Thread: Creepy Pets

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I couldn't remember if anyone has done a Creepy Pet thread in a while, so instead of searching the archives, I decided to start a new one. Anyway, here are some of my past Creepy Pets...

My younger brother has a taurantula. Begged for one. Got it for Christmas when he was about 10 (18 years ago), and is STILL afraid to clean it's cage. (Taurantulas live 50+ years)


I can honestly say that I've never purchased an exotic pet. However, I have kept every manner of insect you can think of as a 'pet' in the past.

I was REALLY into bugs as a child. Had a massive collection, but started getting all nit-picky. Catching them via 'traditional' means often meant some kind of damage occured. So, I started catching everything by hand. Then I started wanting all phases of developement for each species. That often meant breeding, raising, and killing at the correct stage.

Try telling your dad he can't go knocking down that nest till a new queen is born...

Did a bit of beekeeping on the farm where I worked, too.

So, I guess the most bizaar thing I raised was a Pepsis Wasp. I had a fond affinity for them one year, and had a great display in my collection that had a few cross-sections of taurantulas at various stages of being consumed...

My wife made me get rid of it when we got married. Donated to the University of Utah at the time, it's since been moved to the Utah Natural History Museum as part of a massive collection.

Originally Posted by LV Scott T

I couldn't remember if anyone has done a Creepy Pet thread in a while, so instead of searching the archives, I decided to start a new one. Anyway, here are some of my past Creepy Pets...

Man, those tarantula's sure have some creepy-looking pets...
(kidding...kidding!!)


(and in all honesty, the mere thought of spiders crawling on me makes all the hair on the back of my neck stand on end...don't know how you managed to stay still long enough for a pic to be taken)

Originally Posted by UnOrthodOx

...(Taurantulas live 50+ years)

That is incorrect. Only a few tarantulas are known to live for 20-30 years in captivity. And these are typically the Brachypelma species. And are only the females. Male tarantulas will die off within 1-2 years after reaching maturity.

LV Scott, that's a beautiful Brachypelma smithi (one of my favorites). I was actually lucky to catch my Red knee molting once and watched for 3 hrs as she layed on her back and pulled herself out of the old skin and then flipped herself back over. Was very interesting to watch.... normally I would just find then the next day already molted and looking beautiful. Was your Emperor scorpion the only scorpion you had or did you have any others? The Enperor scorpions are communal and I use to keep 6 in a large tank and they would all burrow together under a large piece of wood. Was really cool at Halloween parties as I'd put a black light over their tank and you'd see the neon blue scorpions walking around (freaked a lot of people out). Another of my favorites are the Avicularia species. I see you had an Avicularia avicularia (Pink toe). Did you ever get an Avicularia versicolor? Very beautiful blue spiderling and as an adult a very colorful greens, purples and pinks. Did you raise your spiders from spiderlings or did you buy them as adults? And lastly, there is nothing creepy about those pets.

I was wondering when you would chime in POD.

Originally Posted by The Pod

That is incorrect. Only a few tarantulas are known to live for 20-30 years in captivity. And these are typically the Brachypelma species. And are only the females. Male tarantulas will die off within 1-2 years after reaching maturity.

LV Scott, that's a beautiful Brachypelma smithi (one of my favorites). I was actually lucky to catch my Red knee molting once and watched for 3 hrs as she layed on her back and pulled herself out of the old skin and then flipped herself back over. Was very interesting to watch.... normally I would just find then the next day already molted and looking beautiful. Was your Emperor scorpion the only scorpion you had or did you have any others? The Enperor scorpions are communal and I use to keep 6 in a large tank and they would all burrow together under a large piece of wood. Was really cool at Halloween parties as I'd put a black light over their tank and you'd see the neon blue scorpions walking around (freaked a lot of people out). Another of my favorites are the Avicularia species. I see you had an Avicularia avicularia (Pink toe). Did you ever get an Avicularia versicolor? Very beautiful blue spiderling and as an adult a very colorful greens, purples and pinks. Did you raise your spiders from spiderlings or did you buy them as adults? And lastly, there is nothing creepy about those pets.

Ahhh, another SpiderMan! And I thought I was the only Halloween-obsessed computer nerd who knew his Aphonopelma from his Brachypelma... Well, what you see is what I had, except for 5 other Pandinas Emperators, 2 Aphonopelma Nevadanums (one found walking across my patio 10 years ago and one on my next-door-neighbor's patio last week), and 1 archispirostreptus gigas. I only ever had 1 Emperor at a time, but had 4 spiders in a quad case while onboard my first Navy ship. That was a trick. And, no, I never had the opportunity to raise any hatchlings (although I did hand-feed several clutches of cockatiels while I lived in Hawaii).

I also learned that the books weren't always right. For example, I had read in several books that Tarantulas can not jump. What most people "think" is jumping is actually a quick spurt of running off of whatever they are on - your hand, a table, etc. Well, tell that to my Pink-Toe! He used to jump from one hand to the other, both level, and over 12" apart. Also, my Zebra (Rhechosticta/Aphonopelma seemanni) "jumped" out of my hands and hit the sidewalk, opening a nasty gash on his abdomen. Well, the books all said to say goodbye, because tarantula cuts don't heal, and once their fluids all leak out, they're dead. But damn I loved that guy, and I wasn't about to just let him curl up & die. So, I swabbed some NewSkin on the leak and put him in a small carrying case without crickets for a week. Worked like a charm!

Originally Posted by The Pod

That is incorrect. Only a few tarantulas are known to live for 20-30 years in captivity. And these are typically the Brachypelma species. And are only the females. Male tarantulas will die off within 1-2 years after reaching maturity.
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:shrug: I only remember the pet store owner telling us it would live to 50+.

These pets are really creepy...they make horrible things...They look really creepy as well...

I hope i havent given you nightmares.....

Ruggerz

Ive only just noticed the t-shirts....its like subliminal man!...

Ruggerz

Originally Posted by ruggerz

Ive only just noticed the t-shirts....its like subliminal man!...

Ruggerz

LOL Yeah, that pic was taken at a professional photo studio (I won't say which one, since I'm sure they claim exclusive rights to every photo they have ever taken, but their name rhymes with Nolan Bills). Anyway, once a year or so, when I was home on leave, my mom would schedule an appointment for us all to get our pictures taken. Well, that year, Mom & Dad both had to work, so it was just going to be the little brother and me. When the day came, we put on our Sunday best and headed over (with a couple of plastic carrying cases in a backpack...). Once there, I asked the photographer to let us know when he only had a few shots left, as we wanted to change shirts. He said "No problem; people do that all the time". So, a while later, he says "Ok, I've got about 5 more shots". So we take off our nice button-down dress shirts and put on a couple of t-shirts. Then I hand Michael my female Orange Knee (which he places on his chest) and I take my male Blonde and put him on my chest, and we turn to face the photographer. He's kinda laughing and starts to say that they look real, then they start to crawl up our shirts, and he stopped smiling and said "My God, those ARE real!" With that, he steps behind the camera, takes a few shots, and calmly informs us that we are all done, proofs will be ready in a week, thank you, goodbye. I had to return to my ship a few days later, so I never saw the proofs.

The best part was when I came home again a year or so later and saw THAT PHOTO, framed, and sitting proudly on my folks' fireplace!