It's a fossorial blow out! Well, not quite...but in this episode, I talk about the care, setup, and maintenance for our beloved "pet holes". 

What are some ways to organize and manage the expenses of a growing tarantula collection? How can you ensure that caring for your animals doesn't become a burden? In this episode, suggested by listener EarthsGeomancer, I discuss the following points.

• Labeling T enclosures
• Record keeping
• Scheduling
• Being time efficient and making time for other hobbies
• Tracking and inventorying feeders, substrate, containers, and other supplies
• Avoiding burnout due to the more repetitive requirements of the hobby

A huge thanks to EarthsGeomancer for the Suggestion!

Note: The tarantula keeper collection aps. discussed in this podcast are ExotiKeeper and Arachnifiles. 

...or, my creative way of trying to answer a bunch of common questions in an entertaining year-in-review format!

Seriously, while trying to figure out a fun way to answer some of the questions I get about my favorite, or largest, or shyest, or WHATEVER tarantulas, I came up with the idea of a fake award show! Hopefully, folks find this entertaining (and not too embarrassing), and it becomes an annual tradition. Awards to be given are:

1. Tiny Diamond Award (Most Gorgeous Slings)
2. The Queen Memorial Award for Pet Rock of the Year
3. Webber of the Year (To the Spider with the Most Webbing)
4. Pet Dirt Award for The Most Shy and Elusive Spider
5. The “Better Put Me in Your Will” Award for Slowest Growing Spider
6. Enclosure of the Year Award
7. Biggest Surprise of the Year
8. In Memoriam - The Spiders We Lost This Year
9. The Pitbull Award for Most Aggressive Spider
10. The “Hey, Wait…That’s Not a Tarantula” Award for Favorite Non-Spider Critter
11. The Tarantula Titan Award for Largest Spider
12. Eight-Legged Jewel Award (Most Beautiful Spider)
13. Spider of the Year

Feel free to share your own!

First, I read and discuss some comments from listeners about last week's episode. Then, I give some updates on my Ephebopus species. 

To start the New Year, I got to thinking about what aspects of the hobby tend to give new tarantula keepers the most trouble. In this episode, I share five points that would make the hobby easier and less stressful for those just starting it. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope that everyone had a safe holiday season. To begin this episode, I'll talk about the mysterious case of my dying E. murinus juvenile. Then, we'll discuss the care for Pseudhapalopus sp. blue. 

We've all been there. When people find out that we choose to keep tarantulas as pets, the questions inevitably start flying. Some of them are good questions. Others? Not so much. In this episode, we talk about the questions tarantula keepers are most commonly asked. 

One of the reasons tarantulas are such easy pets is because they are relatively clean animals. That said, there are times when a cleaning, either partial or in full, is warranted. In this episode, we'll discuss the when and how to clean our spiders' enclosures when needed. I also share some tips about how to clean up those delicate acrylics without scratching them all up. 

In this this episode, I share some observations on three species of Thrixopelma, a very underrated genus. 

Well, it was "recently" made public that another once popular tarantula dealer has disappeared after taking a WHOLE lot of money from unsuspecting customers.  While some folks seemed to be surprised by the fact that this individual was shady, they shouldn't have been. There was evidence 18 months ago that this dealer was trying to skirt the law by selling so-called "hybrid" Sri Lankan Poecilotheria species, and after I did a podcast about it, even more info came out. In this episode, talk about how these bad vendors manage to operate so long even after word starts to leak out that they may not be as reputable as they seem. We also discuss some tips to protect yourself when shopping online for tarantulas.

Have you been impacted? Find more info about the Facebook group HERE.