The Tarantula Keeper's Guide: Comprehensive Information on Care, Housing, and Feeding

376 pages of information that is great for beginners, intermediate, and even advanced hobbyists. In the beginning you’ll take the important information and find the rest a little exhaustive, but as you grow in the hobby, I find myself continually referencing this book and more and more makes sense. You grow into it, and the great thing is this guide has the information for a brand new hobbyist without any experience to get started. I love this book! Yes, it has references to other parts of the book that you’ll need to jump around to, and uses the scientific names of the spiders, but you’ll find in the hobby that most true hobbyists usually do refer to their spiders by their scientific names. Learn them. It’s important. Thank you to the authors who put in the hard work and the hours to create this book! My first and favorite tarantula guide and reference.

I bought this for my daughter in order for her to care for her new pet. We feel much more confident in the care of her tarantula. We got way more information than what the pet store gave us and you tube videos.

This is a great read for anyone aspiring to own a tarantula or for those that have been in the hobby for a long time.

So this book is getting to be a bit dated now, having been published about 8 years ago now. I myself have had tarantulas for about 25 years now.Certainly the authors are very knowledgeable on the subject. They also seemed to have gathered lots of great info, especially on some tarantula breeds that aren't we'll known. Also there is no doubt that this book contains LOTS of information. The problem I have with the book is much of it seems like a mind-dump of information, but its not really organized in the best way, and often its very hard to find what you are looking for. Another problem is that the authors often refer to each tarantula by its scientific name, which is great for scientists, but they also need to include the comon name for, you know, us readers. Look up Curly Hair tarantula in the index and you find NOTHING. So you need to go to the Internet, type in Curly Hair tarantula, find its scientific name, then look that up. Overall there are LOTS of scientific names, and it takes endless name conversions to understand this book.Oh, and there is a third problem. Much of this book is references to other parts of this book, which gets old after a while. So your in the Chilean Rose tarantula sections, wait sorry, I mean the Grammostola rosea section, and instead of just giving you details there, this book leads you to all different other areas of the book for snipets.Overall if you are willing to spend lots and lots of time decoding this book, its full of information, but its not a quick reference and I can tell you a few parts of it are also wrong and need updating. The author needs to start from scratch and rewrite and reorganize it. Get rid of the rambling and organize it in an approachable way. Maybe a bit less college textbook and a bit more practical guide.

You will never need another book on Ts again

I have made this review 4 stars for only one reason, and that is because early in the read, this book tends to have too much technical info, history, scientific references and lengthy discussions on nomenclature for the beginner, and even for the well strung enthusiast. But at the same time these points make this book almost seem as though it belongs in a college classroom in it's professionalism and thoroughness.However, if you pay attention to the prompts earlier on in the book, you will quickly be directed to the portions of the book that will hold the most relevant info for most topics you need info on. It is quite clear that tarantulas are suffering a severe lack of study, and this book lends you as much information as seems available on many topics, I would definitely suggest other reading material on tarantulas to broaden ones knowledge on these illusive and fantastical creatures, especially if looking for specific species accounts, information, care sheets etc, although if you read this book, you will find that most species can be cared for in similar fashion, and this book makes it very clear how simple it really can be.If you are a budding enthusiast or an experienced keeper, this is definitely a book to have in your collection even if just for the sake of reference, you will find everything from basic care info to current breeding methods, most certainly worth it's price.

A fascinating and indispensable guide to everything from basic care and keeping, to the history of tarantula husbandry, to arachnid anatomy! I find myself constantly returning to this guide and referring to things I've learned from it. It's also a great jumping-off point to give new tarantula keepers the context they need to find resources on topics the guide doesn't cover completely. Even if you've kept tarantulas for years, there's probably at least a couple of things in here you didn't know before!

EVERYTHING a person could want to know before deciding to buy a tarantula. This book is exhaustive, detailed, and the authors are FUNNY to boot. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And decided that keeping a T is not for me at this time in my life. Perhaps in the future!Please do read this book before buying a Tarantula. If you decide to go for it you will be really well-equipped to handle just about anything, from substrate requirements to bites to creating an Intensive Care Unit for a sick spider.Excellent book. And so much fun to read that I bought a copy for my brother.

A well written book, packed full with loads of information.If you too are planning to start out keeping arachnids, just a word to the wise. This book doesn't cover how to keep the other half happy should you get one against their will.Coincidentally, the title by the same publisher, 'How to survive divorce' I have found to be equally informative and should be on a bundle offer with this one.

Well what accolade can I say that hasn't already been said over the years about this publication - none is the obvious answer!!!Wildly regarded as the "Bible" of Tarantula husbandry by experts and amateurs alike, simply put if it's not in this book it's either relevant or is bad practice. I would have to say that individual species care sheets are "thin on the ground" but you're looking for a reference book on the all round general husbandry of these fascinating creatures that covers the whole cycle of life from Eggs to Slings to Adulthood to Breeding back to eggs again and not only that but the opportunity to learn in great detail about the biology of these totally unique and at times very much misunderstood creatures - then you've found it so don't waste your money buying any other publication!!!!!

This book is essential for anyone wishing to keep well cared for tarantulas as well as those who want to research their pet in greater detail. There are fantastic photographs throughout as well as myth busting information for the more nervous amongst us!

Very helpful guide to keeping tarantulas. Even though there's a lot of info here, it contains large sections not directly connected to the care of your pets (such as zoological info, and how to catch them in the wild, which will be of little use in the UK). Keeping tarantulas is fundamentally very easy - really - and the essential sections of this book could be easily read and understood in an evening. It contains specific care info. for arboreal, terrestrial and other tarantulas, including the so-called bird eaters.

As a Zoologist who has run an animal College and was in charge of the Reptiles, Invertebrates and Fish; I found this to be well written and well illustrated. It is technically detailed but is still readable for all people who want a good experience - could not put it down. Super.