THE FIRST AMERICAN TARANTULA SOCIETY POTLUCK IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD

From the July/August 1979 issue of "TARANTULA TIMES":

 

 

 

       If anyone attending our first Northwest ATS Potluck found me walking around in a daze, it was because I was overwhelmed at its success.   More than thirty people attended - members, guests, and a family who popped in to see a tarantula for the first time in their lives.  

       Also attending the event were approximately twenty live tarantulas and more than fifty preserved specimens, including the Phrixotrichus scrofa from Chili (common there, but hard for us to get a hold of), Pamphobeteus sp. (an enormous spider from Columbia, Peru and Ecuador, boasting a beautiful iridescent purple on the legs), Ceratagyrus sp. from Botswana, South Africa (which has a "Forveal" horn in the center of its carapace), Lampropelma ("Earth Tiger") from Malaysia (having an 8" leg-span - considered a god in its home country) and many, many other interesting critters.  Even the dreaded Pepsis wasp was on display.

       Dr. Gary Buhr discovered that his spider's "peeling" abdomen is normal.  I discovered that one of my spiders is a Haitian Black and not an Arizona Cinnamon.  Paul Lund introduced our new bumperstickers.  Rich and Bobbi Montgomery closed their pet shop to attend the event.  We gained six new members.  And we had a lot of fun.

       Rick West did not disappoint us.  His presentation was excellent, the slides were fascinating, and many questions were answered.  In conclusion to his talk, Rick told us a few folk-takes from around the world, but since he plans to put them in his book, I won't repeat them here.

       And the food was plentiful and delicious, including the tarantula.  Dr. Bea Vogel brought us a Russian dish, a stuffed bread in the shape of a giant tarantula!  Since then, I have learned that tarantulas are edible, but the real thing will have to wait for another time.

       I hope all who attended the potluck had as much fun as I, and am looking forward to having other get-togethers in the future.    - Dale Lund 

 

Those who attended:

 

Dennis Arnold

Paul Bennett

Brad Britton 

Gary Buhr 

Jody Douglass 

Paul Henschkel

Sandra Henschkel

Aaron Lindgren

Christopher Lindgren 

Deanna Lindgren 

Debora Lindgren 

Joshua Lindgren 

Michael Lindgren 

Dale Lund 

Leif Lund  

Mark Lund

Micki Lund 

Paul Lund 

Ian MacKay 

Bobbi Montgomery

Rick Montgomery

Raul Moore 

Karen Stecker

Larry Stecker 

Bea Vogel 

Lynn West

Rick West 

and the family who had never seen a tarantula before

 

 

MY TARANTULA HAS BENEFITS

 

       My new tarantula from the Carolina Biological Supply Company is only half-grown, and so probably will outlive me.  It's nice to know that I've written a book (All About Tarantulas, 1977, TFH Publications) that will teach its future owner how to take care of it after I'm gone.

 

PLEASE PRAY FOR MY TARANTULA

       I ordered a Texas Brown tarantula from the Carolina Biological Supply Company in Burlington NC.  Five days later, on Monday, June 29, my spider was packed in an 8x8x8-inch box at 9:00 a.m.  At 2:07 p.m. it was picked up by FedEx at taken to its facility in Winston Salem NC.  There it sat until 8:45 p.m., when it was taken to the FedEx hub in Memphis TN, arriving at 10:38 p.m., where it sat for 22 hours!  Hopefully it was inside, because the daily temperature this week is in the nineties.  Finally today, Tuesday, at 8:39 p.m., it left the Memphis FedEx hub and is on the way.  

       Since it left Carolina Biological Supply, the estimated time of arrival here in Branson MO is tomorrow, July 1, before 1:30 p.m.  I will be surprised if they make that.  And I'm thinking it'll take a miracle for my tarantula to arrive alive.  Also, after 24 years experience as a mailman (now retired), I know that carriers routinely toss packages several yards into bins.  FedEx delivered the tarantula's glass terrarium from Walmart yesterday and it came severely smashed to (many) pieces.  We got a refund, and bought a terrarium at the local Petco. 

       So please pray for my new tarantula.  There's a nice home waiting for it. 

 

UPDATE: 

July 1, 2026:  It arrived alive!  Barely.  It's in it's new and comfortable home, and will find the water.  Soon it will feel much better.  It's not full grown, so even if it's a male it will live for years.  Don't know what its sex is yet.  I've name it Trance, after the first tarantula I got from the same company in 1964.

 

Thank you for your prayers!

 

 

LITTLE LULU USED TO HELP SELL KLEENEX

 Circa 1950

FINALLY GETTING ANOTHER TARANTULA

 

       It's been years.  I'm finally getting another tarantula, from the Carolina Biological Supply Company, who sent me my very first tarantula, in 1964, and launched my years of correspondence with Alice Gray of the American Museum of Natural History, my book All About Tarantulas, my founding of the American Tarantula Society, and many happy years with several more tarantulas.

       A few days ago I brought my son-in-law Matthias into the Lund Library to show off some things, and he asked, "Do you have a tarantula now?"  And I said, "No, I just don't feel like taking care of a pet now."

       Then I thought, 'Why not?'  (They're the easiest pet to care for.)