History of "Tarantulas of Mexico"

From the moment I discovered the lives of these tiny creatures known as arthropods, I was hooked. The world of arthropods greatly surpasses anything in our imaginations. It is so impressive, it goes beyond good and evil, of what is comprehensible, or what can be narrated.

Up to this date, I have not stopped admiring the complexity of this small world full of incredible interactions. As a result of these discoveries, I am now committed to sharing everything I have learned about this strange beauty with everyone who is interested, and to try and rekindle the respect that our ancestors had for them, and that many cultures still show.

My involvement with tarantulas began in 1999, when I became aware of their extreme exploitation in the black market, their extraction from their country of origin, and the types of illegal trading even though these animals are protected by law as you can corroborate in the chapter “Legal Situation of Mexican Tarantulas in Mexico and the World”. It is very difficult to fight this corruption monster only by persecuting the felons, and this is where it all started. When I realized that breeding tarantulas for release and repopulation was only giving extractors more sales material, I decided that the best solution was a wide-scale operation for reproduction in captivity in order to flood the market with these creatures so the ones living in the wild would be left alone. This has already been done in several countries, such as Switzerland, United States, Germany, Spain, etc., where tarantula aficionados are mostly people preoccupied with their legal situation, and convinced that this is the most effective way to stop them from reaching levels close to extinction. No one knows exactly how close to extinction Mexican tarantulas really are, but in chapter “Biological Cycle of Mexican Tarantulas”I explain why it is so easy to spoil the delicate balance of these creatures; and in the chapter on “Legal Situation of Tarantulas” you can obtain further information on this subject.

It is worth mentioning that another big source of disturbance of the life of these creatures is the enduring implicit ignorance and mysticism that prevails upon them. The fact that they are big hairy spiders has sparked in many people the desire to describe these creatures by using a number of negative qualities worthy of Edgar Allan Poe.

We currently have a reproduction rate of approximately 7,000 little Mexican tarantulas a year, and we also give lectures on this subject. We believe that by doing this, we can help ignite a change in the way these living creatures that are different from us are viewed and treated. Ugly does not mean bad!

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