Ah yes...TARANTULAS !!!!!!!

:wink: Hey Everybody,
Well, I thought I would finally confess to all of you that I have been into tarantulas and spiders since I was five years old...I have even bred tarantulas. At one time my T collection was at 200 spiders...so I know a bit about these animals. 8) I am interested in encouraging all of you in developing an interest in these fascinating animals and I would like to offer my advice on their husbandry. Right now my tarantula collection is more modest as I am mostly into my snakes now but I still have about 20 spiders of various and sundry species. I have kept the hot species like Poecilotheria and Haplopelma...I have spider reflexes as well :lol: in other words I have developed the knack of dealing with lightning fast spiders that can bite and land you in the ER ....oh I have SO many stories to tell.. :twisted:

If any of you have any questions about tarantula keeping or would be interested in my recommendations I would be delighted to talk about spiders with you all...I LOVE tarantulas and you will too... :P

EyeLashViper

Great to hear eyelashviper
Do tell on the stories, I love sharing experiences.
Best way to learn and respect the hobby as a whole
Rusty

my cousin has one,personally they creep me out,i guess just becuase they are different than all the other pets out there but i used to be creeped out by snakes too and i almost didnt get my ball becuase i had to feed it mice but i love him. who knows maybe one day i will get one :)

Tarantulas are cool !!!!!!!!
I mean they are a lot like snakes in that they are easily cared for and require very little work. I tend to think of my tarantulas as sort of pet rocks.I am not much into handling them because I do not trust any tarantula to not bite. - they are rather unpredictable in that regard. But if properly set up and if you select a species that spends a lot of time out in the open they can make a great display animal and conversation piece. I have a large Acanthoscurria geniculata in my living room on the coffee table and it always is the first thing noticed if I have visitors.

It is also fascinating to watch them feed and molt....you have not seen anything till you see a spider take down a mouse. It is indeed shocking to see this. I have had Therophosa blondi in my collection which is a ten inch in diameter spider...talk about scary...heh heh heh...

I really recommend starting out with a Chilean Rose Hair tarantula to get your pedipalps wet and see if you like spiders at all...it can be addictive though so watch out...

Stories to come !!!!!

EyeLashViper

I think spiders are neat to look at through glass but I don't think I could ever own one let alone hold one in my hand. I guess I feel about spiders and bugs the way that most people feel about snakes. So I can relate to how people look at me funny when I say I have snakes.

The one spider I find most interesting is the "Bird Catcher" they have one at the Zoo here and it is just really cool to see a spider that big. Even though the one they have is not as big as they get but compared to normal everyday spiders that you see around the house it is cool.

Do you have any of these spiders Eye Lash? If so i would love to hear a story about one of these guys.

Check out my webshots pics link below.

I too have an intense fondness for our eight legged friends.

Gotta love'em!

(old thread)

Can you post some pictures of one of these spiders taking down a mouse? Or anybody else who keeps spiders? I'm curious.

our rose hair takes down pinkies every 10 days ago, and its probably the least agreesive spider in our collection

next time we feed, i'll try to snag a few shots

My rose hair is in an agressive mood lately and takes F/T pinkies when wriggled with foreceps.

You can search www.arachnoboards.com for some feeding pics of various species.

I thought I had some pics of our lugardi eating a f/t pinkie (also wiggled) though they weren't the best - have to snag them this evening when I make it home. It was sucking on that thing for hours and hours.