What made you start collecting?

[kalvaer]

I hated spiders, Even looking at one gave me the creeps. If I found one in the house I would call my wife to get rid of it.

Came home one day and she was busy on a Video conference, so I decided to go watch TV in the bedroom. When I tried to close the curtains, I found this 4" huntsmand spider staring back at me. I could scream like I usually did and call my wife because I knew she was really busy. I also knew she wouldn't believe me so I ran out, got the camera, and tried to take some photo's of it to show her.

Needless to say when I did, she was the one the run away. It got me thinking though and decided to get a T to get rid of my fear of them. Still not completely over it, but its getting there with my collection of 8 so far (possible 7, I think one of my H incei was either eaten or never made it through its last molt)

 

[kru008]

welcome to the forums first of all...

The reason why I started my collection is pretty much as all of us here, we got love for inverts and reptiles and such.When I was around 6 or 7, I've bred and raised "true spiders" which was used back in the Philippines for fighting purposes (i wish i could find a video or article about it to share it to you guys). Now that Im in the US, I could explore more with the eight legged things and its time for me to go play with the big boys of the hobby ..Oh yeah..i also decided to start early January this year just because I got the idea when my uncle's pet fishes died and he said that he didnt need the tank anymore and asked me if i wanted it..it was just like a light bulb on top of my head and snap.. G. Rosea..

 

[arachnidgirl]

I have always been fascinated with the "creepy crawlys". When I was quite young, my mother and I would go on outings to the park and such. Every time I saw a bug I had to investigate and observe it. My mother once told me that she went to wash my pants and stuck her hand in my pockets to see if I had anything in there and she took out a handful of caterpillars...LOL
She has since never let me live that down.
I had never really thought of owning a giant spider. In fact I did not think much of it until I saw one at the LPS. I started thinking about it and it was not until 2006 that I purchased my first T (G. rosea). It however turned out to be a MM and soon died. I was devastated.....I thought I did something wrong. I did more research and found that it was not my fault and now I'm a proud owner of 8 T's and 2 Scorpions....

 

[Lennie Collins]

Arachnophobia. I felt due to humans natural fear of the unknown that having a fear of spiders was simply cause i knew nothing about them. Never would have thought such a fear would turn into an obsession but i love it.

That was and now is the reason I have tarantulas as well as scorpions as pets!

 

[Julia]

So, i've been trolling the boards here for a few months, finally decided to register... Also saw on a few other threads the "wrong" reasons to start collecting inverts, so my question to everyone, what made you start collecting?

I'll start off.
I only have a G. Rosea, soon to be a H. Lividum in the terrarium next to it, but i started just because of a fascination with them. Sure everyone has dogs, cats, the occasional lizard, which is great, but tarantulas are just well... dunno, they interest me so much more, cant really describe it :? Mebbe i'm just wierd haha.

First off, welcome! And no, you're not weird for preferring tarantulas over dogs or cats. Many here feel that way. Now then....

I'm trying to think of my very first fascination with spiders. Besides catching daddy-long-legs and holding them up to observe them when I was REALLY little.... My sis and I befriended one of those yellow and black orb-weavers when we were 5 and 7, respectively. She had built a web directly outside the dining room window, and sis and I felt it was our duty to feed her. So we'd go and tear apart tent caterpillar nests, grab the worms, and FIGHT over whose turn it was to toss them in!

I was asking about tarantulas by the time I was 10. Didn't get one until I was 16. Then got another one (both roseas). Then I moved and they didn't survive. Then I got an A. avic. Stuck with that ONE tarantula for 5 years (as I lived with someone who wasn't about to tolerate more than one).

My collecting really just exploded a year ago, when I stopped living with other people! 15 and counting.... They all have names, data sheets tracking their lives, I talk to them whenever I'm feeding/cleaning/rehousing, I whisper, "Bye kids!" when I leave for work and "Hello babies!" when I get home.

Once again, welcome to the addiction....errr....hobby. It won't be long before you're posting that you just purchased your 20th tarantula.

 

[Don Budge]

I had been fascinated with T's for a long time, and really wanted one for a pet, but my wife was dead set that it would escape and kill our cat. This Valentine's Day, I woke up to her handing me a wrapped gift. I opened it up to find an empty kritter keeper. I was very confused, until she told me that we were getting a spider! She knew how badly I wanted one, so she went and researched them. She even found a local store that sells them that I had no idea about! I know have a rose hair. I really want more, but our apartment is too small. Some day! Best gift ever!!!!!!

 

[rejected1]

It was the holidays and I had 6 months off. It started with my interest in dogs. Helped local pet rescues, breeders, friends who have dogs and friend's pet stores. Couldn't get a pet dog cause the need for commitment is tough and so I intriqued myself with tarantulas instead. My friend actually recommended me to get an OBT.
So I got one. Then added a Lividum into the family. Haha, classic. Everyone has them.
And all the others who later got adopted into the family. The family is about 16 animals now including me. I name everyone of them. Lol. Its just intimidating to name them, they are wild and don't need names but still...

I love introducing them to my family and friends. Lookatem' cringe their eye brows.... Haha...

 

[wedge07]

I used to collect everything from the creek near by parents house. Frogs, turtles, salamanders, and spiders pretty much anything I could get my hands on. Jumping spiders were always one of my favs. After that my Mom bought me a B. smithi. He was a pretty good size until the cats got a hold of it and that was the end of that. I was out of the hobby for a long time until about 2 years ago I was given a Rosea. I now have 10 Ts. I won't be getting anymore until I can talk the gf into allowing me to get more. Slowly but surely I am pulling her into the hobby. ;P

 

[the_mask86]

given one on my birthday... that got me out of arachnophobia phase and boom!
the collection never dwindled from there!

 

[curiousme]

Welcome to this obsession masquerading as a hobby! Here is my story:

i was terrified of tarantulas since about the age of 13, when i saw a herd of male A. hentzi out on the prowl. My husband(Mr. Gone) however, became intrigued by them and started showing me pictures and reading information about them with me. i found that once i started looking at them, i found them neat, but i wasn't won over yet. Then we visited one of the LPS and saw a G. rosea in housing that we knew to be poor and she was pouting. So, we bought/ rescued her and then i could look at a real one, but only through glass. i became fascinated with her and was constantly watching her. Then we went to a reptile show and bought an A. metallica and i was hooked. Once i saw her in all her bluey green glory, i was in love. From then on, i was an equal partner in researching/ caring for/ handling. We now have 13 T's and if we had money, we would have many more. i love them now and try to educate our friends in an effort to dispel fear of them.

 

[ErinKelley]

It was spiderlings...

I worked in the pet area of a local business here for quite a few years and ordered some baby A Avic, like 2nd or 3rd instar, cause they were super cheap. Course I was the one that took care of them and I thought it was just SO cool. Their little enclosures, their big feet and the different coloring from the adults. I was hooked from then on.

I never got any of the baby avics, but I did get some babies that are now some of the adult females I own.

I've kind of come to realize that I can take optimal care of about 40 tarantulas but more than that is a little overwhelming lol.

 

[edesign]

Someone held a gun to my head and told me to start collecting...or else.

 

[burmish101]

I never grew up, always like playing with bugs. Its also fun when they run around your bed at 100mph and jump off and shoot across the room, catching t's should be a new sport I like it.

 

[rd_07]

my folks keeps exotic pets then it looked so normal to me and they started giving me pets when i was 6
at 7 i started to like insects(true spiders, mantids etc) and one night out the open cornfield while hunting orb weaver spiders i came across this one nice looking scorpion tagging one cricket, got amazed and picked it up and thats where it all started
my very 1st scorpion was adult female i.mac

 

[Imbrium]

I had a rosie years ago. Then when I told my ex about it he said he wanted one, so we went and got an A. avic. I was big into bettas at the time, so I didn't really pay it much attention. Then when we split up I got the dog and the T. I got rid of most of my fish, and was thinking about getting a rat, but I found a rosie in a lps and got her right then. When my avic matured and died I missed him so much, I knew I had to get more. I've got 4 T's now, and money restraints are the only things keeping me in check.

 

[arachnochicken]

I always thought that people that kept Tarantulas needed their heads examined .( I'm sure some really do ;P ) Growing up I was always terrified of spiders , didn't matter how big or how tiny it was . If you put one on me the spider was dead, you were getting hurt and I was going to be sore after from trying to get it off me . Well a year and a half ago I desided I was going to get over my fear of them and desided to buy a tarantula .

I got my first one from Petco (a rose hair) and when the guy took her out of the tank he plopped it down on my hand . Now when I said I was ready to get over my fear I don't think I meant for it to happen quite THAT quickly .Well according to my wife I turned a little white and I know for a fact they turned the heat up in the store . Well I still don't care very much for holding them but do ever once in a great while . They still scare the crap out of me when they do their little greased lightening theing but think they are incredible ,incredible enough to have 15 and still wanting MORE !!!!

 

[WelshTan]

my story almost echo's arachnochicken's story. . .i was always petrified of spiders no matter what size they were. . . my bf kept on scaring me with spiders from the shed n i wud literally cry n scream . . he thought it was highly amusing when i cud have easily throttled him in his sleep for doin it to me n putting me thru that. .. when a reptile shop opened in my town i thought i wud have a look but was petrified of all the T's in the tanks. .. the crunch came wen my bf put another live spider which was big into my baccy tin. . i opened it to make a cig n had the scare of my life.. . then i thought "rite then, time for me to get over my fear now". . .I went to the reptile shop n bought a sub-adult G.rosea. . was petrified when carryin it back home . . but got home n plucked up the courage to touch it n try n pick it up. . . since that day January 22nd 2009 i am now hooked, am totally over my fear, now have 10 T's n have ordered 2 more n also have recently bought a scorp!!!! My bf is now petrified of my scorp hahahahah the tides have turned. . i cud almost thank him for being the incentive to get over my arachnophobia. . but still hate the way he used my fear against me for his own amusement

 

[jeff1962]

my story almost echo's arachnochicken's story. . .i was always petrified of spiders no matter what size they were. . . my bf kept on scaring me with spiders from the shed n i wud literally cry n scream . . he thought it was highly amusing when i cud have easily throttled him in his sleep for doin it to me n putting me thru that. .. when a reptile shop opened in my town i thought i wud have a look but was petrified of all the T's in the tanks. .. the crunch came wen my bf put another live spider which was big into my baccy tin. . i opened it to make a cig n had the scare of my life.. . then i thought "rite then, time for me to get over my fear now". . .I went to the reptile shop n bought a sub-adult G.rosea. . was petrified when carryin it back home . . but got home n plucked up the courage to touch it n try n pick it up. . . since that day January 22nd 2009 i am now hooked, am totally over my fear, now have 10 T's n have ordered 2 more n also have recently bought a scorp!!!! My bf is now petrified of my scorp hahahahah the tides have turned. . i cud almost thank him for being the incentive to get over my arachnophobia. . but still hate the way he used my fear against me for his own amusement

I love this story ! My favorite so far !

 

[InvertFix]

I've always been fascinated with invertebrates in general. I was born in the philipines and the first T that I saw was in my own back yard out there. It was beautiful. I was only about 5 years old. I then moved to Japan and I couldn't believe it, they even had scorpion "parades" a few times they had people living in a glass house in the middle of the street with thousands of scorpions! All different kinds. It was amazing.

Once I moved to the states, I hadn't even thought about scorpions or tarantulas or anything of the sort for a long time.

Then one day as I'm playing Animal Crossings: City Folk (with my son of course lol) we caught a tarantula and put it in a cage in our house. (in the game) AND THEN BAM!!!!!!! (I know kind of a weird way to get into the hobby haha)
I remembered my love for the hobby and went out and bought a very hard first T.
It was a Poecilotheria Miranda (quite the first T wouldn't you say?)
I named him Garrie. I still have Garrie.
Along with 58 other T's, scorpions, bearded dragons, leapord geckos, water dragons.

I'm a proud invertaholic.
And whenever I go to the local shop, I HAVE to leave with something or it just puts a big damper on my day.
I get so upset when I don't purchase one that I will come back a couple hours later or the next day and buy like 5 instead of one.

I just love them so much.

 

[aquaArachnid]

I've always been into small animals, always going to the pet store just to see the different types they'd have on display. Spiders, snakes, lizards have always grabbed my attention. When i was about 10 or 11, i wanted to get a snake, my mom said no and then my dad suggested i get a scorpion. went to the pet store and bought my first Emperor Scorpion. from that age on, I've had different spiders, a couple more scorpions. got out of it for about a year or 2, then one day i re-adopted the G.rosea i donated to a friend and i was once again hooked. Then i had to move to AZ and had to give her up, got out here and got my first Lasiodora Striatipes. Been back in it since.