#76 - WALK BEFORE YOU RUN

I just got off the phone with Frank Somma. He asked about this blog and commented on me "calling out" some newbie named Widowlover or Widow keeper or whatever the guy's nom de guerre is in a previous blog. Frank accused me of "not liking newbies" and made the point that we all were n00bs one day and we became "experts" by sharing info with each other. The first part is false. The second is very true. 35 years ago I was fortunate to have the mentorship of guys like Ralph Henning and Rick West. Apparently Frank knows this widow guy (Nick Krueger?) and says he is eager to learn. Good for him. For the record, I am not against newbies and have spent three decades educating them and patiently answering a zillion emails or, back in the day, letters. My book, my instructional video, my ARACHNOCULTURE magazine, my articles in various publications, my lectures in the USA and UK, my ArachnoGathering, my Tarantula Bibliography, etc. etc. fucking, etc. prove that I have always been eager to educate and guide "newbies" along. I was in the retail pet industry for 33 years! I've educated more novice keepers than most. I certainly don't have a problem with n00bs! That's nonsense. What I have a problem with is people who are novices that instantly become dealers. Dealers should be experienced keepers who can educate their customers, not beginners themselves. I've said this all before and I am loathe to repeat it again. WALK, BEFORE YOU RUN! Gain experience, get an apprenticeship, invest some years, then start making yourself out to be a pseudo dealer. That's the last time I'll say any of this.

Believe me, I am not going to repeat it. As I mentioned in today's earlier blog entry, moving forward it is going to be increasingly difficult for me to come up with topics for this blog. As I further distance myself from the hobby and move closer to keeping zero live animals, this blog will atrophy. I don't have any more rants. I'm not going to call anyone out. John Apple wants to expose all the brown boxers and USPS shippers and you know from previous blog posts that I support this. But I don't have the energy and I no longer am involved with social media or forums. My only voice is here at KISS MY BIG FUCKING HAIRY SPIDER and I've already said my piece. I give little thought to the hobby now outside of the POWER OF THREE I mentioned earlier. 

Topics are becoming harder to come by. Eventually I will run out of TALES FROM THE FIELD. I will be in Costa Rica in December so that will give me a few additional TFTF posts. Serious topics will be covered in BTS Journal articles. I'll try to do some more CASA DE TARANTULA husbandry-related blogs as topics come to me and cover BREEDING some more. The photography entries didn't seem to be too important to many readers so I don't know if I'll continue with those. Let's see if I can even make it to 100 posts ... 

Good night MJ