Quote:
Originally Posted by flip
My fear of spiders has nothing to do with death. It may be an irrational fear but I assure you it isn't because I'm afraid some random house spider is going to kill me.
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Do you know how I got into tarantulas? I got my first one when I was 15 because growing up both my sister and I were huge arachnophobes. We would go somewhere in the car and my dad would always leave the windows down and a little spider would be inside the car and my sister and I would scream, make my dad stop the car and kill it. Then when I was 15 I saw a Costa Rican Striped Knee for sale in the local pet store and in a moment of what I thought was pure lunacy I bought it. I bought the container it was already in because no way in hell was I giving it a chance to get loose! I had to keep it in my room and I admit those first few nights were hard to sleep and my dad had to feed it the first few times but then I started feeding it and I watched it, how it spent quite a bit of time cleaning and grooming. How it would put the husk of its leftover meal always in the same corner away from it's burrow. I started to like it, it wasn't really that scary anymore. I watched a video on a guy handling a tarantula and I went for it and no problem. Then I got a different one and bought books on them and as the internet started taking off I learned more and more until I became a spider enthusiast. I got into other exotics too and worked at a store called Alternative Pets in London for 5 years. While working there I started breeding and eventually the store went under but by then I had a good stock growing and quite a few stores buying. I got out in 2000 when my son was born and I wish I never did because I was pulling in a very good living. My wife (who turned out to be a whore) insisted that I get rid of it all and I did. I have been slowly building it back up now for the past 2 years.