How do people react when you say you have pet tarantulas?

[James Box]

Why would you get a woman to cut your hair though; no offence ladies, but I know both males and females that say males cut hair way better than females

*Partridge moment* you daft sexist!
lol

i love my pokies...they are nervous of me but not badly behaved at all.
it really winds me up when people proudly say they kill something like that...as if the animal is guilty of some great sin just by existing and not being "nice" or "cuddly" by that person's narrow view. oh well, can't please everyone...either that or some people are a waste of space.
i don't meet alot of people that are outright terrified of tarantula's these days...most are interested for a bit, at least. though i'm sure i bore people on occasion
inverts etc are definitely a great way to break the ice with someone. everyone's got an opinion, whether it's that they're creepy or that they're cool!

[Clinton Hogben]

It doesn't help when spiders get such bad PR
I watched Taggart the other night usual thing dead body turns up etc etc but this poor stiff had an old spider bite on the back of his leg
cue the pathologist "its a south American spider bite" how the hell do they deduce that one
"Its been medically treated at some stage and probably saved his life" Arrgghh
then the classic " the body in question MUST have been to south America to be bitten because nobody in Glasgow keeps that type of spider" cut to shot of 4ft piccy pinned on wall of huge anonymous black hairy tarantula

Very sad a popular TV prog can show this cr*p without at least checking out the facts first

Im sure Glasgow Andrew will be impressed to know they dont keep "T"'s in Glasgow

Rant over

Clint

[James Box]

arg! maybe i should introduce Taggart to some of my "deadly" South American spiders, the muppet.
[off topic] the thing that scares me is that if the media can get away with being so flagrantly wrong about tarantulas, what other blatant lies and misinformation are we being fed?
[/off topic]

[Tom Forman]

I'm sure somebody in this thread said, their response would be:

"don't want a dog and fish tend to die alot unless you get their water just right"

That is definetely an answer I have got to remember if anybody asks me again. I just can't find who wrote it in the first place.


Well I thought I would add my weird view on this topic too and you will see what I mean by weird.
The original post says, how do people react to your pet tarantula and then people go on to explain why they have got "spiders".

I had 2 very scary experiences with spiders growing up that will make me dislike spiders for ever. No I should say 3 really. I just remembered the time I nearly lost my fingers on my right hand because my sister had spotted a spider so she slams the door shut with my fingers wedged between it. I start screaming, she starts pushing harder...

Anyway, my point is I won't ever like daddy long legs or any of the other "true" spiders and can understand people's dislike to their long spindley legs.

I have however really come to like Tarantulas and they are completely different animals if you ask me.


The other two incidences will mean nothing to you, writing about them here but they still stand out vividly in my mind.
The first incidence was when I was 10 and one of the biggest spiders I had ever seen decided to run up my pyjama leg. That casued nightmares for a while I can tell you.
The second incidence was on Frasier island in Australia. You get proper nasty looking red or yellow on black spiders out there.
Anyway, I got lost in the woods and decided to take a shortcut to the beach instead of stick to the path. I was jogging for about 5 minutes when I saw a clearing up ahead. I carry on jogging, just jogging,....
then I suddenly freeze.
I wasn't too sure why but my body decided to stop deadstill on the spot. It took me a few seconds to focus and then I noticed why.

I had stopped cms short of running face first into a big web with one of those black and yellow spiders sitting right in the middle of the web. I'm soo glad my instinct told me to stop there because I really had not seen it and getting that on my face could have been a) potentially dangerous and b) would have scarred me worse than any other incident beforehand. I then had a look at this clearing I had stumbled into and saw a good 100 of these evil looking spiders sitting in their respective webs. I made a hasty retreat and thanked "god" I got away with that one.

[James Box]

Man if that first one happened to me...i would probably have an irrational fear of my sister!
slamming fingers in the door - over an innocent spider! yeesh!

Well i have an irrational fear of slugs, because one slimed me so horribly i couldn't wash it off for hours, i was probably 8 or 9. but i've learned to deal with it to some degree, still pretty disgusting things though. i now have three giant African landsnails in my care, and as sickening as the slime is, i've gotten over the fear just by having them around. even slugs in the garden don't "panic" me anymore.

To be honest, that spider you met in Australia sounds like a typical orb weaving spider. those are harmless. however, you'd be right to be nervous of spiders or anything in Ozzie land...everything there is venomous...even the platypii (disclaimer: that is not meant to be a factual statement, just a good natured mick take...otherwise i'd be as bad as Taggart!!!)!

The fear of spiders is a strange one, i think to some degree programmed in by the attitudes of parents etc passed down. if i ever have kids, i'll start them off early with the knowledge that spiders are our friends. that's one of the things i was taught (despite my mum being phobic) that caused me to love and respect inverts including spiders.

This is also why (returning to the topic now, Colin!) i try whenever possible to relay knowledge and facts to people who want to talk about my pets, whether they're scared or not. nearly everyone is interested to some degree, and some people at the office even ask me how they're doing!

[Tracy Sherwood-Farnfield]

I am not entirley sure what my friends think of my keeping a T....I haven't seen any of them for a while....

lol, actually it is not as bad as all that really, most of my friends I made during my jaunts at Uni so are now spread across all corners of the lamd so we don't meet up all that regularly. A few have said they would not come and stay now, but I am sure it is all talk.

One of my husband's 6th form students did ask if Ruby (my G rosea) had had her fangs removed, but realised the error of her ways when my husband explained that they are not like 'teeth' and are a more physical part of the T's anatomy and that it might have a hard time feeding without them. Most of them also assume she is HUGE and feeds on rats and small kittens! I blame Eight Legged Freaks! I have promised to take her into school to meet them at some point, after all they did chose her name.

The other Q I get a lot is whether or not I hold her. I explain that it is not my intention to handle her, although at some point necessity may dictate that I will for either her safety or mine, as it would be stressful for her (and is quite contrary to BTS guidelines too!). Most seem happy with that.

My boss always claims that if I bought her into work she would drop a book on her, which I think is a little drastic, afterall there are animals and other invertebrates that I am not overly fond of but I wouldn't go as far as killing them, I may have to resort to getting someone else to remove them to a place of safety (woodlice and silver fish rate highly on this, but I am sure that this is because I usually spot them out of the corner of my eye in the bathroom AFTER I have sat down...).

I have always been fond of spiders, I have a large collection of cuddly toy spiders, which m,y friends thought was starnge enough so I suppose they were not completely surprised when my dad bought me Ruby. All spiders can find a haven in my house, we even have a 'wing mirror' spider living on the car. (my friends thinking my cuddly spider collection is strange however, may have more to do with the fact that they all have names, voices and designated personalities......)

Ruby will be recieving her first visitors this weekend when my parents come to stay, we then have some friends coming for Easter so I shall keep you posted!

[Andrew Ferguson]

I'm sure somebody in this thread said, their response would be:

"don't want a dog and fish tend to die alot unless you get their water just right"

That is definetely an answer I have got to remember if anybody asks me again. I just can't find who wrote it in the first place.

Tom, I wrote in this thread this.

I often say I don't want a dog and I tend to kill goldsfish. That usually leaves them stumped!

Maybe that's what you were thinking of? And by all means, feel free to use it in conversation.

[Taki Tsonis]

I would have to say that the initial reaction depends on the individual. A few people run away screaming, but the majority are quite curious. Also seeing my 7 yr old son handling all of them with aplomb generally puts their minds at ease.
In fact, most friends & family eventually contemplate getting tarantulas eventually .
My boys are also quite 'awe'd' at school. And we often get phonecalls at wierd hours asking for advice on 'monster spiders' that classmates, teachers, friends & family find in their homes.
So overall a very positve experience!

p.s. To the ones that are sceptical or afraid, I generally tell them 'I get bitten by every second parrot but have NEVER been bitten by a tarantula!'

[Richard Shah]

I'm sure somebody in this thread said, their response would be:

"don't want a dog and fish tend to die alot unless you get their water just right"

That is definetely an answer I have got to remember if anybody asks me again. I just can't find who wrote it in the first place.


Well I thought I would add my weird view on this topic too and you will see what I mean by weird.
The original post says, how do people react to your pet tarantula and then people go on to explain why they have got "spiders".

I had 2 very scary experiences with spiders growing up that will make me dislike spiders for ever. No I should say 3 really. I just remembered the time I nearly lost my fingers on my right hand because my sister had spotted a spider so she slams the door shut with my fingers wedged between it. I start screaming, she starts pushing harder...

Anyway, my point is I won't ever like daddy long legs or any of the other "true" spiders and can understand people's dislike to their long spindley legs.

I have however really come to like Tarantulas and they are completely different animals if you ask me.


The other two incidences will mean nothing to you, writing about them here but they still stand out vividly in my mind.
The first incidence was when I was 10 and one of the biggest spiders I had ever seen decided to run up my pyjama leg. That casued nightmares for a while I can tell you.
The second incidence was on Frasier island in Australia. You get proper nasty looking red or yellow on black spiders out there.
Anyway, I got lost in the woods and decided to take a shortcut to the beach instead of stick to the path. I was jogging for about 5 minutes when I saw a clearing up ahead. I carry on jogging, just jogging,....
then I suddenly freeze.
I wasn't too sure why but my body decided to stop deadstill on the spot. It took me a few seconds to focus and then I noticed why.

I had stopped cms short of running face first into a big web with one of those black and yellow spiders sitting right in the middle of the web. I'm soo glad my instinct told me to stop there because I really had not seen it and getting that on my face could have been a) potentially dangerous and b) would have scarred me worse than any other incident beforehand. I then had a look at this clearing I had stumbled into and saw a good 100 of these evil looking spiders sitting in their respective webs. I made a hasty retreat and thanked "god" I got away with that one.

Yeh what you said about true spiders and crane flies, I can NEVER like them Tarantulas are quite different to them!
Some pretty crazy incidents lol.

James, lol at your first sentence.
I'm going to say I used to kill Spiders, not proudly though, and only until maybe last summer I stopped because I realized it is quite cruel, due to my sister's bf and so now I trap them underneath a glass and throw them outside.