| I think one
of the biggest mistakes made by many new to the
hobby is the acquisition of a tarantula for all
the wrong reasons and rarely does a week go past
that I do not receive several emails from
first-time hobbyists asking for advice on
choosing a "good" Poecilotheria
species.
I do realize that it is
impossible to determine a first-time hobbyists
ability to keep and maintain such tarantulas as
African and Far Eastern species and I know
several people that started out in the hobby
maintaining Poecilotheria, Theraphosa,
Hysterocrates, etc. All have raised many
tarantulas to maturity and have done so very well
with few mistakes along the way. Then, there are
those that started by maintaining some of these
more "glamorous" species and failed
miserably and caused the death of many beautiful
tarantulas trying to be part of the
"in" crowd of arachnoculture.
Several months ago, I received
an email from a person new to our hobby in which
he asked me which of the following Poecilotheria
would be the "best" species to get as
his first spider, Poecilotheria rufilata, P.
formosa, or P. subfusca? After a quite long reply
in which I explained the work and caution
involved in maintaining such species as any of
the Ornamentals, and making suggestions on
starting off his collection with one or more
species of Avicularia, he included in his next
reply that he wanted to keep a species that the
real hobbyists kept!
This is a belief fostered by
many new hobbyists entering the arachnocultural
community for the first time. Many actually
becoming defensive or feeling insulted that
someone would suggest that they not start with a
Theraphosa blondi, Haplopelma lividum, or
Poecilotheria ornata.
These new hobbyists are entering
the hobby with the belief that unless they
maintain one or several of the high-priced rarer
species that they'll not be considered part of
the "real" arachnocultural community
and no one will take them seriously.
The days of suggesting
Grammostola rosea, Aphonopelma seemanni,
Brachypelma albopilosum, and Avicularia
avicularia, are almost over as a suggestion
towards a new keeper of maintaining such a
species as one of those listed is more than
likely to result in offending the new hobbyists
and sever further communication!
The worst thing about such
opinions is that the new hobbyists deprives
him/herself of experiencing some of the most
fascinating and wonderful tarantulas in the hobby
and as in any discipline, it is necessary to
build a firm and knowledgeable foundation by
beginning with tarantulas that are not a threat
to the new hobbyist in order for the hobbyists to
interact and observe the lifestyles of these
fascinating arachnids.
Then, after gaining some
experience with these species, the hobbyists can
advance to those tarantulas kept and maintained
by those with a greater degree of experience.
They will possess a firm foundation that will
allow them to knowledgeably and responsibly
maintain tarantulas of genera such as
Poecilotheria, Hysterocrates, Haplopelma, or
Theraphosa that do require a more thorough
knowledge of keeping techniques, skills, and
behaviors.
The main thing that new
hobbyists need to understand is that it is
necessary to both, the keeper and the kept, that
the keeper develop his/her skills by initially
keeping and interacting with species that are
generally considered to be easier to maintain and
work with than some of the more demanding species
such as Poecilotheria ornata or Pamphobeteus
fortis.
And remember, most of those
$100.00 tarantulas are actually less glamorous
and interesting than the $10.00 species!
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