Posts

A keeper's journey 1: New World, Old World : myths and misconceptions

Image
Over the recent years, my personal and professional life have become a lot busier. While I'm still doing research on my free time and travelling to observe and photograph spiders in the wild, opportunities to do so have become rarer. The desire to maintain a connection with the world of spiders in a way more compatible with my schedule has led me, in 2024, to take my first steps into the tarantula keeping hobby. Since then I have grown quite a lot as a keeper, and become actively involved in the community. While two years keeping tarantulas isn't a lot of experience, my background as an arachnologist and the rearing experiments I've done in the past give me a unique, hybrid perspective on the tarantula hobby. This new "Keeper's Journey" series will focus on prominent topics and controversies of the tarantula hobby.  If you recently got your first tarantula, are in the process of doing your research prior to getting one (an essential step!), or are simply a spi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spider Tales 7. the Hobo Spider: Anatomy of a Miscarriage of Justice

Image
" What they want, you see, is not the truth; it's coherence. A miscarriage of justice is always a masterpiece of coherence." Daniel Pennac, Monsieur Malaussène (1995) *   Among the common spiders in Europe, giant house spiders (genus Eratigena , particularly species of the Eratigena atrica group) certainly are the most dreaded by arachnophobes. Huge, long-legged and dazzlingly fast, male giant house spiders often cause quite a commotion when they bolt across rooms at dusk in summer and fall, as they wander through homes in search of a mate. However, the fear and disgust they tend to induce in many people is purely based on their dark, leggy and hairy appearance, and their large size; pretty much everyone knows these impressive spiders are quite harmless. Even the most depraved tabloids, despite their tendency to make stories out of the silliest rumours , do not dare to claim they are dangerous. Their bites are not, and have never been, a cause for concern. Reaching up to ...
Post a Comment
Read more