Introductions!

[Paul Hadgett]

Hi there folks. My name is Paul and I'm older than I want to be but still act like a child - especially when I'm riding my mountan bike down rocky mountains hanging on with fear in my eyes! I'm a CNC Programmer/Operator making bike parts and other general engineering bits but it's mostly bike parts so my job is basically like working in a sweet shop making nice shiny things for my bikes. I've been interested in all things outdoors all my life and I love animals, especially the less "normal" ones and so hence my hobby with spiders and reptiles. I've only recently started keeping spiders but I want to learn more about them, about where they live, their habit and their survival in the wild. I don't want to just "keep" them and read "care sheets" but I want to know a lot more about them - I hope. I was recommended by a fellow BTS member who is also a mountain biker and would like to say thenks Pete Mosca for the heads up and I hope to have many happy days on the forum with you guys and girls

My current collection includes the following -

Poecilotheria metallica 0.0.1
Poecilotheria ornata 0.0.1
Poecilotheria regalis 0.0.1
Grammostola rosea 1.1.0
Grammostola pulchripes 1.0.0
Pterinochilus murinus 0.0.1
Euathlus pulcherrmaklassi "Blue Femur" 0.1.0
Brachypelma smithi 0.1.0
Brachypelma bohemi 0.0.2
Avicularia sp "Purple Peru" Pink Toe 0.1.0
Nhandu chromatus 1.0.0

also on there way are the following -

Heteroscodra maculata 0.0.1 - cheers Pete
Brachypelma albopilosum 0.0.1

All the best and seasons greetings to you all

Paul

[James Box]

welcome, Paul, Marco, Mellisa and Guy!
hope you enjoy it here.
it's a bit slow, but you'll get good, friendly advice here, and a chance to show off your pets. still my favourite forum!

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Paul, welcome to the forum, I'm sure you'll find lots to interest you

[Carole Dallison]

Hi Paul. Welcome aboard

[mark caborn]

hi there names mark im from derby im fairly new to the world of Ts i currently have B.Smithi x2 B.Emillia G.Rosea RCF A.Bicolouratum
A.New River but it dont stop there plenty more to come my next will be a rio grande gold

[Carole Dallison]

Hi Mark. Welcome to the forum.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Mark, welcome to the forum, I was going to mention collecting T's can be addictive, but it looks like you've already found that out lol,

[mark caborn]

cheers for the welcome yes ive found out im an addict lol

[matthew king]

hi guys,

im new on here, i went to the show last year and wanted to join ever since and now i have.

i have been keeping inverts for a good 4 years now, started with a few snails then got some more, then 2 years ago my sisters boyfriend had a T and kept it in very poor conditions so i brought it of him and then i thought there alot more inverts out there that are availible. then for about 4 months i research loads watched robc and jon3800 and then got more and more. Its funny first week i got my first T she moulted so it all happened at once.

now i have 22 Ts 2 spiders, 2 scorps and a centipede. sadly gave away my snails not as good as Ts!

and now i got my oldman into Ts and he has 3 now

take care everyone,

[Carole Dallison]

Welcome to the club Mathew.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Matthew, welcome to the forum

[krystophe lamont]

hello all,

im just signed up so thought i should get my introductions out of the way!

well i have been keeping inverts for about 25 years, and in that time i have kept all sorts of things.
for the last few years i have reduced my collection to just a few inverts that i keep in culture.

the main reason im here is i presantly dont own a single T!!!! i plan to remedy this sitation shortly as i now have the time and space for a few tarantulas.

any ways i am glad to be here and look forward to meeting you all!

in any case here is my current list, nothing special mostly UK natives... i have odd tastes!

true spiders
steatoda nobilis and grossa
scytodes thoracica
dysdera crocata

other inverts
anisolabis littoria
forficula auricularia
phyllocrania paradoxa
lithobius forficatus

feeders
blatta lateralis
collembola sp
drosophila melanogaster and hydei
Callosobruchus maculatus

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Krystophe, welcome to the forum, glad to see you're going to rectify your shortage of T's

[Colin D Wilson]

Nothing wrong with UK natives Krystophe.

Spiders, earwigs are fine.... not keen on any style of centipedes myself cos i'm a wuss

You may be able to help me out later in the year if you can find Dysdera crocata and S nobilis... i'm on a mission to replenish the woodland up here with a few certain species that are now sadly dwindling, got S grossa spiderlings sorted out for introduction in the near future.

[krystophe lamont]

no problem. when my nobilis start making egg sacks this spring i will post some to you if you like. and yeah what is it with crocata? i used to see them all the time and now they are really tough to find its taken me ages just to gather up the few i have. i had moderate success with breeding last year. i am hoping for greater luck this year, if i have spare egg sacks i will let you know.
hey dont discount the lithos! really remarkable, i used to keep exotic pedes, but the expence and diffuculty in supply slowly wore me out. i came across a lovely litho when out bug hunting and thought why not? they are really cool, i prefer them to the exotics in behaviour and sure they arnt huge (not necasarily a bad thing) or bright blue, but they are big enough to easily watch and the shades of orange and red are really quite lovely. sadly they are not very long lived though most making only a year or two...

heh yeah earwigs a lot of people think im nuts for keeping them, but the brood care is just to cool to miss! and the littorea are proper beasts!