#58 - TARANTULAS CAN'T READ

As I've mentioned before, my old ARACHNOCULTURE magazine had a column called "Back Page" where I wrote an irreverent, educational, attempting-to-be-humorous, editorial of sorts on a number of topics. The following one was called "Tarantulas Can't Read". I'm going to reprint it here in its entirety and then comment further afterward. However, the important thing to know upfront is that this was written in my fourth issue of ARACHNOCULTURE almost ten years ago. This was before Faffbook ruled lives and then was mostly used by teenage girls telling you what they had for dinner or posting selfies. This was written in the era when most of the nonsensical moronic discussion of tarantulas took place on Arachnoboards instead of on Faffbook. And this is before my Tarantulas was published by a joint venture of TFH and Animal Planet.

Tarantulas can't read.

Books are wonderful things. More people should read them. As wondrous as the Internet is, it is no substitute for a book. A well-written book is informative and entertaining. A book written by a person who is very knowledgeable about a subject can even be educational. For humans, that is.

From a tarantula's viewpoint a book is rubbish. I won't even tell you what they think of this magazine.

Ever had a Poecilotheria regalis who ignored your pretty lichen-encrusted cork bark and lovely bamboo tube and instead spent the majority of its time on top of or even buried in the substrate?

Ever provided a Theraphosa blondi with a back-breaking amount of damp soil and an exquisitely formed starter burrow only to have it sit in the middle of the enclosure and show no interest in hiding?

How about that Brachypelma smithi that keeps climbing the sides of its aquarium and hanging upside down from the lid?

Are these spiders illterate or something?

The books and the Internet forums are filled with information on their proper behavior. Why don't they follow it? It's almost as if tarantulas believe that captivity and nature are two different things. How dare they?

But they can't just leave it at that, can they. They ignore the books regarding their natural behavior as well. I'm starting to believe that tarantulas don't read at all!

The only rule is that there are no rules (or is it that you don't tell anybody about Fight Club?). Captivity and nature are not... I repeat, NOT... the same.

A wise man or woman once said that if you keep doing something a certain way you will continue to have the same result. The husbandry practices that are routine today are the result of trial and error in the past. Tarantulas died for these lessons. Unfortunately, some continue to in the hands of people who won't learn.

Learning. We're back to the books, magazines, and Internet again. While tarantulas can't read, most people can. They just won't. Not as long as that glowing television has them in a trance.

For those of you who do read, as evidenced by holding this magazine and weighing these words, your tarantulas [and other exotic animals] are proud of you! You are on a quest for information and are digesting different views and recommendations, deciding which instructions have the most value and what might be dismissed. After all, just because it is in print doesn't make it truth.

An insatiable desire to learn as much as possible is one of the most admirable traits a person can have. However, let us not forget that there are many different ways to learn. A book or magazine is not the best way; it's just a very good way.

In my opinion, the best way to learn — after acquiring a good foundation of knowledge from written words and experience — is to observe your animals and open your mind to what they may be trying to tell you. Not only can tarantulas not read, they can't speak either, but if you give them your attention, they'll tell you things you can't learn anywhere else.

A tarantula constantly hovering over a water dish is saying, "Hey, it's too dry in here. I'm getting dehydrated."

The terrestrial tarantula that all of a sudden has taken to climbing the cage walls after you just cleaned or changed its enclosure is saying, "This substrate sucks. Please use something else."

Watch your spiders. See if they prefer the dry or damp or warm or cool areas of their enclosure. Determine whether there is one prey item they pounce on immediately and seemingly prefer.

And when they're sitting there doing nothing and everything seems fine, read another book or search for quality information on the Internet. I won't tell if you read it to your tarantula!

The most important line in my original "Tarantulas Can't Read" is one that I stated in a very recent blog entry: "Captivity and nature are not... I repeat, NOT... the same. I can tell you as someone who has not only kept many thousands of tarantulas over the course of almost 40 years and has observed them in nature around the world, that this statement is gospel. This fact is something that seems to take some people some time to wrap their heads around. Captivity is an unnatural situation and your best efforts to simulate natural conditions are nothing more than that, best efforts. You will never replicate a natural setting. But the advanced keeper and successful breeder will think about things like appropriate retreats, environmental cues, non-static environmental conditions and do his or her best.

This blog entry requires additional reading. I want you to go back and re-read (or ingest for the first time) my third blog installment written way back on June 5, 2015. It's not ten years old like the above, but with 55 blog entries since it may have leaked out of your cerebrum a bit. This entry was one of the most important I've written. It is titled "Information is not Knowledge". Since my ARACHNOCULTURE was published and Arachnoboards was in its best years the hobby has become increasingly cluttered with morons. Just as I've made the point that "Weekend Warriors" can be good and "Pseudo Dealers" can be very bad, "Casual, eager to learn hobbyists" can be good, but the "Pseudo Experts" are usually very bad. They spew nonsense and regurgitate half-truths and conjecture that they read another pseudo expert post. Faffbook and forums have become a cesspool of misinformation. Please, oh please, first judge the expertise of the author of anything you read before you accept anything he or she spouts. Better still, read my book or writings, read articles in the BTS Journal (Which, by the way, I edit), and look for other lesser known fountains of knowledge like Baxter's tarantula book (Now available at lovetarantulas.com as the revised Baxter's Bumper Book of Tarantulas for a few dollar download. Although written way back in 1993 and quickly reworked in 2014 it contains a wealth of information). Of course, I also recommend my Tarantulas in the Terrarium instruction film (free on my YouTube channel) and even the late Bryant Capiz' video, which is also available from Andrew Smith's lovetarantulas.com. While there you might consider Guy Tansley's concise Basic Care Guide or others at http://lovetarantulas.com/keepingtarantulas.htm.
As internet dependent as I admit I've become I still direct you to the printed works of true experts rather than the ramblings of hobbyists with too much time on their hands. Faffbook and Arachnoboards will rot your brain. Get an actual book in your hand, by an actual authority. Have a glass of wine, whiskey or coffee beside you and sit in your favorite chair. Learn the way learning was meant to be.

But then go into your spider room. Wait until after it has been dark an hour or more. Wear a headlamp that has a red bulb capability. Tread softly. Sit and watch without movement. Pay attention to your animal's behavior. Take notes. Keep an open mind. Immerse yourself in their world. It isn't their natural world because the terrarium is not the niche they evolved to occupy. But you will learn. Your arachnids will teach you things that no yahoo like me can put into words. They can't read or write or talk. But they can certainly teach.

My best to all of you, MJ

#4 - READING & WRITING

Saturday morning. Another fresh pot of coffee and my MacBook Pro. A blank page.

Blogging is therapeutic. I require therapy. A writer should write every day. Sadly, more often than not, I have been consumed by email and PM correspondence, social media posts and feeding thousands of spiders. My reading is behind schedule. My writing is off course.

I mentioned Elowsky in my last blog and he took to Faffbook to query: "What happens in the hobby is ludicrous, outside of education and experience. So when are you going to bridge the chasms and write that opus?"

I am indeed working on a monograph of sorts, although I think Christian's "opus" is too kind. I've hinted at this elsewhere. It is a work in progress. I believe there is a need for a "The Complete Tarantula" or a Tarantula Keeper's Guide that actually lives up to that title. I can write it. I have the qualifications and the skill. But how many would read it?

I have no idea how many copies of my Tarantulas, published by the Animal Planet Pet Care Library in conjunction with pet book giant T.F.H, have sold. The manuscript was a contract piece. In other words, they paid me a flat fee for writing 27,000 words, which I was able to nudge up to 30,000. I receive no royalties. But I expect it does reasonably well as it is meant for the Petco and Petsmart market. They (T.F.H.) also paid me more money for a 50,000 word monograph on Geckos. I cashed the check several years ago. The book has never been published. The economy has affected the release of new books. Or is it just that books aren't selling?

The only copies of my book I sell are autographed by me. I buy them from the publisher at half the cover price with free shipping and then basically offer them at a bit over cost through my website. Sales are anything but brisk. Apparently 30,000 words on tarantula keeping by someone with 35 years of experience, and dare I say a flare for concise writing, isn't worth 10 or 15 bucks. I've seen knuckleheads on Faffbook say that they can just use Google. Yeah, to get misinformation and snippets of information, not knowledge. But I belabored that in the last blog so I'll move on.

There is nothing more important in my life than reading. I dropped out of undergraduate biology in 1982! I am completely self-taught. I didn't gain my knowledge from reading assclowns on social media. I read books by experts. I consumed them. I breathed them. I digested them. That goes for all my interests, not just arachnoculture/arachnology and herpetoculture/herpetology. I taught myself through reading, practice and experience. Trial and error. Success and failure. I spent most of my childhood and adult life reading nothing but non-fiction. Most of it focused on nature, wildlife, evolution, ecology, astronomy, etc. It wasn't until I was about 40 that I finally began to enjoy fiction as well. Today I mix in a thriller or a Palahniuk novel every now and again to cleanse the palate before I delve into another tome by Sam Harris or Richard Dawkins or re-read my favorite Sagan. And then there are my treasured spider and reptile books and scientific papers.

Is reading really being replaced by search engines and sites to post what you had for breakfast? And what about writing? Look at the state of that! People today seem allergic to proper grammar. Half the English speaking world doesn't know that the contraction of "you" and "are" is "YOU'RE", not "your". People are so busy that they can't even trouble themselves with the three letters in "you" and just write "u". We used to write letters. It was a great art. Then there was email, which I liked even better since I prefer to type and it was instantaneous with no stamp glue tasted. But now people don't even use that. They just hack out some nonsensical gibberish on Faffbook. They even think this form of communication is appropriate for business. My two great friends and tattoo artists who decorate my body, Mark and Andy, have telephones in their shops. They have websites and email addresses. But every day I see someone post on one of their Faffbook pages "hey dude, how much for a skull that looks like this?". Pick up the goddamn phone and call a business. Or at least write them an intelligent and respectful email. For my own business I constantly post to only contact me via email (I don't give out my phone). I tell people I do not conduct business through Facebook Messenger or the like. I want an intelligent email that is archived with my other correspondence. When I write a reply I wish for it to go through my email system and have my signature file attached. I don't want to wade through the sewage of Faffbook.

The English language is beautiful. Writing its words and reading the wisdom in the words of others is rewarding. Go to Amazon.com today and buy a new book. A Kindle edition counts. You like mass-market thrillers? I recommend Karin Slaughter. You like historical thrillers? My favorite! I recommend good old Thomas Gifford like the Assassini or Caleb Carr's The Alienist. It took me a long time to appreciate fiction but, like a great film, they are great escapes. But if you want to learn more about arachnids look for Foelix's Biology of Spiders or something. Or here's an even better deal: Go over to my dear mate Andrew Smith's lovetarantulas.com site and purchase an inexpensive download of Baerg's classic The Tarantula or any of the many other two or three dollar downloads Andrew offers! Andrew should be selling downloads of this book by the hundreds but, as I've whinged on about for so many words thus far, reading seems to be dying. This is the American classic on arachnology. It had no pretty pictures. It was published before I was born. It is just glorious black and white text with the odd photo. But for a couple quid or a few dollars, reading it will make you a better person. Trust me. Lovetarantulas also offers a reworking of a classic British arachnocultural book by Ronald Baxter. He was a pioneer in tarantula keeping and breeding. Spend a few bucks, feed your brain.

Read and Write. MJ

#3 - INFORMATION IS NOT KNOWLEDGE

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