Hello from East Tennessee

[Rogerpoco]

Hello all,been reading some of the forums for a few weeks,pm'd a few members,will start posting more soon,I'm sure.

Actually pretty new to bugs(Inverts,mostly). Found a snapping turtle once as an egg-toothed baby,kept it about 4 years,was about the size of a dinner plate by then. Scary. Relocated it to a pond down the road,is still fine 4 years later.

I found a mantis in my yard,decided to take care of it for a while,got a few Ghosts,then started finding unusual looking millipedes in my area,expanding my interest to inverts in general. "Rescued" an Asian Forest scorpion from a big pet-chain store. Didn't really want it(glad to have it now),but I felt like they were keeping it wrong,is new to them still,and by the time I went back they had changed the environment they keep them in. Yay me. So that led to arachnids in general,saw the Venezuelan Green Bottle Blue and had to have it. I didn't mean to wind up with even one spider,have always been terrified of them,but somehow wound up with seven. You know how it is.

I do love exotics,and have started to pile up a few,but I really,really,REALLY love to find things in my own environment. I live in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of Tennessee,and have always kinda cursed it since I moved here as a teenager,but with this hobby I have really found one of the benefits of living here. There is an amazing array of creatures,and I almost never come home empty-handed.

I can get pretty out there sometimes. Be careful interacting with me,I can start off talking about feeder insects and somehow wind up talking about how the tires on my car wear out too fast because I have to work out of town,and what kind of hops you need to brew a Boston Lager clone... Kinda have trouble staying focused,I guess. A nice guy,too nice probably,but sometimes in a pain in the @ss kind of way. He won't admit it,but I had one of the nicest guys that most everyone here probably knows throwing his mouse at his screen(or something similar),just me being a general pain. . Trying hard to reform.

This really could wind up as a novel,so I'll wrap up,stick mostly to the bugs(I have a lot of hobbies,but I do stick with them). Have dealt with only good people so far in the hobby,and that seems a little odd to me. I would think that most people that gravitate towards bugs(or pets in general,really)aren't really "people" people,but I have been proven wrong several times over.

Thanks,and Hello to all,

Roger Blair (Mostly I go by Poco,unless I am being a baby or a real grown-up...)

 

[Shadow]

Welcome

 

[hibiscusmile]

Welcome Tenn!

 

[PookaDotted]

WELCOME!!

 

[sally]

Welcome

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[HungryGhost]

Welcome. I keep some T's too.

 

[Rogerpoco]

Thanks all-I hope I didn't understate my love of mantids,I just like a lot of different inverts.

Mantids helped me to learn to take husbandry seriously,instead of throwing something in a clear box and seeing how long it would live.

I've quickly learned to depersonalize my "pets",but my first ones,my girl Ghosts,are on the way out sooner than later,and it will be a pretty sad day.

I do love my little aliens,mantids have more personality than some of my family members.

HungryGhost-I'll honestly admit to still being more or less terrified of my T's. I am definitely fighting a fear,but they are such a neat,varied thing,I can't resist. Very glad I started with slings,so I can grow into them.

 

[HungryGhost]

Thanks all-I hope I didn't understate my love of mantids,I just like a lot of different inverts.

Mantids helped me to learn to take husbandry seriously,instead of throwing something in a clear box and seeing how long it would live.

I've quickly learned to depersonalize my "pets",but my first ones,my girl Ghosts,are on the way out sooner than later,and it will be a pretty sad day.

I do love my little aliens,mantids have more personality than some of my family members.

HungryGhost-I'll honestly admit to still being more or less terrified of my T's. I am definitely fighting a fear,but they are such a neat,varied thing,I can't resist. Very glad I started with slings,so I can grow into them.

Yep, slings are the way to go. You're much braver than me owning an OBT! I've decided against old world T's due to their defensive tendencies and the potent venom. Right now I have a Pink Toe, Chaco Gold Knee, Salmon Pink, Oklahoma Tan, Green Bottle Blue, and a Dwarf Chilean Yellow. I promised myself no more until the reptile show in July, they're like potato chips, it's hard to have just one!

 

[Rogerpoco]

Lol,they do a really good job advertising/describing the OBT. They make it clear that you don't really want one,which makes a certain personality type want one that much more. Obstinance and experience are the only excuses to have one,I think,and I am certainly not experienced.

Addictive,yes-I am open and honest to a fault,and have never hidden anything from my Wife,but have already told her not to be surprised if she comes across a box full of 8 oz deli-cups that she doesn't know about. .