The two most common responses I get from friends when they hear about my tarantulas, are either 'eek! Scary!' or 'do you handle them? Can I handle one?'
After a while the 'eek, scary!' people usually become curious about the Ts and are at least willing to challenge their fear. Therefore it is actually the handling question which causes me most frustration and conflict. They don't seem to 'get' how fragile the Ts are and how easily they get injured, even when I try to explain, then keep asking/encouraging me to handle them. I think because they have seen tons of social media videos with people showing off even handling old world Ts, that they think it must be fine.
I am not completely against handling. I know some Ts are particularly good at staying calm while handled and for treating arachnophobia or educating child, as long as the person is an expert and knows what hey are doing to keep the T safe, that is an exception in my opinion. I have also recently handled one of my own Ts for the first time (new world of course, Aphonopelma chalcodes). My policy is to never push a handling, but if they crawl on me of their own accord and we're close to the floor, that's fine. Of course, this experience was amazing for me, and if Ts like many cats and dogs loved being handled and really craved that affection, I would love to hold them frequently. I have heard about the rare tarantula who seems to like being handled, always volunteers to come onto people and seems to 'like the attention'. In that case, as long as safety measures are put into place I don't see a problem. However with the Ts I have currently, I feel the handling would be solely for ME or whoever else's entertainment and I don't think that is fair on the T.
Therefore I do feel a bit guilty for handling Nymphadora for my own benefit. However I allowed it as a once in a lifetime experience really, that I will treasure. One benefit for the T I can think of is to get a feel of how to handle them safely, so that I wouldn't panic if one did escape and got on me and would know how to lower them back to safety.
I wondered what other people's views are on this, and how you deal with these questions if you keep getting asked?
After a while the 'eek, scary!' people usually become curious about the Ts and are at least willing to challenge their fear. Therefore it is actually the handling question which causes me most frustration and conflict. They don't seem to 'get' how fragile the Ts are and how easily they get injured, even when I try to explain, then keep asking/encouraging me to handle them. I think because they have seen tons of social media videos with people showing off even handling old world Ts, that they think it must be fine.
I am not completely against handling. I know some Ts are particularly good at staying calm while handled and for treating arachnophobia or educating child, as long as the person is an expert and knows what hey are doing to keep the T safe, that is an exception in my opinion. I have also recently handled one of my own Ts for the first time (new world of course, Aphonopelma chalcodes). My policy is to never push a handling, but if they crawl on me of their own accord and we're close to the floor, that's fine. Of course, this experience was amazing for me, and if Ts like many cats and dogs loved being handled and really craved that affection, I would love to hold them frequently. I have heard about the rare tarantula who seems to like being handled, always volunteers to come onto people and seems to 'like the attention'. In that case, as long as safety measures are put into place I don't see a problem. However with the Ts I have currently, I feel the handling would be solely for ME or whoever else's entertainment and I don't think that is fair on the T.
Therefore I do feel a bit guilty for handling Nymphadora for my own benefit. However I allowed it as a once in a lifetime experience really, that I will treasure. One benefit for the T I can think of is to get a feel of how to handle them safely, so that I wouldn't panic if one did escape and got on me and would know how to lower them back to safety.
I wondered what other people's views are on this, and how you deal with these questions if you keep getting asked?