desertanimal
2003 UB313
I don't know that I really LIKE spiders, but I think they are fascinating and I like to watch them. They're sort of like ants. I don't really LIKE ants, but I enjoy watching them work, watching them touch their gasters to the ground to leave scent trails, I like dropping things in their paths to see them deal with it all together. For me, there's being interested in and fascinated by something, and then there's liking something. When I say that I like something it means I have some emotional draw to it. I like snakes. I think they're beautiful and cute and when I hold my own snakes sometimes I want to squeeze them right in half because I think they're so cute (I've noticed that there are two types of people in the world--the type that understands what you mean when you say that, and they type that thinks you're off your rocker). Ants and most spiders do not evoke that feeling from me, even though I enjoy watching them for quite a long time and find them fascinating, and I think it's mainly because they are not nice to look at, and sometimes they inflict pain. An ant bite for me is always worse than a snake bite because I react very badly to them and the bites stay around and itch for a week.
I DISLIKE centipedes because I don't think their behavior is interesting (even if it were, they move and hide too fast), I don't think they are aesthetically appealing, they have no tactile appeal, AND they bite. I had one of those big Malagasy ones in my tent one night that I couldn't catch to evict and I REALLY didn't like that. Slept with my flashlight in my hands all night.
I do like jumping spiders, because they are so freaking cute, and I do like tarantulas, because they are slow and they feel so cool when they walk on you. I love, love, LOVE their feet. A very large part of my enjoyment of most anything is being able to touch it. I find museums very frustrating in that regard. I like to touch honeybees and bumblebees, and I love it when they land on you (or you rescue them from the pool) and they lick you. I love the way their little "tongues" feel. I love that about butterflies, too. I kind of like it when wasps nibble on you with their mandibles, though that always makes me a little nervous because they inevitably nibble harder and harder until it sort if hurts and then you have to get rid of them without getting stung. For me, touching things is an essential part of experiencing them, so I would never own a spider I can't touch. (Knowing this about myself is what makes me leery of owning a venemous snake.) It just wouldn't be any fun for me if I couldn't ever touch it.
You've got some beautiful tarantulas, no doubt. Which species tend to be tolerant of careful handling?
I DISLIKE centipedes because I don't think their behavior is interesting (even if it were, they move and hide too fast), I don't think they are aesthetically appealing, they have no tactile appeal, AND they bite. I had one of those big Malagasy ones in my tent one night that I couldn't catch to evict and I REALLY didn't like that. Slept with my flashlight in my hands all night.
I do like jumping spiders, because they are so freaking cute, and I do like tarantulas, because they are slow and they feel so cool when they walk on you. I love, love, LOVE their feet. A very large part of my enjoyment of most anything is being able to touch it. I find museums very frustrating in that regard. I like to touch honeybees and bumblebees, and I love it when they land on you (or you rescue them from the pool) and they lick you. I love the way their little "tongues" feel. I love that about butterflies, too. I kind of like it when wasps nibble on you with their mandibles, though that always makes me a little nervous because they inevitably nibble harder and harder until it sort if hurts and then you have to get rid of them without getting stung. For me, touching things is an essential part of experiencing them, so I would never own a spider I can't touch. (Knowing this about myself is what makes me leery of owning a venemous snake.) It just wouldn't be any fun for me if I couldn't ever touch it.
You've got some beautiful tarantulas, no doubt. Which species tend to be tolerant of careful handling?
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