I have entered the tarantula keeping hobby with a bang
Just wanted to share how my first tarantula shopping experience went today. I feel like many of you can probably relate.
I've been consuming tarantula content for weeks on YouTube, Instagram, etc. and decided a couple weeks back that I wanted to get mt first tarantula. I researched various beginner species and landed on Davus pentaloris. I heard they are a bit quick and can be skittish, but those tiger stripes called to me and so I after checking my local family owned pet stores and finding they had very few and very overpriced tarantulas, decide I would order a D. pentaloris online. I found 2 in females being sold at a reputable online dealer for about $150, which seemed like a lot but it was what I wanted and fit the terrarium I had purchased. But, before I pulled the trigger, I decided to do one more sweep of the internet tarantula dealers to see if I could find a better deal.
Not a long while later I found D. pentaloris at a slightly smaller size for about 1/4 the price. Welp, thats a no brainer, Ill go with that. Off to checkout.......but........
Since I saved so much money, why not get a 2nd tarantula? I would still easily be under $150. Another no brainer. I figured since D. pentaloris is quick and skittish and was a spider that most reccomend you don't handle, maybe I'd get something I could very sparingly interact with when the mood struck. I found a .5in Gramastola pulchripes for about the same price as the D. pentaloris and thought "This is right".
Ok back to checkout. Totally happy with my haul and so excited to be seconds away from purchasing my first two awesome tarantulas let me just click the button and.... Wait....what's this? Spend....twenty five more dollars....and get a free tarantula?? Intriguing. I am a man who enjoys a freebie after all. This would of course mean I would have to purchase a 3rd tarantula to access this 4th free tarantula that I was already beginning to dearly covet. Back to the shop.
Well, I've got 2 terrestrials. Makes sense to round out with an arboreal. Avicularia avicularia is the obvious choice for a noob like me and I scored a 2-3incher for just about 25 bucks. And for my freebie, a teeny tiny little Mexican red knee. I checked out with 4 tarantulas at ~$100 thinking to myself "I just saved 50 bucks!".
And that's the story of how after weeks of careful research and planning to get my first single tarantula, I bought 4. Wish me luck.