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New forum member from the US
Hi everyone, I'm Kathie and I live in the US, west coast (California). I'm a retired nurse. I've been an animal lover my whole life, but my idea of "fur kids" never included furry little tarantulas.
Now, due to a request by a neighbor to baby-sit her tarantula while she's out of the country for 2 months (she's a school teacher, and this is the class tarantula), I've been studying about them. I've been reading forums, and I'm halfway through "The Tarantula Keeper's Guide" by Stanley and Marguerite Schultz.
In the past, looking at pic's of tarantulas made me shudder -- I've never liked looking at insects or spiders. I'm not afraid of them, it's just a physical response. Couldn't even watch documentaries about insects or spiders.
But --- now after a couple of weeks looking at photos of tarantulas, I'm appreciating their beauty and the beauty of their pure instinctual drive to survive, both as a species and as individuals. What I considered ugly has become beautiful ... I'm reminded of an observation by Pamela Colman Smith, an early 20th century artist and writer: "Ugliness is beauty, but with a difference, a nobleness that speaks through all the hard crust of convention."
So I'm very close to agreeing to care for "Tranchie" (named by my neighbor's first grade students). I have a major reservation about this. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm not sure I can get over my aversion to insects,
and obviously this will hamper my ability to feed Tranchie. Later today I plan to ask for advice about this problem in your discussion forum.
I really want to get over this, because I've actually been looking at online breeders / sellers of tarantulas, and I'm fixated on the idea of getting a G. pulchra and a B. smithi ! When I heard myself say "beautiful" the first time I saw a photo of a G. pulchra, I thought, uh oh, I feel an obsession coming on.
So anyway, hello to all, and this seems like a nice place to talk about tarantulas.
--Kathie
Hi everyone, I'm Kathie and I live in the US, west coast (California). I'm a retired nurse. I've been an animal lover my whole life, but my idea of "fur kids" never included furry little tarantulas.
Now, due to a request by a neighbor to baby-sit her tarantula while she's out of the country for 2 months (she's a school teacher, and this is the class tarantula), I've been studying about them. I've been reading forums, and I'm halfway through "The Tarantula Keeper's Guide" by Stanley and Marguerite Schultz. In the past, looking at pic's of tarantulas made me shudder -- I've never liked looking at insects or spiders. I'm not afraid of them, it's just a physical response. Couldn't even watch documentaries about insects or spiders.
But --- now after a couple of weeks looking at photos of tarantulas, I'm appreciating their beauty and the beauty of their pure instinctual drive to survive, both as a species and as individuals. What I considered ugly has become beautiful ... I'm reminded of an observation by Pamela Colman Smith, an early 20th century artist and writer: "Ugliness is beauty, but with a difference, a nobleness that speaks through all the hard crust of convention."
So I'm very close to agreeing to care for "Tranchie" (named by my neighbor's first grade students). I have a major reservation about this. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm not sure I can get over my aversion to insects,
and obviously this will hamper my ability to feed Tranchie. Later today I plan to ask for advice about this problem in your discussion forum. I really want to get over this, because I've actually been looking at online breeders / sellers of tarantulas, and I'm fixated on the idea of getting a G. pulchra and a B. smithi ! When I heard myself say "beautiful" the first time I saw a photo of a G. pulchra, I thought, uh oh, I feel an obsession coming on.
So anyway, hello to all, and this seems like a nice place to talk about tarantulas.
--Kathie
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