A couple of weeks ago Stan Schtultz started a thread asking people if they had a couple of certain tarantulas he could photograph. Our new and budding T club had several and we made arrangements with Stan to meet.

Well yesterday, Saturday August 12th, was the day. Stan showed up at my home about 1:30. We had the day pretty well planned out. Pictures, time for a little socializing, dinner and then Stan had prepared a little slide show to give us a peak at a new book that him and Marguerite were writing. Marguerite was unable to attend this time due to some physical problems. I'm sure it was past 3:00 a.m. when the festivities ended though Stan had left earlier than that.

What a glorious day! We all had a great time. I've attatched some photos for everyone's enjoyment. When I get the time I will elaborate more on how the day transpired. Enjoy the photos!

Stan doing a little explaining of things. My son Garrett is in the background.


Getting ready to take the shot.


Christian and my daughter Megan, interested bystanders.


Shot of Stan, my two youngest, and me. (I'm the stunning tall guy on the left)


Hope you enjoyed.

Pat thanks for sharing those. Did he give you any good extra tips for keeping T's that was not covered in his book? Any housing ideas. You are luckey to have him in your house, i was i could have came. Tell us more about the eavning. How is the new book coming etc>>> Cheers

Patrick thanks so much for the photo's I bet ya'll had a great evening. tell us more when you can. Wish I could of been there.

Awww, I wanna go!!
You guys had some fun without me!!

Looks like a great time, wish I could have gone. I am dying to see how the pictures came out

you lucky cuss

cool...looks like everyone had a good time thanks for sharing the pics.

that was sooooo much fun! He had so many interesting tarantula and non tarantula related stories to go around! I really learned a lot from him!

Please share more

me?

Thanks for sharing Patrick! Looks like you all had a good time!

Thanks for sharing...can't wait to hear more.

Ok, I've got some more for everyone interested.

We started around 1:30 as I said before. After about an hour or so of just introducing ourselves and our tarantulas, which he checked every one of the 38 we have, he decided to start taking pictures.

He was looking to take photos of Avicularia versicolor, Antilles Pinktoe, and Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens, Greenbottle Blue. We had five different ones in different stages of growth. The smallest at about two inches and the largest an adult A. versicolor.

The first one was a juvenile GBB, a small male. Stan just reaches into containers and fishes around trying to catch them like most people would go thru a jar of candy looking for a favorite flavor. I know my mouth wasn't the only one hanging open when he did that the first time.

He gets a hold on the T, sets him down on my kitchen table and man did the hair fly. I've been into T's for over a year now and I've never seen one flick hairs yet. Have now. That little three inch GBB had a right back leg going so fast that it was a blur. My daughter looked at it and started to laugh and asked what was that? I was laughing my tail off too. He did it several times and it was just hilarious. Fortunately we had no air moving in the house and the small cloud settled quickly. Couple of wet paper towels and we were fine. That image still makes me laugh. Stan didn't get too many pictues of him so he was quickly replaced. The rest of the tarantulas were just about perfect models. It was a little odd watching him wrangle them into position. Again, just like a regular photographer would adjust a chin or move an arm of a human subject Stan would try and pose his models. Obviously after the amount of time he has spent with them most of the fear is gone. He and the gang would review the pics on his laptop and I'm sure he got some he could use. Me, I was too busy getting dinner ready to check out the final pics. I'm sure if there are some really good ones I'll get to see them in the new book.

That is the picture taking section of this tale. I'll get back with more later. Hope you enjoyed and sorry for making you wait. Life goes on. Thanks all.

Great stuff!

Now that was the easy part, Pat - next comes sharing all of the secrets that only Stan da Man has...Best sharpen your pen 'cause we's a-waitin'!!:D

I learned one thing about Stan that I had not seen in all the years I've emailed with him. Once this thing settled in, everything he's always said made sense. It's odd how you can interact with a person online for years and then in a few hours change how you view everything.

I guess this is why we all keep cool heads, and try to keep on making those conferences.

Oh, I'm not saying what I learned, y'all will have to meet the man yourselves. Luckily he's full of trouble and will be around for a long long time.

Luckily Pat saw an opportunity and took the chance and found the drive to pull it all together.

Christian

I'll throw in my thoughts here too. I was not there for the photo shoot and dinner, but I did go later and was there for Stan's presentation and subsequent spider hunt. Even for the short time I was around him, I found Stan to be amazing. He can (and would) talk forever. There is nothing wrong with that. He is a natural born talker. Every word he speaks just reels you in and leaves you yearning for more.

His presentation was a brief synopsis of his upcoming book. In it he talks about how all captive tarantulas can be kept in one of 5 different setups: Spiderlings, Arid species, Arboreals, Obligate burrowers, and Swamp dwellers. He also states that 90% of all tarantulas can be kept as an arid species, even some we thought were strictly burrowers or swamp dwellers. He focuses on essential needs and simplistic (inexpensive) caging. While naturalistic vivaria look nice, wouldn't you rather spend that extra money on more spiders??? Want to know more…. Wait for his book to come out. I just wanted to tease your appetite a little.

After his presentation we took a moment to take some pics with him. I presented him an honorary membership to the Nebraska Tarantula Enthusiasts Club (see pic below). I believe he was genuinely honored by the gesture, which made me feel good. The next day he joined the NTEC website.

Then we went out hunting for spiders. Unfortunately we did not find the black widows he was looking for, but we still had a good time. By then it was getting close to 2AM and Stan had to depart as he was planning on getting on the road in about 10 hours. So we said our goodbyes and wished him safe journeys. We sure hope he can make it through here again sometime. I truly believe our little group has made an impression on him, and I know that he made a big impression on us. Stan, if you are reading this… It was an honor!

Alright, since KJ filled you in on the presentation I'm going to just add a few final notes and our tale with Stan will end.

After dinner, which I just have to say was an unbelievable success, and prior to the presentation, Stan and I went for a little ride to where him and his wife were camped to meet Marguerite. Neither one of us were aware of the time and when we got there she was dressed for and in bed. Stan talked to her for a bit, got her to sign our copies of The Tarantula Keeper's Guide and he fed and walked their dogs. They have two little adorable border collies. With our mission a success we headed back to my home where Stan added his autograph to Marguerite's.



Now, after the presentation we talked a little about what Stan had just presented to us. We all had a few questions about it and he was more than happy to elaborate. Like TheVez2 said prior, I honestly believe if he didn't have other commitments to attend to he'd still be here talking and teaching. His passion for the hobby is so intense it's infectious and just plain fun to witness.

After our question and answer period he asked if we knew where to find a black widow. A friend of his wanted some. Now, as I understand they are here in Nebraska and my son has found a few but I've never seen one. I've never really looked either though. So, it's way after midnight and we all grab a flashlight, check and change batteries as needed and out the front door we go. The first group is already walking around the corner of the house, flashlights shining and talking excitedly. I follow Stan out the door and he doesn't get two steps off of the porch and he's following his beam of light into my shrubs. Finding orb weavers all over and explaining to me what they are, how they spin webs, how they get prey, find mates for themselves, courtship rituals. The man knows more about spiders than I know about eating. Trust me when I tell you that is impressive!

Here we are, in the suburbs, early in the morning, talking and laughing, flashlights shining all over, steady flash of cameras taking pictures of everything we can find that has a hearbeat. If any of my neighbors peeked out their windows I know they had to think what in the heck are those spider people doing now? My neighbors know about our tarantula collection.

Back into the house we go, no black widows found. It's getting late and Stan has a long drive in front of him. Their trip is done and it's time to go home. We all said our goodbyes and thanked each other profusely for the wonderful time we spent together. If you ever get the chance to meet the Schultz's I would whole heartedly recommend that you take it. The man is an inspiration, has an infectious love for tarantulas that he's eager to share, very personable and approachable, and flat out know's his business. I would not hesitate to go out of my way to see him again. Thanks all for your interest. I wish all of you could have been there too!

Thanks again Pat and Vez for sharing the events of the eavning, it makes me jealous, i wish i could have come . Thanks for the pictures too.