Stanley A. Schultz

I'm a dual citizen (USA and Canada), a retiree, a snowbird. I live full time in a motorhome. I vacation in the USA's Sunbelt in Winter when the weather is mild (avoiding -30 and -40 temperatures in the frozen north), then vacationing in western Canada during Summer, thus avoiding the +40 C (104+ F) degree temperatures of the southern United States.

I've always had a fascination with living things. I've kept all manner of things from _Paramecium_ cultures, ant colonies, tropical fish, through boa constrictors, and pythons as a kid and through college. I owned a pet shop for ten years. I grew orchids and cacti in my basement (and elsewhere) for thirty years in Michigan and later in Canada. I've kept, raised, bred, sold and written books and articles about tarantulas for over fifty years. At one time I had over 1,300 tarantulas in a spare bedroom and one corner of the kitchen in my home.

In partnership with my wife, Marguerite (now deceased), I wrote the "Tarantula Keeper's Guide," now in its third edition. Some enthusiasts have called it the "Tarantula Keeper's Bible." I'm currently working on edition four.

I earned a BSc (Michigan State University) in Biology. Perhaps my most significant interests/careers were my infatuation with spiders and as a faculty and research technician at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine for twenty years.

Mostly I spend my Winters traveling around the USA, presenting lectures and signing books at pet shops, nature centers, reptile shows, and tarantula enthusiast meetings.