5 DANGEROUS Ideas DESTROYING the Tarantula Hobby!

This week, I am counting down the Top 5 Ideas or Beliefs that are slowly destroying the tarantula hobby. Whether these concepts are old and outdated, misinformed, or just factually incorrect, these are 5 things I believed when I first started keeping tarantulas that I have since learned were not correct despite them being the accepted facts by most people. Sometimes, we only think something or do something because it is what we were told early on. But as scientific research continues and more people share their experiences keeping tarantulas, new concepts and better care evolve, and we must be willing to learn and grow as well. With more self awareness and a better understanding of tarantulas and their environment, we can adjust our care, attitudes, and beliefs to give tarantulas a better life both in captivity and in the wild!

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[BirdNerdSophie]

Thank you for talking about not buying wild caught tarantulas! Buying wild caught is such a strange concept - for other species types, it's super frowned upon (and often illegal!), and yet with inverts it seems so normal! I refuse to buy any of my inverts from places that sell wild caught animals! Great video! 🕷🕸

[nyarlathotep]

"Just because you love something doesn't mean you have to own it" is some deep relationship advice.

[messymu]

I love this, especially the focus on husbandry. I keep seeing people say they don't need much space, but my OBT has an enclosure "larger than he needs" and I've never had any defensive behavior out of him. I think a lot of the super defensive behavior people see comes from inadequate housing.

[GabbityGabby]

My parents also said “no spiders or snakes” when I was growing up. Guess what my house is now full of. 😂 Anyway, great video Richard!

[ji]

Loved hearing you talk about being cognizant of how other people in the home may feel about arachnids. I haven't even kept my first T yet because I've been keeping jumpers which started out as my way of getting everyone in my house more comfortable with arachnids. Now everyone is in love with the jumpers and I see tarantulas on the horizon (:

[ardenlynch]

My dad has been afraid of spiders for years. I helped show him how they are generally peaceful animals and he finally held a jumping spider a couple months ago. Now he is on board with getting some Ts!

[ReachOutReptiles]

This is a tough kind of video to make in a positive way, while pushing against the status quo. You did it very well- great job!

[notheothersarah]

I've been keeping since 1993 when I got one as a birthday present, and I totally agree with your enrichment and all the points. I have had 2 ladies live with me over 20 years, they are wonderful and I have becoming more sophisticated in my husbandry. The information available now is incredible. We have to evolve
Edit: I am just a custodian to my tarantulas, not a breeder or professional

[rodneysteenekamp]

You're raising some pretty good points here. I have always subscribed to the same ideas as most tarantula keepers that tarantulas do not think or learn and only respond instinctively. But a while back I was watching one of my Ts burrow. It dug some substrate out, carried it to the opposite corner of it's enclosure, and came straight back to continue digging. It carried on doing this for several hours. And I was left wondering. If they can not think or learn at all, how was it capable of dumping each batch of substrate on the exact same spot and walk straight back to it's burrow time after time without ever getting lost or even slightly disoriented.

[thatonelonghairedguy]

About a year and a half ago I made a comment thanking you for what you do, me being a pet store worker and all. Now, my boss just hands me the form for tarantula orders and tells me go at it. If not for you I wouldnt be able to give people information they never knew, and I wouldnt be where I am in my tarantula knowledge. So thank you again. :)

[buffruhdy]

One of my favorite research projects about tarantula intelligence is the discovery of the strange behavior they develop when their needs are met. A completely fulfilled tarantula (one with all their food, shelter, and heat needs met) will develop behavioral syndromes that manifest as behaviors that have no real impact upon the spiders health/shelter/safety. They just kinda do it to do it. Things like moving their decor around for no reason or studying the objects in their enclosure with their fangs. These tarantulas also show a substantial decrease in defensive behavior and are more responsive to food. It’s something many arthropods will actually develop under ideal conditions.

[tyto_alba]

Keeping all my animals in naturalistic enclosures, it's very interesting to see for example my p. ornata is moving branches to scare roaches underneath and force them to leave their hide. Or my sun tiger walking around its enclosure at night. There's much to see if there's a lot of enrichment. Also my geckos and snakes are very vivid and my cornsnakes are already 18 years old and still perfectly fit

[angela_tarantulas]

Thank you Richard, for speaking out loud 🎉 I agree with you!

I do keep so called „boring“ species. My dream is a Brachypelma project, to safe the several species - as I’m in Europe, I can’t bring them out to the wild. But we can breed popular species to keep people from taking it out of the wild.

I‘m a long time keeper, my enclosures are naturalistic and not squeeky clean. I’m interested in their real living and what they do…

Maybe I‘ll have success to breed several Brachypelma species, future will tell…

Love your content, Richard 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[IRUNWITSCISSORZ]

as someone that just recently got into the hobby this is a great video! definitely agree with you when you talked about enclosure size. I've caught so much flax for keeping some of mine in bigger enclosures then "needed" but I've notice a lot after rehoming and adding some LED lights they come out and explore a lot more. I fully believe they learn patterns my Homoeomma chilensis, Hapalopus sp. Columbia and Brachypelma emilia will all come out and wait to to be given food every Saturday and not just randomly come out they will come out with in an hour give or take before the typical time I usually feed. no doubt in my mind and this is my opinion that they are by far more intelligent then we believe or give credit there is a reason they have been around for 20 million years. like people hate on the idea of giving some species Ping-Pong balls because they thing its an egg sac only so what they seem to like it and interact with it and there is no proof that it hurts anything do why not what does it hurt i think in time we will learn a lot more surprising and mind blowing facts about them we never imagined.

[jasmineschol_]

Late to the party with this video but I had to comment as you raised super important points that everyone should be willing to listen to!
Husbandry/setup has always been a big thing for me with all pets, but especially T’s. I see so many people say that no T needs a space bigger than 30x30x30cm because ‘they will never use it’… and whilst that may be true for some T’s.. if you actually spend time watching their behaviour and patterns, you’ll find that a lot do and would use a lot more space than that. For example, at the moment I only have 10 T’s.. all of the adults are in 45x45x30cm enclosures.. and all but one use every single inch of it!
The one that doesn’t use the space I’m thinking of downsizing as he just doesn’t seem to be thriving in that size.. but all the others prove time after time that if you provide the space/enrichment and a good layout, they will utilise it all! I often find the same when it comes to species. I try to provide a mix of everything in all my enclosures. All of my T’s are terrestrial, however I provide deep enough substrate for them to burrow (which majority of them do).. and logs and sticks for them to climb (safely with substrate raised higher towards the back so there’s nowhere to fall) and again, most utilise those opportunities.

Also fully agree with the wild caught sentiment. There is absolutely no need in this day & age to be selling wild caught. Different subject matter if it’s for conservation efforts and to re-release.. but for the pet trade - absolutely not. There is more than enough captive breds to continue the Tarantula hobby without needing to bring in more, no matter how cool new species might be

[miparo]

Very good points all of these and I hope at least the majority of keepers will agree with you!
Personally I was a reptile keeper who also got curious about tarantulas and it was a very weird experience to see bare bones keeping and smaller enclosures getting recommended for Ts.

[ScaleValley_SFV]

I love this video.

These ideas are all very similar to many Ball Python keepers believes.

Similar to what you’re saying about enrichment is stirring the hobby, old school keepers and breeders say BPs are fine in tubs with no lights or enrichment, but newer keepers are using new research to make husbandry decisions. Bigger enclosures and a lot of enrichment. Heck, people used to think they were strictly terrestrial, but now we know better.

[XfiverX]

I bought a new tarantula that I'd wanted for several years, spent a lot on making elaborate enclosure, spent some time decorating and arranging it just so, and then she bulldozed the entire thing and made an enormous web mat that covered the entire enclosure. I'd agree that we shouldn't skimp on enclosures, but at the same time, I'm not sure that it's worth stressing too much over.

[Kageoni]

I get so stoked to find new things to change up babies’s enclosures. I find mine are spending more time just out and about when they have more space and natural environment. I know that they can’t reciprocate my feelings but I still tell them they are beautiful and find joy in caring for them.

[nightingaleseraph]

I like using sterilite tubs for my tropical inverts, but I also like to use cork bark, moss and leaf litter as well as cleanup crews. I feel like a lot of people just use them as a mud box and call it a day, though.