I'm curious about the history of tarantula keeping

[Allthingsterrarium]

Hey everybody! I have to say that since raising reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, insects and other terrarium animals is one of my greatest passions that I am naturally curious about how it all started. I mean people, especially kids have been catching and trying to keep small animals pretty much forever but I'm talking about the organized terrarium culture and professional breeding as we see it today. I would assume the hobby as we know it was largely in it's infancy around the early 70s because that's when I heard bearded dragons for one thing were first imported and by then we had developed better lighting, heating and humidity solutions and I've heard of certain species like leopard geckos living into their 20s. Before the 70s the keeping of these animals at least from what I've noticed seems by comparison to today rare. I know a lot of people had turtles from pretty early on and occasionally you would see someone with a large boa constrictor and sometimes rich people and circus performers would have an alligator or something but again that's nothing compared to the 2000s. Tarantulas however are on of the biggest enigmas to me because even today many people think they are the scariest creepy crawlies out there even though most are harmless. No doubt this fear was added to by the monster movies of the 50s and 60s. I would think tarantulas especially are a more recent phenomenon for the pet community but then again I talked to some guy who answered some tarantula questions I had before I even got one who had been around them for 40 years which again points to the early 70s and I've even heard of females of the mexican red knee which is of course a very long lived species reaching close to 40 years of age in captivity so obviously people must have been keeping them for a while in order to measure such a life span. Once again back in the 50s and 60s live tarantulas were being used as props in scary movies so clearly there must have been some captive tarantulas in captivity at the though whether or not they were captive bred is questionable. Basically does anybody know anything about how long people have been raising tarantulas as a serious hobby and not just an occasional novelty back in the day? Enlighten me

 

[Enn49]

I have a book called The Tarantula written by William J. Baerg and published originally back in 1958 (republished in 1997). The writer talks about his study of tarantulas in the wild and he kept some in captivity to study their behavior. He talks about studying them as far back as the 1918 purely from curiosity, as he says not scientific. He talks of keeping them in his home and office. Maybe he was the first to keep them as pets.

It's a book worth reading if you can get hold of it, not too long and an easy read. There is a list of the reclassified Ts he mentions in the 1997 edition but even that is out of date now.

 

[Phil]

What a great post. I too have the book that Enn mentions and from the variius discussions I have had over the years, it seems like the 70s was also when tarantula keeping started to kick off, certainly in the statds anyway, as this caused the mexican red knee to be listed on CITES as it had been desimated in the wild to meet the demand of the growing pet trade. They still command high money now even though they are all pretty much captive bred these days. I got into tarantulas as a progression from fish keeping/breeding in the late 80s/early 90s when the pet store owner I was friendly with started to branch out into "exotics". My first spider was also a mexican red knee. Europe seems to be really hot on thr hobby especially in Poland and Germany and ther is a strong following in the UK. Many of which are members here.....myself included.
I do hope iit is a hobby that grows and grows but not at the expense of over collecting in the wild. There certainly seems to be many many more species available in the hobby and given that some of them are absolutely stunning, I hope more and more people get to enjoy them. I tried to educate people on the wonder of Ts and other exotics when the pet store owner mentioned earlier, and myself, used to run creepy crawly roadshows at schools and scouts etc. I really enjoyed that. Kids werre fine, but most teachers were in sheer panic!

 

[Phil]

.....update, just to show about how much I love spiders. Just watched Charlotte's web with my girls and had a little tear at the sad bit when she died

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

.....update, just to show about how much I love spiders. Just watched Charlotte's web with my girls and had a little tear at the sad bit when she died

Aw that's adorable And yeah I know what you mean about the teachers freaking out. I know several people that would freak if I introduced them to mine. Even my Dad's a bit uncomfortable being in the same room I hope more people realize they are nothing to be afraid of and realize the true beauty of these magnificent and fascinating in so many ways yet highly misunderstood animals. (heck that's coming from me, the guy who's horrified by harmless moths. Demon spawn butterfly wannabes) But yes, I hope more and more animals start to catch people's interest enough to start captive breeding them so there will be even more diversity. I'm sure in the next 20 years there will be animals on the market we wouldn't have dreamed we'd ever be keeping now.

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

I have a book called The Tarantula written by William J. Baerg and published originally back in 1958 (republished in 1997). The writer talks about his study of tarantulas in the wild and he kept some in captivity to study their behavior. He talks about studying them as far back as the 1918 purely from curiosity, as he says not scientific. He talks of keeping them in his home and office. Maybe he was the first to keep them as pets.

It's a book worth reading if you can get hold of it, not too long and an easy read. There is a list of the reclassified Ts he mentions in the 1997 edition but even that is out of date now.

Oh wow that sounds like a good read. I'd love to take a look at that. Makes me wonder if he wasn't in part responsible for our fascination and devotion today.

 

[Enn49]

Oh wow that sounds like a good read. I'd love to take a look at that. Makes me wonder if he wasn't in part responsible for our fascination and devotion today.

There is apparently a new edition available https://www.amazon.com/Tarantula-Wi...rds=The+Tarantula+written+by+William+J.+Baerg
or the one I have https://www.amazon.com/Tarantula-Wi...rds=The+Tarantula+written+by+William+J.+Baerg

 

[Phil]

Aw that's adorable And yeah I know what you mean about the teachers freaking out. I know several people that would freak if I introduced them to mine. Even my Dad's a bit uncomfortable being in the same room I hope more people realize they are nothing to be afraid of and realize the true beauty of these magnificent and fascinating in so many ways yet highly misunderstood animals. (heck that's coming from me, the guy who's horrified by harmless moths. Demon spawn butterfly wannabes) But yes, I hope more and more animals start to catch people's interest enough to start captive breeding them so there will be even more diversity. I'm sure in the next 20 years there will be animals on the market we wouldn't have dreamed we'd ever be keeping now.

Yeah where I live the local kids all come round to see them and are really interested, the parents come across to sometimes and they are all freaked out. My biggest T, and 8 inch A. geniculata has had her last molt mounted in a frame which has pride of place on my living room wall which when people see it, always double take.....lol

 

[Phil]

There is apparently a new edition available https://www.amazon.com/Tarantula-William-J-Baerg/dp/125836008X/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1467488379&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=The Tarantula written by William J. Baerg
or the one I have https://www.amazon.com/Tarantula-William-J-Baerg-1997-06-30/dp/B01HC9JWNC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1467488379&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=The Tarantula written by William J. Baerg

@Enn49, is this the same as yours? Dark green hardback.

 

[Enn49]

@Enn49, is this the same as yours? Dark green hardback.View attachment 17647

That's the one. I found it helped me to understand Ts habits far better than anything else I'd read because he'd studied them in the wild doing exactly what Ts do.

 

[Phil]

That's the one. I found it helped me to understand Ts habits far better than anything else I'd read because he'd studied them in the wild doing exactly what Ts do.

Totally agree. Really good book.

 

[Telson]

Haven't read that one yet, but I've heard it mentioned several times. Is it more about their habits in the wild or more about keeping? If it's the former, I'll buy it. I already have my masters degree in keeping.

 

[Enn49]

@Telson Most of it is tarantulas in the wild which gives you more of an insight into their true lives.

 

[Phil]

@Telson Most of it is tarantulas in the wild which gives you more of an insight into their true lives.

Yep, all about wild studies. Only really against one main species that was at the back of the university he taught at so if it's terrestrial habitats and behaviour in the wild you are after......tick in the box.

 

[kormath]

Interesting, i'll have to check this book out. I have the tarantula keepers guide but have only read maybe a third of it. I start reading it (i only have time to read after i get settled in for bed) and within a couple pages i'm out like a light.

I'd suggest reading the guide if you're having trouble sleeping not doggin on the content, i've learned a bit from it, I just can't get through the writing style to get into the book.