Alistair wrote: Hi Guys and Ladies,

I'm new (obviously), name is Alistair. I've been curious about getting a T for about 3 or 4 months now and just recently a friend of mine started collecting them, which has reignited my enthusiasm for the idea. ...

I am hardly what you would call "local," although I am from the same planet (barely). But, for almost all tarantulas that's close enough.

Much more important than where to get tarantulas is how you're going to take care of them when you do get them. Before going out and spending a ton of money on a lot of useless hardware, based on someone's harebrained concepts of tarantula care, or getting a high priced tarantula that tries to bite every time you get near, I urge you to read the entire Spiders, Calgary website. It's a lot of reading, but you have over a half billion years of evolution to catch up on. Take your time, don't try to read it all in one evening. People have reported semi-permanent brain damage from doing so.

There are several things I need to point out, however. Firstly, that website is written primarily for northern hemisphere enthusiasts because the vast majority of them live ...(you guessed it!)... in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus, since you're on the other side of the planet, you needn't worry a lot about hemisphere shifts with Chilean roses, for instance.

Secondly, that website and the suggestions for tarantula care are not the only ones that will work. BUT, they're the only ones that will work 99.5% percent of the time. As a newbie, follow those instructions to the letter at first, regardless of what you see on the 'Net or in other books. After you've had one or two tarantulas for a year or so you can start experimenting gently with different methods and tricks.

Thirdly, don't try to do it all at once! Start out with only one or two especially hardy kinds and work with them for a few months. Then, if you're still interested, get another kind that's a little harder to care for or requires a different care regimen. Most of the joy of keeping tarantulas isn't owning thousands. That's just drudgery! It's the joy of getting one at a time and becoming intimately familiar with it before moving on. It's the journey that's fun, not the arrival!

Fourthly, tarantulas are intellectual pets. Mostly, it'll just sit there and stare back at you. It's the subtle things that matter most with them, things you have to sit around and think deep thoughts about to truly understand. More often than not, what they're NOT doing is more important than what they are doing! If you need a pet that's constantly ricocheting around a cage, get a canary!

Lastly, read as many of the books mentioned in Stan's Rant as you can lay your hands on. Those books and the Spiders, Calgary website will get you up the steepest part of the learning curve most quickly. It's after that, that the fun really starts!

Hope this helps. Best of luck.


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YOU NEED TO BE REPROGRAMMED! Yes, this is really, truly, profoundly correct! While you may have developed some proficiency at the proper care of aquarium fish, turtles or lizards, parakeets, gerbils, and even the family dog or cat (although there is some genuine question about who has who as a pet with these), you need to set all those prejudices and practices aside, and start again with a clean slate.

-- The Tarantula Keeper's Guide, Edition Four , S. A. Schultz (In process.)
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