# 200 spiders



## snickers (Aug 15, 2007)

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Spare room for 200 spiders

There must be people with more than 200 on here


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

yeah I know loads of people with many more spiders than that


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## gizzard (May 5, 2008)

depends, if you get 5 egg sacs hatching in the same room you could have loads in littledeli cups, also depends on size of room


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## Willenium (Apr 17, 2008)

Ray Hale's other half?


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

yes it is mate


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## shep1979 (Feb 24, 2008)

I must ring the bbc to come and get them to check out my bug house lol


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## tommyjacobs (Nov 26, 2008)

one of the biggest in the world im sure many spider enthusiasts have many more than that some people on hear have got that many leos:lol2:


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

they are very prominent members of the BTS commitee


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## SpiderGirl33 (Sep 2, 2007)

She may _only_ have 200, but she has 25 years experience keeping them! 
Anyone could go out and buy a couple of hundred tarantulas


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## lycanlord20 (Jul 11, 2008)

or buy a couple of WC female adult T's and then end up with more than 200 hundred lol
But yeah 200 isnt that shocking in the world of T's really is it lol


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## spider_mad (Mar 8, 2007)

It's not the quantity of how many people keeps. They have been keeping and breeding long before they became the norm and long before the hugeness of the internet. Plus they have plenty of research and articles to their names. Having hundreds of tarantulas doesn't make someone any better or worse.


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Was I the only one that picked up on the "contrary to popular belief, they are harmless"


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## Jb1432 (Apr 19, 2008)

I know people that have kept 300 snakes. And they have normal jobs. 200 is pityful! :lol2: If she had 2000 then id be more interested:Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Mutley.100 (Nov 3, 2008)

_simon_ said:


> Was I the only one that picked up on the "contrary to popular belief, they are harmless"



No , you're not the only 1 . Should have given her a Poeci to hold . :lol2:


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## Elaine R (Feb 2, 2008)

A nice positive article for a change. Well done Angela :notworthy:

25 years experience of keeping, breeding, learning and teaching about Tarantula's as well as being part of running the BTS and people are complaining about how many spiders she keeps :bash:


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## callumcook (Oct 23, 2008)

i no some one who has more than that


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## Danhalen (Jun 6, 2008)

I've personally met both Ray and Angela, and they are indeed very experienced keepers who contribute significantly to he hobby. In fact they both play a huge role in organising the annual BTS show.

And to be perfectly honest, I personally think that a collection of 200+ adult tarantulas is quite substantial. Yes, people may have more, and good for them, but I doubt they do nearly as much for the hobby as Angela and Ray have done, and continue to do so.


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## spider_mad (Mar 8, 2007)

Danhalen said:


> I've personally met both Ray and Angela, and they are indeed very experienced keepers who contribute significantly to he hobby. In fact they both play a huge role in organising the annual BTS show.
> 
> And to be perfectly honest, I personally think that a collection of 200+ adult tarantulas is quite substantial. Yes, people may have more, and good for them, but I doubt they do nearly as much for the hobby as Angela and Ray have done, and continue to do so.


Thank you That's exactly what I am getting at we wouldn't have had the BTS expo for over 20 years had it not been for them. I really find this thread to be patronising and disrepectful. Far too many bandwagon T keepers that dont respect the hobby or the veteran keepers that once was. Someone could have 500 T's in their collecting but have done SFA for the hobby so the point to this thread is petty how many people that have more than *200!!* :shock: T's have dedicated numerous articles and publicity for T keeping? Squat!


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## lycanlord20 (Jul 11, 2008)

I think the reason ppl are focusing on the 200 T's is because the video focused more on the number of T's than what they have done for the hobby.
So to be fair you cant really blame people for talking about the amount of T's they keep mre than there experience


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

_simon_ said:


> Was I the only one that picked up on the "contrary to popular belief, they are harmless"


all tarantulas dont really have medically significant venom compared to alot of venomous animals, so as such they are not dangerous, id rather they said that than, deadly or dangerous tarantulas, which is the usual crap we see in the media.

Also the reason people are picking up on the 200 tarantulas is because it states that they have one of the largest collections in the world, nothing to do with how experienced they are.


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## lycanlord20 (Jul 11, 2008)

SiUK said:


> Also the reason people are picking up on the 200 tarantulas is because it states that they have one of the largest collections in the world, nothing to do with how experienced they are.


Good to see somebody else noticed lol
Lets face it if they had gone on about how they wre really experience and done alot for the Invert world Im sure we would talk more about that than focusing on the whole
"one of the largest collctions in the world" thing.


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## mary walters (Mar 26, 2007)

Ok, I have around 200 tarantulas, sooo.

I have know Angela and ray almost all of the 23 years we have been in the hobby, if you lot that are picking on them can do as much for ANY hobby, let's see ya do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:Na_Na_Na_Na::Na_Na_Na_Na::Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Mark Pennell (Sep 24, 2008)

I think personally this is a positive piece of PR for the hobby, as anyone who has ever been involved with the TV or any other type of public media will tell you.

They don't want to here about facts they just want to sensationalise the piece for the sake of entertainment and a global audience. They say things like the public are not interested in accurate factual information. 

I am pretty dam sure that this information was more than likely filmed and edited out for the sake of wider TV audience.

I recently did a bit for the BBC, over 30 hrs of footage was recorded both here in the UK and Borneo, only 8mins got on TV! and I was lucky as the people producing this film actually wanted to try and portray an accurate view of the hobby and the BTS and my contribution to it. Yet the top bods in the big chairs fought very hard to degrade the piece and sensationalise it. Thankfully they lost......but again they edited out much technical info for the sake of joe public.

As for keeping just 200 tarantulas, well I can tell you I only have around 50 at the moment I used to have 300 plus, and have been keeping / breeding and studing them in the wild them for over 25 years. The reason I don't have more, I'll tell you and this goes for Ray and Angela too. We simply don't have the time! to maintain such large numbers.

We spend to much of our free time passing on information and helping others with in this hobby and trying to give them the benefit of our experience. All free of charge and with great deal of passion for tarantula keeping.

It seems many here have a problem with quotes like 
_"one of the largest collections in the world"_

I can tell you that would have been the TV peoples words and not Angela's I have known the Hales for many years and they are passionate about this hobby and work very hard with in it, people often forget the early pioneers of this hobby such as Ray and Angela and others, for example Ray kept many rare (_in the hobby at that time_) Asian species before anyone was even remotely interested in the them and even wrote a book on the subject.

People forget this and relative newcomers who are now prominent is such species get all the praise. Such species are now common and sought after.

Don't condemn Angela for this piece, or for that matter the the BTS. I am sure we would all love to see factual, accurate tarantula programmes but they are just not ever going to be made. Its too small of an audience, to warrant such films / programs and Joe public's entertainment comes first.

Lets stop bashing others and try and just enjoy the hobby, it does not matter if you kept just one or 10,000, we are all in it together.


Very best regards
Mark


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## LimaMikeSquared (Jan 16, 2008)

The video isn't really concentrating on the size of the collection, but more of some interesting things for the general public on a basic knowledge level. It is nice to see a piece of film which shows more of the fascinating side to the hobby from a experienced keeper, more in a way which encourages people into the hobby rather than diswading them from it. 

I've had experience of the media for another hobby where a friend was interviewed - what they filmed was dramatically cut wasn't hugely resembling what the point or the original interview was for. 

Angela is very experienced and has put alot into the hobby to get it to where it is today, and without some of her and Ray's input the BTS wouldn't be here. The number of spiders you keep is irrelevant.

You could be the person who has put the most input into the hobby and have had to keep numbers low to be able to balance other commiments, just as you could have hundreds and hundreds of spiders yet not be experienced or necessarily put alot into the hobby as some would agree.

As many know keeping just 20 odd spiders really well takes alot of time, let alone 200 or more, especially if you are working or in education and are putting things into the hobby ontop of it aswell. 

I agree with Mark on this one.

Julie x


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## Jamie (Nov 18, 2007)

I agree with Mark, this is a good bit of PR for the hobby. Which is what it needs in my opinion.

I dont know Ray and Angela personally, but I'm aware of the work they have done for the hobby, and the knowledge they have passed on.

:notworthy:


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

SiUK said:


> all tarantulas dont really have medically significant venom compared to alot of venomous animals, so as such they are not dangerous, id rather they said that than, deadly or dangerous tarantulas, which is the usual crap we see in the media.
> 
> Also the reason people are picking up on the 200 tarantulas is because it states that they have one of the largest collections in the world, nothing to do with how experienced they are.


I appreciate what you're saying but there's a difference between harmless and potentially having a face full of hair or a pair of fangs in your finger.


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## Lucifus (Aug 30, 2007)

Mark Pennell said:


> I think personally this is a positive piece of PR for the hobby, as anyone who has ever been involved with the TV or any other type of public media will tell you.
> 
> They don't want to here about facts they just want to sensationalise the piece for the sake of entertainment and a global audience. They say things like the public are not interested in accurate factual information.
> 
> ...


Here here. I thought it was great. Only thing i really picked up on was the "Tarantella dance", i thought it was performed after a bite as some bites caused delirium or to just avoid the delirium the bite was performed. (as well as being part of traditional dance) I could be wrong however.

I congratulate her for doing the interview though i do suppose it could have easily turned out as bad PR if the BBC wanted it to be. Its risky but good to see people are not turned off doing interviews about tarantulas especially someone who is experienced.



_simon_ said:


> I appreciate what you're saying but there's a difference between harmless and potentially having a face full of hair or a pair of fangs in your finger.


Id rather they state harmless rather than the usual schpiel of "BLOODY PAINFUL AND DEADLY VENOM". :lol2:


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Lucifus said:


> Id rather they state harmless rather than the usual schpiel of "BLOODY PAINFUL AND DEADLY VENOM". :lol2:


Just as misleading though and I'd say in a worse way. All you need is to combine someone who watched that and now believes they are totally harmless with a general pet shop selling a pokie. Customer lets their kid handle said spider and you've got a great recipe for disaster. 

What I don't understand is why the woman doing that piece wasn't corrected there and then.


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## Lucifus (Aug 30, 2007)

_simon_ said:


> Just as misleading though and I'd say in a worse way. All you need is to combine someone who watched that and now believes they are totally harmless with a general pet shop selling a pokie. Customer lets their kid handle said spider and you've got a great recipe for disaster.
> 
> What I don't understand is why the woman doing that piece wasn't corrected there and then.


She probably was corrected but theirs a difference between educated and news productions. News just want something that looks good on film.


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## Mirf (May 22, 2008)

_simon_ said:


> Just as misleading though and I'd say in a worse way. All you need is to combine someone who watched that and now believes they are totally harmless with a general pet shop selling a pokie. Customer lets their kid handle said spider and you've got a great recipe for disaster.


I take it you missed the previous comment made, where the presenter stated that Angela never handles the spiders as they are extremely delicate and this was the exception?

It does make me wonder sometimes. Someone in the news makes a comment about 'deadly tarantula' and folk are up in arms, then a sensible news piece states that they are 'harmless' and it gets the same response. Surely better to have t's seen as the beautiful specimins they are and have people appreciate them, than run screaming in terror, even if it's not 100% perfect in it's description? This IS the general public we are talking about remember, all they see is a bloody great hairy spider ready to eat their puppy.

Well said Mark btw, as always the voice of reason.


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## Baldpoodle (Apr 18, 2007)

I read all this stuff years ago


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## lycanlord20 (Jul 11, 2008)

^ a rather random pointless post lmao

I Dont think anybody was having ago at Mrs.Hale. I think people were only really upset as they "as someone already said" sensationalised the peice.
Like ppl have said and most will agree, 200 isnt an amazing number,
and yes they have been involved in the hobby for many years which is the amazing side of the article.
I think in general ppl are offended that they felt the need to sensationalise it. 
I agree it is a good bit of PR for the hobby, I disagree that it would be bad as some kid could end up with a pokie as from hat I have seen the shops that actually stock Pokies know what they are and wont sell to just any random wannabe T keeper.
And if the person searches for pokies online, then they will probably be aware of what they are getting into before they get one. If they then get one and decide to handle and get bitten its there fault isnt it.

All in all good lil piece, but perhaps useless to those who arent in the hobby
a small amount of PR is not going to win many people over now is it lol


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## mantidboywonder (Nov 15, 2006)

200 isnt alot for T keepers i used to have over 100 prob about 130-140 so 200 is nothing if you have spare room


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## SpiderGirl33 (Sep 2, 2007)

I don't see why everybody is making a big deal about this :?

I think it's great, a little bit of publicity for tarantulas that doesn't make them out to be deadly killers. 
Last night, I was flicking round on the TV and I found a film called 'In the spiders web', as soon as one of the women got bitten, she started to bleed and the bite area went huge and swollen. Oh and if they hadn't found an intivenom, she'd be dead within hours!
Then on top of that, there was this old guy handling what looked like Haplopelmas!!! 
Before RFUK members put down the people who spent their lives trying to convince people tarantulas aren't evil and deadly, check out a couple of the films who give tarantulas a bad rep. 
You'll find a whole lot more to complain about!


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## Paulie B (Oct 28, 2008)

Fair play to Angela Hale. She is promoting the hobby in my view and again, fair play to her.


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## lycanlord20 (Jul 11, 2008)

Yes watch, rent or buy films therefore showing an interest in them
which would then encourage more to be made lol
Id rather ignore films Like that, stuff like arachnaphobia etc


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## SpiderGirl33 (Sep 2, 2007)

YouTube - In The Spider's Web - Crawling to Freedom
Have a look at 00:32! 
I couldn't stop laughing at how bad the special effects were :lol2:


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## lycanlord20 (Jul 11, 2008)

I know not what you speak of spider girl I have never seen a more realistic fall in all my years lol


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## Mutley.100 (Nov 3, 2008)

SpiderGirl33 said:


> YouTube - In The Spider's Web - Crawling to Freedom
> Have a look at 00:32!
> I couldn't stop laughing at how bad the special effects were :lol2:


All i can say is that spiders don't make webs like they used to .


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Smirfy said:


> I take it you missed the previous comment made, where the presenter stated that Angela never handles the spiders as they are extremely delicate and this was the exception?
> 
> It does make me wonder sometimes. Someone in the news makes a comment about 'deadly tarantula' and folk are up in arms, then a sensible news piece states that they are 'harmless' and it gets the same response. Surely better to have t's seen as the beautiful specimins they are and have people appreciate them, than run screaming in terror, even if it's not 100% perfect in it's description? This IS the general public we are talking about remember, all they see is a bloody great hairy spider ready to eat their puppy.
> 
> Well said Mark btw, as always the voice of reason.


I didn't miss it but forgot to comment  It made me wonder why someone with so much experience who doesn't even handle them themselves would let some news reader handle one for the sake of a story. I also noticed that the handling was done in the air with nothing visible below to stop it hitting the floor should it have fallen. That's her choice though. I don't have 25 years experience but I know how unpredictable T's can be and wouldn't risk a fall. Not sure what handling has to do with my point about being harmless or not as the case may be though? I know it's easy for people to get aggressive and defensive if you know that person involved and feel you should stick up for them but I think those are valid points.

I don't think either stance is better (OMG they're going to kill you and eat your brains or look you can pet it like a dog and let it share your bed at night) T's are beautiful, I've got 17 species myself but they also need to be respected as they *can *do you harm. There's a new thread on another forum I frequent right now about a person who got a utricating hair in their eye and also a thread on pokie bites. Misleading the public by telling them they're harmless isn't going to help publicize the hobby and you also have to think is this the kind of hobby that you want every tom, dick and harry to get into? Not everyone does research before buying a pet and not all pet stores know what they're talking about either which doesn't help. If ever Pets at Home start selling T's we're doomed. You might remember when skinny pigs (hairless guinea pigs) were in the news a while back? Suddenly lots of people wanted what is considered by owners to be a specialist animal and it caused uproar in many places.

I could waffle on for ages but I just think that news item was lacking in a lot of important information and very economic with the truth. What the presenter should have said was that *some *are harmless and that anyone interested in getting into the hobby should *research *tarantula keeping fully before making any decisions. Pointing out that there are numerous online forums where advice could be gotten would have helped as well.


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## Mirf (May 22, 2008)

_simon_ said:


> I could waffle on for ages but I just think that news item was lacking in a lot of important information and very economic with the truth.


It was a local news item, what do you expect?:lol:


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## snickers (Aug 15, 2007)

> Before RFUK members put down the people who spent
> their lives trying to convince people tarantulas aren't
> evil and deadly

Calm down. You are overreacting. Nobody is being 'put down'. Noone is attacking the Hales (who I've never heard of before)

I posted the item cos I thought it might interest people on RFUK. and we could have a laugh at how the BBC thought 200 spiders was a lot.

Lyconlord - thanks for being the voice of reason.


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## 118-118 (Dec 16, 2008)

200 is nothing remember when my uncle was breeding and he had over 100 b.smithi's and that was just one species, he had the spiderlings in 35mm camera tubs all over. But liked her homem, my kinda woman...:flrt:


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## SpiderGirl33 (Sep 2, 2007)

snickers said:


> > Before RFUK members put down the people who spent
> > their lives trying to convince people tarantulas aren't
> > evil and deadly
> 
> Calm down. You are overreacting. Nobody is being 'put down'.


I'm not over reacting,(well maybe just a little ) and I'm aware that nobody is being put down. 
That's why I said '_Before_ RFUK members...blah blah blah' 
I've seen lots of these types of threads before and they always end up with someone being banned, lots of angry members and people who don't know anything about tarantulas joining in for their say.

I was serious when I said I don't know why people are making such a big deal about it...200 tarantulas is a lot! 
Most people only have a few...


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## Ray hale (Sep 24, 2008)

Hi , 
I would just like to set the record straight on a few things that have been said about the interview that I did recently with the BBC.

The interview took over three hours to film during which time I went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the infomation given was correct. The final piece shown was 3 minutes in length. 

I did not and have never claimed that we have "one of the Worlds largest collections". Anyone who has been involved with the media will know that they put the voiceover on afterwards and I had no control over it. What you should understand to the non-exotic animal keeper, owning three cats is excessive. I also stressed that keeping any exotic was a huge responsibility and that before any animal was kept the correct infomation should be gleaned from books and clubs. I made it clear that thought should be given and that a spider was for life and not just for Christmas. Again this was cut. I am quiet surprised that some of you guys felt the need to comment so harshly as I am sure many of you can recount bad experiences with the media. The reptile hobby comes in for more criticism from the antis than any other. However I can understand that to many of you 200 tarantulas is not a lot and indeed in our early days we had over 500. These days the running of the BTS does not afford us much time.

The spider handled was actually no more than a foot off the floor as the presenter was kneeling down at the time. We did not say that tarantulas were all harmless and went to great lengths to try to make the presenter understand the difference. However in 3 minute piece they cut 98% out.
You should also know that the general public will only hear what they want to hear. There has been much debate on handling tarantulas and this is not the time to go into it but normally we do not handle our spiders. If you handle yours than that is your choice. We do not judge anyone and certainly do not try to force our opinions on others.

With regard to the movements the tarantula makes and the so called Tarrentella. This section was completely hacked and presented in a way that made no sense. I explained that the tem came from frenzied dance after a bite from a Wolf spider but the editing of this part was lost in translation.

Finally both Ray and myself do not claim to be experts and those of you who know us will know we consider ourselves to be merely enthusiastic amatures even after keeping tarantulas for so long. Its irrelvant to me wether you have 2 or 2000 tarantulas as long as we are all singing from the same hymn sheet. I tried to do a reasonable PR job . If I failed in some eyes I am sorry and hope I have not upset you all too much because after all we are all on the same side. Bear in mind there are enough people out there who hate us all.

PS a word of warning to you all. This is the season when the media need news. If you should be approached be careful as what you feel may be a sensible piece may turn out to be twisted out of all proportion.

Anyway, I'm glad it sparked off a debate.

Merry Christmas

Angela Hale


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Hi Angela,

It was good of you to fill in the gaps. I think most of the criticism was aimed at the news item rather than yourself. From what I could see the camera angle when the presenter held the spider didn't show any floor so I apologise if the comment I made offended you in any way.

I hope you kicked up some fuss over the huge amounts of edits and what must now seem like a lot of wasted time!


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## Jamie (Nov 18, 2007)

Although the piece wasn't entirely as you wanted. It still showed tarantulas in a good light. Makes a change from "KILLER SPIDER FOUND IN BANANAS AT TESCO'S". So still a good bit PR in my opinion. 

The room set up looked great also.


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## lycanlord20 (Jul 11, 2008)

snickers said:


> Lyconlord - thanks for being the voice of reason.


:lol2: no problem mate
and Angela dont worry what some people think, we all know the media switch and cut so much to the point it makes no sense to others in the hobby.
Dont worry about the people who got there feathers ruffled up after all
some people like to have a whine just for the sake of whining


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## Sharpman (Feb 21, 2007)

All i want to say is well done Angela and Ray Hale for promoting the hoby , not just in the news article but over the many years they have been in the hoby , the BTS wouldnt be what it is today without you two , so as long as an article like that promotes the hoby then you get a thumbs up from me :2thumb::no1:


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## Becky (Mar 26, 2007)

People have read this completely the wrong way and missed the whole point of the article. It show's tarantula keeping in a positive light, as people say, as opposed to "killer spider handed to RSPCA" etc You've taken one small line and blown it completely out of proportion. 
200 spiders is a lot of work! And what with running the BTS forum, website and planning the BTS May exhibition, which we all love, i'm surprised Ray and Angela have time for that many!

Keep up the good work guys!


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## Lucifus (Aug 30, 2007)

Ray hale said:


> Hi ,
> 1) With regard to the movements the tarantula makes and the so called Tarrentella. This section was completely hacked and presented in a way that made no sense. I explained that the tem came from frenzied dance after a bite from a Wolf spider but the editing of this part was lost in translation.
> 
> 2) PS a word of warning to you all. This is the season when the media need news. If you should be approached be careful as what you feel may be a sensible piece may turn out to be twisted out of all proportion.
> ...


1) Thought so, it just didn't make any sense with one sentence to whats really takes a story to explain. It may make people research into it more though which is probably better in the long run. 

2) This i know first hand, ive been offored to do news reports for varying areas including LGBT work. I don't like doing it because the news do tend to twist it. At least this report showed them in a good light.

I would like to say the handling debate gets rather fiery in these forums as i know they do in the BTS forums too. I personally stay on the fence for this issue. However as i stated before seeing someone hold a tarantula does show that they are not as deadly as some people think and hopefully will spark some intrest at looking more into tarantulas.


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## Ray hale (Sep 24, 2008)

Thanks guys I appreciatte your words.

Its a minefield out there and we try our best.

:2thumb:

Ray and Angela


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