worker try and sell someone a T in mid molt..... I'm sure you can snap her back into reality. Best of luck!

MrsHaas · Nov 28, 2014

This is very helpful to me because I've had the same problem recently. My best friend has salon in love with tarantulas but is a very responsible individual and therefore I have a very good reason to believe she will not make a dedicated and involved tarantula owner. But she asks me every birthday for one. I've put it off this long... Thx for the info here!!

--J.Haas

sezra · Nov 28, 2014

MrsHaas said:
This is very helpful to me because I've had the same problem recently. My best friend has salon in love with tarantulas but is a very responsible individual and therefore I have a very good reason to believe she will not make a dedicated and involved tarantula owner. But she asks me every birthday for one. I've put it off this long... Thx for the info here!!

--J.Haas

Auto correct gone wrong?

jigalojey · Nov 28, 2014

"lady who really likes me" Sounds like this lady is using the hobby to get closer to you haha

MrsHaas · Nov 28, 2014

Very... Lol
My friend had fallen in love with tarantulas but is not a very responsible individual

Attack of the spell checker

--J.Haas

Sana · Nov 28, 2014

Thanks for the suggestions. I got her set up with TKG and I think she's under control for the moment. I'm going to try to shop with her in a couple months, if I can hold her off that long. She's a little freaked about feeding one live things, so hopefully that will weigh in my favor for a while.

Ultum4Spiderz · Nov 28, 2014

Sana said:
Thanks for the suggestions. I got her set up with TKG and I think she's under control for the moment. I'm going to try to shop with her in a couple months, if I can hold her off that long. She's a little freaked about feeding one live things, so hopefully that will weigh in my favor for a while.

shame is women can get easily addicted to Ts also so gotta collect them all. Make sure she actualy likes Ts., if not make her collect herps

wish I had lizards/snakes. I like about everything on this site, millipedes are kind of not predators though

still neat.

I misread 1st post . O well , hope your freind likes Ts.

Sana · Nov 29, 2014

Bad news for me is that I am a woman who likes T's.

Ultum4Spiderz · Nov 29, 2014

O well I guess I would get a Lot of high rise shelving units ready , your going to need them:biggrin:.

freedumbdclxvi · Nov 29, 2014

Six weeks? Months? Have her read through the TKG some then point her to her own pulchripes. Have her set up an account here for questions.

Sana · Nov 29, 2014

I'm starting to figure that out. Sigh. They're like potato chips, hard to have just one...

---------- Post added 11-28-2014 at 11:40 PM ----------

freedumbdclxvi said:
Six weeks? Months? Have her read through the TKG some then point her to her own pulchripes. Have her set up an account here for questions.

I'm planning to aim her toward a g. pulchripes or a b. albopilosum. I thought those two would work fairly well.

freedumbdclxvi · Nov 29, 2014

Either work well as a first T. Send her here, too:

http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/spiders.html

An afternoon reading from Stan's site and, with the TKG in hand, she'll be ready for her first spider this week.

Stan Schultz · Dec 14, 2014

freedumbdclxvi said:
Either work well as a first T. Send her here, too:

http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/spiders.html

An afternoon reading from Stan's site and, with the TKG in hand, she'll be ready for her first spider this week.

I just managed to catch up to this one. Sorry. I've been traveling a lot. You have no idea how excited a cop can get when they see me driving down the expressway in a 36', 22,000 pound motorhome at 70 mph with my laptop propped between my chest and the steering wheel!

Another spin on your comment: "Or, it'll bore her to tears!" Or, "It'll drive her away forever." Or, "And you think I'm going to read all THAT? Are you crazy? They're just spiders!"

How did we ever get involved in this hobby in the first place?!? :laugh:

IHeartTs · Dec 14, 2014

Sana said:
Bad news for me is that I am a woman who likes T's.

So what are your next 8 suggestions for her gonna be? Haha. Me a year and a half ago "I just want one. I'll love it forever and it'll be the happiest tarantula alive!" Me now "I need 10 more!!!!"

A good thing turned uh oh

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