What got you into T's in the first place?

Becky

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 17, 2006
Messages
641
This could be interesting lol

Me.. i got into it unexpectedly really..
Becuase i'm generally 'scared' of house and garden spiders i NEVER thought i'd own spiders of any sort lol My house has always been full of strange animals (squirrels, crows, hedgehogs and of course my brothers :p lol) and my auntie had T's when i was tiny (smithi's and blondi's) and we had lizards etc (there's not much we've not owned really haha) but never thought id own a tarantula.
But at college one week we were working on a new assignment we had been given and it was to do will recognising illness in animals. I actually am studying horses, but we had to look at 3 diseases in horses (bacterial, viral, fungal) and then the 3 in 3 different animals to compare symptoms etc. So we got taken down to the animal care unit at college and looked at all the animals. Naked rats, mice, gerbils, degu's etc then he went into the reptile room and bought out 2 snakes. After that he asked who wanted to see the spider.. no-one really said much so i said yer.. go get it for a laugh.. (i knew all the girls would freak out haha) so he came back with this female Grammostola rosea in his hand. She was quite big.. bout 4.5" legspan i guess. Very docile though. He talked bout her for a while then asked if anyone wanted to hold her.. all the girls screamed and moved away.. me being me, and wanting to try something new said.. SURE! I'll hold it! So keeping it close to the table he let it walk onto my hand and it just sat there.. and from then on.. i wanted a T! lol
Then we moved house, and i met a guy and we got together and a couple of months in he said: i want a tarantula. i was like.. :eek: ME 2!!! lol
So we went down the pet shop (much to mum's disgust :p) and bought a Brachypelma vagans sling (which actually now has turned out to be a rosea!:wall:)
Then a week later i went into the shop again, to get some food for this sling and looked at the spiders and i wanted a bigger one, coz this sling was TINY! and ended up coming home with a 2" juvenile Grammostola aureostriata lol Henry was like.. uho.. started something now havent i? hahaha!
Then we split up and he took the vagans/rosea sling with him.. :evil:
But that was it.. i was hooked! I then ordered 5 more spiders from Lee at thespidershop.. it was *racks brain!*
Poecilotheria ornata
Psalmopoeus pulcher
Brachypelma albopilosum
Brachypelma emilia
Avicularia versicolor
Then i bought a Brachypelma smithi sling from the shop LOL!
After that i joined a forum (Arachnophiles) and that made me even worse! Made friends with people, saw new spiders and bam.. more on my wishlist lol Went to AES Newark, bout 3 or 4 more and so on and so forth lol!
Now, 6 months later i have 25 T's, 2 scorpions and 6 mantids LOL!! Funny how things work out :p
 

Jonathan Rice

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
149
My best friend Shane got me into them actually. He showed me one at a pet store. It was an A. seemanni (dark color form) and I was just awe struck. I never really liked spiders before but this was completely different. We were typical boys growing up. We played with bugs and what not, but after seeing the t, we were hooked.

I lived just below a mountain and we soon began seeing t's in their natural habitats. I got that seemanni for my birthday and the rest is history. My passion for t's is like the ocean, it comes in waves.. Half the year it's intense and I yearn to expand my collection while the other half I'm content with what I have and justify thinning out the t's I could do without.. But in the end, t's will always be a part of my life. It's like there's an empty space in my life where they fit in quite nicely.
 

Alice

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 29, 2006
Messages
976
well, for me it all started in a pet shop, where my then bf an me fell in love with a tiny bearded dragon. well, we bought two of them. for my birthday, i got a ball python. but as they didn't have them at the shop, we had to go to a reptile show. well... i've wanted a t since i first saw them at that show. but my bf made me decide between him and the t (unbelivable, he won!), so no t for me.

then we split up, and at the next reptile show, i got a juvie b. vagans. that was nearly 5 years ago - today i've got 12 adult females, three juvie females and about three dozen slings of various sizes. my new bf is very ok with that, though he doesn't share my passion for them. btw - i've given some of the females away last year as we moved together and just don't have room for more ts. but wait till we get a bigger appartment! :eek:
 

Arthur

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 2, 2007
Messages
35
Every summer when I was a child I used to spend summer months in Smolensk area. We had a country house with a great garden filled with a lot of flowers. So that it was my best chance to watch different animals pottering round. There were lots of snakes, insects, arachnids, etc.
Here's a few photos



Time pasted by and now due to my marital status, my work I don't have an opportunity to spend all summer there. So I decided to set up some T's on my table, after a wile it was a scolopendra, and now I'm here!
 

phil jones

Arachnoprince
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Dec 17, 2006
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1,051
for me its because i can not keep a dog in the place that i am living now so the ( t ) is second best and i did not want a cat as i have a budgerigar so before i start to ramble i will stop now LOL ==== phil
 

Apophis

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 17, 2005
Messages
569
My girlfriend got me into T's!! :eek:

I had been keeping snakes and geckos for about 10 years when my girlfriend decided that she'd like to keep a T. I was like: "Fine, but it's yours, and you'll have to feed and clean it, since I'm not interested in T's"

Now, 2 years and about 40 T's later I'm the one who's addicted to T's... :p
My girlfriend now accuses me of giving the T's more attention than her... But she started it herself! :D
 

bushbuster

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
344
I enjoy being able to keep a pet thats fairly low maintenance, and quiet while at the same time dramatic, lol. Pretty inexpensive as well, that is if one doesn't get "too" creative, lol.
 

Katronmaster

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 21, 2005
Messages
198
Animal rescue. I used to work with a woman who would take in any abandoned critter, until it came to a G. Rosea that was dropped off in one tiny KK. Even though I was scared of spiders, I took him. You'd be shocked how many Ts and herps we got after people realized we'd take them.
 

kristal_kaos

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 10, 2007
Messages
200
My start on Ts

My dad had a female redknee when I was young, had it many years actually...my lil bro n I werent afraid of it at all, and played with it daily, lol...It was friendlier than all heck. When it dies in 1995, I was 15 yrs. old, and my dad didnt get another to replace it. I always wanted another t after that....but never had a chance to get one because the petshops around here only carry rose hairs....and I just learned of these sites last week. Well, I found a redknee at a petshop and now Im hooked again, lol. Im not sure if its a female, but I love her anyhow....she def. isnt a nice as I remember our previous one being, lol, but maybe shell get used to me. I hate the fact that I run an apt complex and cant keep a big collection without freaking my tenants out and possibly deterring future tenants, lol. But, I do want a small collection of femal brachy and one or avics...making my collection of about 5-7 Ts....Im hooked, what can I say?!:)
 

IdahoBiteyThing

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 2, 2007
Messages
598
What got me started?

Stopped into a local petshop for fishfood and saw this awesome-looking spider. I asked what it was and the manager said, "It's a sunburst-something-or-other, and if you take it, I'll give you the tank free to get this thing out of my store!". Apparently, he had attitude problems :) So, I took him (yes, him-darn it), home and started doing my research. Now, I will NEVER go on record as having said that a Pterinochilus murinus is a good first tarantula (or even a good 4th or 5th!), but I'm crazy about this spider. I continue to give my Orange Bitey Thing (named "Obi") every bit of respect he deserves, and he continues to be one of the most awesome spiders in my collection. At this point he's looking a little tired and tattered, and I don't expect him to be around much longer- in male tarantula years he must be about 150. He also thinks he's an Avic. as he spends all his time hanging out on a platform he constructed in a plastic plant, only touching substrate in order to nail the occasional fat cricket. Have since added several more spiders to my small collection, but Obi is hands-down my fave. TF
 

thunderthief

Arachnoknight
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Dec 27, 2006
Messages
150
I always wanted either a tarantula or a snake. But never got around to buying either. Then last year I was walking around an aquatic centre with my little brother and commented on the 'Chilean Rose' they had.
Then a month later when Christmas arrived I found he had bought me one!!! TBH when I first got her she freaked me out slightly and I almost sent her back to the shop, but after getting used to her I decided I wanted another one, so I bought a B. smithi. I now own 7 soon to be 8.
 

Transylvania

Gondorian
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Dec 26, 2006
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593
I've been wanting to get a ball python for a long time, but my mom hates all snakes with a passion. So I had been limiting myself to reading about them online, and I would frequently lurk on a reptile forum.
One day back in December of '06, I was lurking on that forum, decided to take a peek at the "Non-Reptile" section, and my eyes fell on 'Spiders.' Interested that people actually kept them as pets (I was thinking of true spiders, but even then I shouldn't have been surprised), I clicked the link and immediately saw dozens of threads about tarantulas. I have no idea how it happened; it was like the computer monitor hit me in the face, but ever since that day I wanted to keep tarantulas!
A couple weeks later, I bought my old B.smithi. :D
Of course, my entire family was shocked, because I was (and still am) terrified of house spiders. But I dunno, there's just something about tarantulas that makes me not afraid. Sounds incredibly silly: Someone who's phobic of the small ones but loves the big ones. {D
 

P. Novak

ArachnoGod
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Sep 12, 2005
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6,218
Well while I was young I alwaysss went camping and loved it. Everytime I went I brought home a new T. That went on till I was 16. I am almost 18 now(under 3 months). After the last T that I brought home died which was around 15 or 16 years of age, I randomly got the urge to get another T. I looked it up, and decided to get a G.rosea in May 2005. I bought one and then another and another, till I ended up with around 24. Sold all but 2 in August 2006 and since then I've been rebuilding, currently I have around 26 tarantulas, 7 centipedes, 1 scorpion, and 4 true spiders. THey come and go.
 

octoo

Arachnosquire
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Feb 21, 2007
Messages
64
-pokes Saddlepatch's post-

She got me into tarantulas.:}
 

Mina

Arachnoking
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Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Messages
2,136
In October of 2005, my husband got an adult female wc G. rosea for me for an anniversary gift.
I used to work at an exotic animal clinic and one of the doctors had a wc female G. rosea who was at least 18 years old that he could account for, and had been an adult when he got her.
She was very slow, and had what he called "rosehair pattern baldness" but I held her and was enchanted. She would calmly sit on anyones hand.
I had told my husband about her many times and had always said I would like to have one of my own.
So there you have it, he can't complain, he started it. I now have 47 tarantulas.
 

Midnightrdr456

Arachnoprince
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Joined
Jan 17, 2006
Messages
1,088
I saw a show on Animal Planet all about T's and part was how they are becoming an increasingly more popular pet. After watching the show I couldn't stop thinking about how interesting they were, and after a couple weeks thinking about it, I went and bought a G Rosea at the petstore.

After that Im now here, I had to sell off my old collection (including a female 6" blondi and a 2" P Metallica). Ive only recently started building it up again, so Its a small collection now:

A Versicolor
P Ornata
C. sp "Blue"
N. Coloratovillosus
 

mandolin101

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 9, 2007
Messages
62
A seemani

I got hooked just recently. I was in a pet store with my little sister to buy her a Christmas present. She saw the T, and wouldnt leave without it. I knew my mom wouldnt be pleased, but bought it anyways. Once I started researching it to see what I needed to care for it, I got really interested. Soon enough I ordered some slings, and now I'm on my way into the hobby!
 

Iggy

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
40
Simple answer, Bryant Capiz. I had known Bryant for a while having met through the Chicago Herpetological Society and for a long time just did not understand his obsession with all things arachnid. But after many, many long hours of listening to him talk about Ts and watching him work with them, I was hooked and now I can't imagine life without them.
 

Syngyne

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
229
I've just always thought they were cute and fuzzy. I eagerly await the day when genetic engineering advances to the point that we have purring, affectionate tarantulas.
 

monitormonster

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Messages
196
My first little guy

My buddy just dropped a Rosehair off in a KK at my house; she had bought it at a pet shop and decided she didnt want it so much after all. My little G. Rosea was the sweetest thing....she never gave me any attitude whatsoever.

A while went by where I collected mostly reptiles~ Now that I have my awesome A. Avicularia (Krang the Destroyer), I have been dying to expand my collection to include so many other awesome T's....the list grows longer and longer....Just ordered a A. Versicolor and a A. Geniculata today, cannot WAIT to get em in the mail on Tuesday.
 
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