Can you recall...

[Dragoon]

Can anyone hear remember how you felt about T's BEFORE your addiction? (heehee, because that's what it is....)

I know I had always liked pictures of them, but knew nothing about them until I saw them a couple of years ago in a new pet store. I was curious but didn't want to touch it until I saw the owner take out the curlyhair and hold it.

WHAM!
I didn't know you could HOLD THEM!! Whoo-hooo, that changed everything!!

So then I was super excited and wanted to have one! I was extemely curious about them then (and that has just kept growing!) I saw the owner hold a rosea and pinktoe, so of course, I had no fear of them....I started cuddling all the scorpions that were there too....I didn't know any better.
Of course, I am far more cautious now that I have a little knowledge. But I will fondly remember my "Wow, you can hold spiders, they are soooo cuddly!" phase....

Anyone want to relate their feelings , pre-addiction? (Tarcan??were you always a freak??hahahaha- j/k)
D.

[Andrew vV]

Well, I cant remember!! I have always liked bugs though....
I have honestly had very little interest in handeling most of my spiders, though it does happen time to time whether I want it to or not:)

[Tarcan]

I have always loved inverts. I remember being a kid and going in the fields to catch bugs. What I also remember very well is that the spiders facinated me the most, but I was scarred of them!LOL I always let my friend pick them up and put them in the jar... he he, talk about having someone else do the "dirty job"!

My first exotic animal was a Ball Python, but I was actually going to the pet shop to get a T (a G. rosea)... I never was able to convince my mom (even if I was 17 or maybe 18, my mom still had the last word on that one), but she agreed on the snake (go figure)... anyway, it was not long after a first exotic animal that I managed to introduce a whole little zoo of snakes, and amphibians... and yes! my first T ever...

My first T was an adult Pterinochilus murinus (Usumbara red)... he he, talk about a good beginner T! Anyway, from the start I never been of the handling type, so it was not the reason that motivated my purchase and I had purchased this spiders because I was absolutly amazed by it's beauty, the orange was just so incredible... I have always accepted very well the concept of observation animals (I kept mantellas and dart frogs)...

To tell the truth, I was scarred like crap of that animal (the P. murinus)!LOL It was my first experience with Ts and her threat postures were enough to impose A LOT of respect from me! I remember once, I had decided to clean it's enclosure, I had given her a nice piece of cork bark and she had webbed a nest under... so I figured, I am just going to lift the whole thing and transfer her like that in a temporary container... it worked, the problem came when I put her back... the "nest" broke and I had a P. murinus going berserk running out of her terrarium... up till today, I do not think I ever had a stronger adrenaline rush...LOL, funny now that I think they are so easy to work with once you know their behavior...

Time passed and I slowly started to thin out my non-inverts and started to buy more and more Ts, being completely facinated by them... now I only keep Ts, no other animals... to me, nothing beats the joy keeping Ts can bring (but hey, who would think the contrary coming from me!)

That's it for now

Martin

[ChokeOnSmoke]

Well I just got my first T so I'm a newbie, but I've always been interested in inverts (and plants and all other animals for that matter). I used to get my little brother(who has always been stronger) to flip rocks and logs for me so I could catch the bugs under them. There are pictures of me when I was probably 9 or 10 with wolf spiders walking all over me. I'll have to post some pics of them this summer they are by far the biggest native species here(Thunder Bay). Does anyone do much field herping for spiders?

[Emily-Fisher]

My first ever pet was a firebelly newt. Eventually, newts got me into other amphibians, which slowly got me into reptiles, which somehow led to inverts. The fact that my best friend, Trevor, had a tarantula, made me want one even more. Then when mom was out of town, I bought myself a cute lil' rosie! Mom freaked out when she saw me watching tv with a T lying on my belly.. and of course, she let me keep her. (I'm SO spoiled!!)

So yeah, she allowed me to keep her but she said that I was not allowed to own more than 1 invert at a time... EVER. A month later, I brought my little B. smithi home. Oooh and now I have a collection of 5 tarantulas, a scorp, and a millipede! So cute!!

[Yve]

I've always liked inverts and wanted a scorpion and a tarantula when I was in my teens but my mom was dead set against it....the urge to keep them has only recently come back...
they are addictive....i started with one and within a month had 3 more! I find their behaviour interesting. Each ones' behaviour is different from the next:) You never know what you'll find upon looking in on them!

[skinheaddave]

I was rather impartial to inverts until I decided to get my first scorpions because they were "neat." That was pretty much game over at that point -- the addiction was seeded.

Cheers,
Dave

[SaIiLdVaEnR]

And now Dave has become obsessed :P

Aidan

[drewlowe]

I was always intriged but SCARED of spiders and T's except for daddy long legs, don't know why. I could watch a T or spider through glass or screen but there always had to be something in between me and it.

I've had friends that had T's but the more aggressive species, so it kinda scared me to see them in their attack stance. Finally after a year or so of keeping herps my boyfriend made the mistake of saying he wouldn't mind a T. I thought wow what a great chance to get over my fear. I did a few months of research on species and care. Settled on a rose hair and have never looked back. She's a great joy to have in the house even if all she does is hide. LOL

I really want to get into T's more, but saving for a house is more important.