How it all Began

 

Hi friends,

 

We would like to share our story with you. Many people ask us how we got into the hobby and it’s a good story.

 

The main characters in this story are Daenerys the star, Chris Ballin Daenerys father, Aja Ballin the villain, Tiger Butt the Psalmopoeus Irminia, Baby Blue the Pterinopelma Sazimai, Eyelashes the Scolopendra Hero and Heart the Brachypelma Hamorii.

 

Daenerys father Chris worked for a decent sized low voltage electrical company based out of Gilbert. One weekend a fellow manager decided to install a 100 gallon fish tank in his office. When all the employees came into the office Monday morning, they were all mesmerized by the new underwater friends. Everyone asked Chris what he was going to do to his office and he would reply “nothing.”

One particular night Chris was working late as always and Daenerys and her mother Aja (the villain) brought dinner to the office. While they were there, they too were awestruck by the amazing fish tank. Aja told her husband that he had to do something and couldn’t just leave his office as is. That weekend Daenerys and her father were in search of something at exotic pet stores to keep people out of her fathers office. They looked at lizards, snakes, turtles but couldn’t come to a conclusion on what to get. The store employee asked them what they were in search of. Chris told him that he was looking for something to put in his office at work that would keep people out. The employee said, “what about spiders.” Chris said, “ people buy spiders?” The employee said, “follow me.” The employee took them to a section behind glass and sure enough there was a decent amount of spiders. The employee showed them pictures of what they would look like as adults and Daenerys helped pick out 3 spiders and a centipede. The next day Daenerys helped her father put together some enclosures for these new friends in his office and named them all too. She named the Scolopendra Hero Eyelashes. The Psalmopoeus Irminia Tiger Butt. The Pterinopelma Sazimai Baby Blue. The Brachypelma Hamorii Heart.

Monday morning came and as predicted when the employees came in they all asked what is inside those enclosures. When Chris replied, “spiders,” people ran for the hills. A few weeks went by and Daenerys father had the most quiet office in the building. It didn’t last long though. Human Resources gave him a call and said the spiders had to go. He fought that the other manager had a fish tank and pets are pets but that didn’t last long either. A company wide memo went out implementing a NO pet policy and the pets had a 30 day eviction notice.

On day 30 Chris packed up poor Baby Blue, Eyelashes, Heart and Tiger Butt. They all headed to their new home where the villain of this story was waiting. Chris tried to sneak them into the house but was caught by the villain. The villain said, “what are they doing here?” and Chris explained to her what happened at work and that he had to bring them home. She said, “not in my house, I’m going to kill them”. Daenerys overheard and said, “no mommy, I will take care of them!” A standoff occurred and the villain agreed that they could stay in the house but they had to be in the downstairs guest bedroom and not to come out because she didn’t want to see them. Perfect, a compromise.

A few weeks went by and Daenerys fed her new friends and took great care of them. Daenerys and her father had to go the pet store to get feeders and while they were there, they noticed a great selection of tarantulas. They couldn’t help themselves to add a few more friends to the collection. After all how would the villain ever find out? She never went into the bedroom. 6 months went by and the villain entered the room that she was not suppose to enter. That’s when things got interesting. She said, “ there is no way you guys had 50 of these things!” We were caught. What she didn’t know, didn’t hurt her and she allowed us to continue to grow Daenerys collection. Daenerys would then ask for tarantulas for her birthdays, Christmas or any other opportunity that would allow her to add to the collection. Overtime (3-4 years later) we were able to bring the villain to her senses and she held her first Tarantula. She started helping with feedings. Shortly after that Daenerys mother Aja helped us out at our very first expo. She now is called the grandma of spiders and is very much part of the family of spiders!!

 

A little girls love for a creature that may not be loved by all, has now turned into a family business. Thank you for the support friends!!