Meet the man who lives with over 1,000 tarantulas – and travels up and down the country helping people overcome their fears of creepy crawlies.
Aaron Phoenix, 37, who lives in Yate, began accumulating them in the summer of 2021 to help with his mental health and believes he was “born to save spiders.”
He keeps the spiders across two locations – his “tarantula cave” in his house and a separate premises used for breeding – and says the biggest is the size of a dinner plate.
After hitting the papers last year for his incredible collection, Aaron has added a further 300 of the arachnids to his spider home.
Thanks to the exposure, Aaron has now travelled the country helping people who may have previously been scared of the animals take an interest in them.
Aaron, a house removals specialist, , said: “It’s easily over 1,000 now.
“It sounds like a lot but in the spider-world, it’s not. When you’re breeding spiders they can have anything from 20 babies to a few thousand.
“I rescued well over 200 spiders last year – I get messages all the time from people who’ve had large collections who want to downsize or fallen out of love with the hobby.”
Aaron first started collecting when doctors told him a hobby could help his mental health following a bipolar diagnosis.
The inspiration came from a pet tarantula he had as a teen but tragically had to give up.
His collection quickly grew – and now he rescues abandoned arachnids from around the country, as well as working towards being able to sell the animals to other collectors and spider-lovers.
Aaron said helping people overcome their spider fears has been “rewarding.”
He added: “After the last story went out I had so many people message me showing interest in the different colours and species and a lot of people asked me to help them get over their fears.
“So I’ve been travelling around to people more or less all over the country.
“It’s quite a fun one to do.
“A lot of people are fascinated with spiders so helping someone get from the point being petrified to then holding a spider in their hand is amazing.
“9/10 times I’ve got to them to the point where they can hold one.
“It’s so rewarding helping people get over their fears – though the majority of my family are petrified of spiders still!”
Aaron also hosts children’s birthday parties and is focused on getting his breeding facility up and running.
In terms of space needed to store 1,000 spiders, Aaron says he doesn’t need as much as people might think.
He said: “Believe or not they’re mostly just in one room. I have my facility that I’m setting up for breeding and I also have a separate room in my house.
“They don’t actually need a lot of space, unlike snakes. A lot of the babies/spiderlings are kept in these vial pots when they’re young.
“I believe I was born to save spiders, rescue them and help people get over their fears. When it comes to feeding and rehousing I take precautions so that they don’t escape.”