INTRO
I learn something arachnid and/or reptile related every day and I've been at this for a very long time. I got my first pet snake 42 years ago. I was catching and keeping jumping spiders, etc. even before that and had my first tarantula in the 70s. Knowledge is an ongoing process and it relates to hard-earned experience. It comes from trial and error. It comes from listening to those with greater experience. It comes from asking questions of those you respect. It comes from digesting anything you can read. It comes from asking questions. It comes from observation. It is a gradual process and it takes time. It takes years, decades.
INFORMATION IS NOT KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge does not come from information. It comes from questioning information. It comes from skeptical inquiry. It comes from seeking better answers.
We all know the telephone game. At least that's what American's call it. Elsewhere it is known as Chinese whispers or pass the message or whisper down the lane. Regardless of name it is all about cumulative error. The first person whispers a message to another, which is than passed down a line of people until the final person announces the end result message to the group. Errors typically accumulate in the retelling, so the statement announced by the last player differs significantly.
This happens every day on Faffbook and internet forums like Arachnoboards. Someone with a little bit of information (not knowledge!) - as they say a little "knowledge" is dangerous - posts something authoritatively that he may have read only recently and perhaps introduces a bit of error. It is then regurgitated by someone else in another post, typically with the same authoritative tone, and the even less experienced take it as gospel. As these inexperienced and unknowledgeable continue their willingness to answer questions they don't have the expertise to address, the "Chinese whispers" comes into full play and misinformation is spread. Information is not knowledge, but misinformation is dangerous.
The Internet has given birth to a generation of non-readers, except for social media posts that require only short attention spans. Why pay $10 for a book written by someone with my knowledge and experience when you can read the opinion of some newbie for free? OK, save yourself the 10 bucks. Why not read only posts by people who are known "experts"? Because they're usually too busy or, like me, sick of it all. The truly knowledgeable (with notable exceptions) tend to shun the cesspool of internet/social media discourse. But wouldn't you want to pay attention to something posted by a recognized experienced keeper/breeder and not someone you've never heard of before? The problem is that those who post the most are typically those with more time than sense and are mid-level hobbyists. Look at Arachnoboards post counts; there are people who have been on for two years or less with 2000+ posts. Those are the people to avoid.
The other misinformation danger out there is the many "weekend warrior" "pseudo dealers" who often know less about correct tarantula husbandry and propagation than the majority of their customers. There are people who just got in the hobby that all of a sudden are resellers and I shudder to think about the husbandry support they can offer their customers. These guys have day jobs and aren't true animal people. Do you want to buy from them or guys like me or Kelly Swift or others that have been doing this for decades? It's not about the price or selection; it's about cultivating a relationship with someone who can provide expertise. True knowledge. Not snippets of information.
My advice is to read my book ;). As arrogant as it may sound, it is the ONLY American book I recommend. However, it is aimed at the neophyte hobbyist that walks into Petco and offers less to the experienced keeper. I'm working on an advanced book. Don't read "the bible". It has little to offer the modern tarantulaculturist and contains falsehoods and rambling editorials by someone with little experience with modern breeding and the variety of species in today's hobby. Marshall is outdated and lacking in husbandry info. There are better books in Europe, but most are in foreign languages.
Better still, find an apprenticeship of sorts. I alluded to this when I mentioned cultivating relationships with experienced dealers that have been around 10, 20, 30 or 35 years. Not salesmen or computer programmers or auto mechanics. True animal people that spend every single day immersed in arachnoculture. Ask them questions. Those are real answers. And those are pieces of information that can actually become knowledge.
In closing, I dedicate this blog to Christian Elowsky who may have used the phrase "information is not knowledge" in his Arachnogathering lecture and Kelly Swift who has been doing this as long as me. When I was mostly breeding pythons and my tarantula projects were just a diversion, Kelly was working for the legendary Louis Porras at Zooherp in Sandy, Utah. Kelly and I were both doing mostly reptiles, but eventually we both focused more on our true passion - tarantulas. This goes back many years and illustrates that true animal people, who have made it their sole work for some 35 years deserve more of your support than the short term "weekend warriors" who come and go each year. I'm sure I'll have a full on "pseudo dealer" rant in an upcoming blog. Stay tuned.
All the best, Michael
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