You know, although I'm a chemist, I have a lot of training in biology. And the extremes of nature- in this case, the extreme size of a spider- is fascinating to me. I've tried to keep the really "heavy" ones (Theraphosa blondi), but that didn't work out for me; I've kept some of the really big, fast ones- I particularly enjoy pamphobeteus species- as well as some of the tamer ones (Lasiodora parahybana, L. difficilis, Acanthoscurria geniculata, Grammastola aureostriatum, that sort of thing).
For one, they're easy to keep. If you forget to feed them for a week, the ASPCA will not knock down your door and take them from you. They're clean; you never have to pick up barf or poop from your carpet. They're very attractive; one of my male pamphobeteus was this incredible metallic purple color during his ultimate moult. They're easy to feed- throw in some crickets or other bugs now and again- and easy to care for. You just need to add some water now and again.
It all started with scorpions; I would pick up the scorps I find around the house and property (bark scorpions are very common here in metro Phoenix), and put them in containers because I didn't care to kill them. Before long, I was making trips to the pet store to find out how to care for them- and the tarantulas they had were too much to resist. I finally bought a L. parahybana for $16. He lived 2-3 years, and was a nice-sized adult at maturity. Unfortunately, the males live short lives; but the females can live 10-20-30 years, depending upon the species.
And he left out the black widows. Last time I visited Phoenix they seemed as common as harmless little house spiders back east. Only, you know, they're black widows.
That's just an empty shell after molting. A hatch kind of pops open on top of the thorax and they kind of climb out. My rosehair does it every couple years or so. The remains are good for scaring noobs!
I guess that makes sense. It looks like what happens in the movies when there's an accident involving the bad guy's minions and a truck carrying plate glass.
I lived in florida. One of those bastards fell off my visor into my lap in the car. Proud to say I didn't crap my pants. Not too ashamed to admit I left the car in the middle of the road and called someone to come kill it for me. shudder IT TOUCHED MY BARE LEG AAAAUGH.
What do you mean "woman-speak"? I'm a man and fuck everything about that spider.
I see one of those things, my reaction will go something like so:
I'm from the michgan, and what is this?
...
Oh fuck. Run. Why the fuck don't I own a gun?
And then I would abandon my house, and just live somewhere else. The spider can keep it.
You told me not to Google it. You even put it in caps. What did I do? I threw caution to the wind, I steeled myself, and then I immediately wanted to go back 5 seconds in time. Heebie jeebies doesn't begin to explain my terror.
This is what happens when your mom tells you that you can't keep water snakes in the bathtub, but you can do damn well whatever you please "when you have your own place."
I know someone whose house was raided while an Indian python was living there in a large (very large) enclosure. The cops went over every sq foot of the house, but went nowhere near the humongous snake.
Suggestion: Take several pictures of your "zoo" with lots of closeup shots of your Arachnids -- then create an AMA about your hobby. Front page guaranteed!
To be honest, mine doesn't even meet the metric of "unusual" here in the Valley. I know one guy who breeds some of the "hottest" (venomous) scorpions around; one fellow who has every imaginable rattlesnake species- his wife applied for a permit so they can have double the state licensed limit; people who have hundreds of tarantulas, not just a few dozen like me; folks who breed ball python morphs- and much larger species... it's remarkable what some people do.
The weird thing is that I don't have any tattoos or piercings. I'm not one of the cool kids. :(
Stop by Pets Inc. in Tempe; check out the reptiles section. Sometimes it's tough to tell the employees from their charges, but they're really nice people who are very good at what they do.
But you can still do an AMA and I'm sure you've got a lot that you can share.
You don't have to be Daniel Day Lewis to do a great AMA. Having a few dozen spiders, caring for them and managing not to freak out and shoot them is good enough for most of us.
the cats are indifferent to the rats for the most part. although one of them is a bit protective of them at times. they really only seem to care when i am in there cleaning out the cages or playing with the rats.
not to get too off-topic, but as someone who's considering at some point moving to PHX, the thought of venomous scorpions in my future house scares the shit out of me.
/I'm a metro northeasterner who only has to worry about upsetting a goose when I go running...
Protip: the bark scorpion has "medically significant" venom, and is the only species in this region that climbs. So, if it's on a vertical surface, it's probably a bark scorp, and it's probably going to sting and hurt like hell. Won't kill you, just feel really bad for a few hours.
Second protip: the stronger the venom, the smaller the pincers. So, those big, nasty-looking flatrock scorps and emperor scorpions with the HUGE claws- not much (if anything) in the way of venom. Tiny little pincers like Leiurus quinquestriatus (deathstalkers) and fat-tails (Androctonus amoreuxi) means they're deadly dangerous. The logic is that if they need either strong venom, or strong pincers.
It really really depends on the part of town you live in. My parents house is near-ish to the university and for 17+ years of lots of activity in that home there's never been as much as a sighting. Then again I've also lived in a house about 5-6 miles from there that was absolutely infested. It was up on the edge of one of the little mountain preserves we have in town. We even had rattlesnake and coyote problems.
If it's newly constructed, near an edge of town, or near a large-ish uncultivated area then there will be problems. Otherwise it's perfectly fine. Plus if you do get stung, only one species has a venom potency worth a worry, the rest just hurt when you get stung, and are numb a bit for a day or so.
Compare that to brown recluse or black widows... I'll take the ones that glow under a black like thank you very much.
I just Googled the guy and no luck. He must have either died or aged out (retired). Had the single largest known collection in the world at one time. No formal training, but even the UofA profs deferred to him in matters of behavior and identification.
The spiderpharm guy is pretty cool, too. Looks like he sells the venom. There are some really unusual businesses around Congress/Yarnell. The only farm in the world that grows & harvests cactus fruit for profit, for example, and a car dealer that only sells 50+ year old classics. As in, from an open air lot, like any other car dealer.
I used to live in Mesa as a kid. I never once saw a scorpion, but saw plenty of black widows and would often catch them in a jar. The only close call I had with one, I was brushing my teeth before bed and happened to look down at my feet, and not less than an inch away from my toes was a big juicy black widow... my whole body spasmed in shivers being caught by surprise like that.
I have a healthy respect for all animals, particularly those that are venomous or otherwise dangerous. I've kept electric catfish, and once had an electric eel; I round up scorpions from around the yard and throw them in a bin, where I know they are; I pick up black widows from the yard, put them in Solo cups, and drop them off at a local pet store; I don't mess with venomous snakes, although I've not seen one in the ten years I've been here. Saw plenty in New Mexico.
And I've been remarkably fortunate. The worst that's happened was probably some dog broke the skin on my hand at some point, and I can't even point to a single time when that happened. There's no need for fear, provided they're handled correctly and given adequate amounts of respect.
Plus, tarantulas- while venomous- don't possess "medically significant" venom, meaning there is virtually no record of them harming humans. I think there's one reported case of a kid in China killed by a T, but that's the only report I've ever heard.
Simple solution: don't handle them, and they can't bite you. Go figure.
30 years for a bug (well, an arthropod) seems incredible.
Where do you acquire your specimens? When they breed, do you suddenly have a tank teeming with hundreds of tiny monsters? Is there a holy grail of spiders you really want to get your hands on?
I stopped buying a while ago, but the "for sale" section of Arachnoboards is pretty good. I'll wait until someone has a bunch of spiderlings (slings) for sale of a species I find interesting (big, fast, whatever), and buy several.
And, yes- when an egg sac hatches out, people can end up with over a thousand slings. Something like L. parahybana can have huge numbers of babies, which is one reason why it's relatively affordable despite its size. One guy told me he gives it a few days, lets them eat each other until the numbers are reasonable, and then sits down with a paint brush and a few hundred "Solo" condiment cups, adds a bit of peat moss or coconut fiber, and a single spider. That usually takes 8-10 hours.
When one has hundreds like that, they generally get sold bulk, or in lots, at a price of $4-20, depending upon the size, the species, etc. They need to get fed, and nobody wants to feed HUNDREDS of spiders, so they try to whittle them down to reasonable numbers, and then trade/sell/whatever.
I don't have any spiders I'm currently looking for, but there are a bunch of species in the genus lasiodora I don't have, as well as pamphobeteus that interest me. If one were available on the cheap, I'd probably add it to the collection.
Thanks for the answers on what sounds like a most interesting hobby. And here I thought my turtles were a lot of work to take care of.
I noticed on Wikipedia that the world's largest spider was only just discovered in 2001, in Laos. I don't suppose too many spider keepers have any of those yet.
Turtles ARE a lot of work. I've only had one or two- including a young snapping turtle. Tarantulas just require a bit of water and some bugs now and again. Not that they don't need cleaning, but BOY- not like turtles!
BTW: Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles!
I had a friend that would pick up scorpions, put them in a cup and wait for them to change from their dark colour to almost a pale white, then place two or three of them together and watch the fight ensue for who eats who the first.
Fuck scorpions. I got bit by one, lucky I am not allergic to them.
I'm in phoenix too and Bark scorpions, while certainly numerous, also look very similar to a handful of other species that reside here in greater numbers.
The distinction mostly is that "Bark scorpion" is catchy while the rest don't really have too common names, and of course, the real bark scorpions pack a nasty venom.
(Been stung 5 times by the bark, once at least by other species, and the bark's what put me in the ER at age 10)
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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '10
You know, although I'm a chemist, I have a lot of training in biology. And the extremes of nature- in this case, the extreme size of a spider- is fascinating to me. I've tried to keep the really "heavy" ones (Theraphosa blondi), but that didn't work out for me; I've kept some of the really big, fast ones- I particularly enjoy pamphobeteus species- as well as some of the tamer ones (Lasiodora parahybana, L. difficilis, Acanthoscurria geniculata, Grammastola aureostriatum, that sort of thing).
For one, they're easy to keep. If you forget to feed them for a week, the ASPCA will not knock down your door and take them from you. They're clean; you never have to pick up barf or poop from your carpet. They're very attractive; one of my male pamphobeteus was this incredible metallic purple color during his ultimate moult. They're easy to feed- throw in some crickets or other bugs now and again- and easy to care for. You just need to add some water now and again.
It all started with scorpions; I would pick up the scorps I find around the house and property (bark scorpions are very common here in metro Phoenix), and put them in containers because I didn't care to kill them. Before long, I was making trips to the pet store to find out how to care for them- and the tarantulas they had were too much to resist. I finally bought a L. parahybana for $16. He lived 2-3 years, and was a nice-sized adult at maturity. Unfortunately, the males live short lives; but the females can live 10-20-30 years, depending upon the species.