Cortana

I am thankful for my tarantula Cortana:  Spiders were a long time phobia for me, as is for many people all around the world.  How an arachnaphobe ended up with a pet spider all started about a year ago.  I had been reading up on spiders and then moved on to physically watching their behaviors.  Turns out they’re a little like us.  They are oddly obsessed with their home and its condition.  Spiders like to eat.  Most I’ve found are slightly gluttonous, wasting food on a daily basis.  They tend to be violent towards each other and even sometimes their mates.  Anyway to get back on the subject of Cortana.  My growing interest of reading about spiders and watching them soon became a little boring and monotonous..  I then wanted one of my own. So I did some research and it is widely known in the exotic pets community that a rose hair tarantula is very tame, lives a long time (around 20yrs in captivity for females), and also very easy to maintain.  I arrived at my local pet store and asked to see the spiders they had behind the counter.  They had a couple females and a male.  As soon as I saw her I knew that she was the one I wanted.  She seemed very calm but also alert.  I soon after took her home and placed her in her new enclosure.  After a couple of days she was calm enough to hold.  This would be my first experience holding a spider.  At first I was really scared of the whole situation but as soon as both Cortana and I relaxed it was easy going.  She ended up falling asleep on me for a short time before placing her back in the cage.  Cortana has since become my best friend with 8 legs.  She has also become a positive thought in the back of my mind daily.  I have learned a lot from Cortana.  Just like with people you can’t judge a book by its cover.  Get to know one another, do some research, because you don’t know, you could end up with a friend you thought you would never have.