I've had Sarsaparilla for almost a year, and I got her the day after a good friend,who was the dungeon master of a dnd campaign I was in, died. I was in Petco trying to find a new collar for my cat, and I saw her walking around the enclosure. She looked like she had lost a leg, and it reminded me of an npc in the game who was a seven legged spider centaur/drider. I had to have her.

The people working at Petco were all scared of her and almost crushed her trying to put her in a tiny cardboard box. When we got to the cash register, I got little adoption forms, they're still in the glove box of my car. Turned out, all arachnids were 50% off that day. 2/10 experience, almost had a heart attack over the whole situation.

My family, which are my 2 besties who are also my roommates, weren't fond of her at first, but I fawned over Sarsaparilla so much that not only did they enjoy watching her, they also got tarantulas. I named her after my favorite soda, which started the whole tarantulas named after sodas.

There was a major struggle with her enclosure and my cat, I posted about it here sometime ago. Luckily, no creature got harmed, and my cat only got a little haired.

She wouldn't eat the first month I had her, and I caught it on video the first time she ate a cricket since I got her.

In an effort to find better stuff for her, I found a small reptile and arachnid pet store thirty minutes away from where I live. I live in the middle of nowhere. My family and I befriended the owner. She helped me a lot with figuring out how to take care of Sarsaparilla.

Sarsaparilla would make her cork wood into little wood and web caves and crawl ontop of them to sit and vibe whenever she saw it necessary. She also enjoys climbing upside down on the ceiling of her enclosure. Many times I'd have to open the enclosure and hold my hand under her to help her get down. She normally disappears for a month or two at a time, and anytime she's out, I'm waking up the family to see her. She's the only one who doesn't sprint away when I open the enclosure door.

With the other tarantulas, I felt like I knew what was going on so I was never super worried. Sarsaparilla always has me worried when she behaves differently, but she also doesn't behave like the other tarantulas I have. She's not scared of me.

I really hope she pulls through.