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Birth of a Tarantula

Great pic., never thought they would live that long. Do they aver bite you or somethong.. shoot hairs?,
 
They can't shoot hairs. Some of them have urticating hair on their abdomen which they use a rear leg to detach. They are extremely light and will float on any slight breeze. It's a defensive mechanism used to stop something from eating them. The urticating hair has little hooks and can stick in your skin and make you do some mad scratching. Most keepers will have contact with them, I've never heard of anybody having any type of severe reaction.

Yes they will bite. That's real easy to prevent though, just don't play with them. Some people handle their T's, some folks don't. If you don't then it's real hard to get bit. If you do handle then you are taking the chance. They don't want to bite you, but will if cornered or if they feel threatened. They have a couple of ways to let you know they're pissed and it's time to back off. Easy signs to ID too.
 
patrick said:
They can't shoot hairs. Some of them have urticating hair on their abdomen which they use a rear leg to detach. They are extremely light and will float on any slight breeze. It's a defensive mechanism used to stop something from eating them. The urticating hair has little hooks and can stick in your skin and make you do some mad scratching. Most keepers will have contact with them, I've never heard of anybody having any type of severe reaction.

Yes they will bite. That's real easy to prevent though, just don't play with them. Some people handle their T's, some folks don't. If you don't then it's real hard to get bit. If you do handle then you are taking the chance. They don't want to bite you, but will if cornered or if they feel threatened. They have a couple of ways to let you know they're pissed and it's time to back off. Easy signs to ID too.
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I'll second this. I handled some of mine and didn't for most of them. Of the ones that I did, they would sometimes show signs of not wanting to be messed with...ie: kicking hairs, moving away instead of climbing onto my hand, etc. It's pretty easy. I imagine some people often ignore some of these signs and try to force the spider onto their hands which is a great way to get a bite.

Side note: Not all of the tarantulas have urticating hairs (bristles really by technical definition) and some that do have them don't have them on their abdomen. Only New World species have them (N and S America) and not even all of them have them..particularly Psalmopoeus sp. (my favorite genus! :D )
 
We keep them all over the house. Most of them are kept in our dining and family rooms on bookshelves and tables. I'm a single parent so I don't have to ask for permission to move something;)

Got an update on the babies.

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If you notice the one on the right is much darker. What's happening is the next skin is developing under the exterior skin. Won't be long and they will molt again, shed the old skin and replace it with the new one underneath.

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It wouldn't surprise me to see these molt in the next couple of days and bring out their blue and white striped hineys.

More when it develops.:)
 
You keep them in your dining room:shocked: I hope you don't eat in there. Why do they stay on their back when they are born and what are those webs for?
 
What's wrong with eating in a room with tarantulas? Your dog or cat ever go through your dining room or kitchen? Tarantulas are much cleaner than those by a long ways.

They are all kept in cages by themselves as they are not social critters. Put two of them together and soon enough you have a single fat one.

Yes they move at this stage I just happen to take the pics when they're on their bum. I haven't looked at them in two days so I wouldn't doubt that they've already molted.

I pulled an egg sac today from a dwarf tarantula called a Cyriocosmus elegans. They rarely get to two inches in length. The eggs are about the size of this "o".

Here is the egg sac before I opened it.

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Here it is opened.

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Here are the eggs after I got them out of the sac. I'll put them in an incubator until they molt three times.

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Pop a male in the post, mate - all I can find in my collection are ladies! :lol::lol:

Nice clutch! Seems your breeding efforts are succeeding. :cheers:
 
Not saying they're dirty just that my appetite would leave quite fast knowing them were in the room or by looking at them. Very cool but I don't like spiders, they freak me out.:shocked:
 
Gotcha chillilover.

Well they are now considered tarantulas! With this molt they get hair, color and all the things necessary to be called a tarantula.

Here's a pair of them. The one on the left molted a few hours earlier and has already began the hardening process. The one on the right has finished molting moments ago and is now jazzercising to get everything stretched out and limbered up. You can tell she just finished molting by how translucent her legs are. The little pieces of skin are what's left of the shed skin.

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Closer view of a just molted one.

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Closer view of one that's rarin' to go. You can see the claws on the feet real well in this pic. Tarantulas have two claws on the end of each foot and they are retractable, just like your kitties.

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That is pretty much the end of this thread. I can up date it as long as I have one of them to take pictures of. These are pretty popular and may go quickly.

Hope I at least entertained you folks for a little bit.
 
wow- I came to a pepper site to find Patrick's tarantula picture thread.

I've been to his house- he really does keep them everywhere- there is even one in a rocking chair!

I keep twenty in my bedroom and my son has one in his.

I am also a single parent, and there is no faster way to chill the wanna be suitors than to tell them you keep tarantulas in your bedroom.

Then I tell the ones that are left what kind of peppers I like to cook with- and I stay happily single! :hell::cool:
 
Very cool Patrick!

I really don't like spiders, but these seem cool, mainly cause they are too far to get me. :shocked: I hope... lol

Awesome thread man, it was very interesting and informative to see how those "hatch."
 
Congrats Pat! C. elegans is a nice looking species...tiny though. I love that pic tarcan has of the male alongside a big T. blondi! If you haven't seen it, you have to check it out on his website.
 
Ya know, xgrafcorex- I was looking at C. elegans at the last NTEC meeting- and thinking that, I am so enamored of L. parahybana and N. chromatus- I really ought to have one of these for balance!

I need to see tarcan's picture- I love that sort of contrast!

Hello, by the way!:)
 
Celeste said:
Ya know, xgrafcorex- I was looking at C. elegans at the last NTEC meeting- and thinking that, I am so enamored of L. parahybana and N. chromatus- I really ought to have one of these for balance!

I need to see tarcan's picture- I love that sort of contrast!

Hello, by the way!:)
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Hey! How's it going? Good to see some more Arachnoholics around here. :D

http://www.tarantulacanada.ca/gallery/images/110.php

Here it is..you have to look closely for the C. elegans.
 
Thanks, X! that is really such a kick. Like a chihuahua next to a bull mastiff.

Well, Patrick made sure I got tarantulas when I found the ATS and discovered my native 'rescue' was a wolf spider and not a hentzi- I think at least half of my tarantulas came from him!

I think he's found a couple of other arachnafolks to drag over here too!:P

He teased me with ONE jar of salsa he made last year- then started suggesting they'd be easy for me to grow, too.

If the man was a televangelist, he'd be dangerous! :lol::lol:

Now, I've got to figure out what that Indian chili was I used to get....they'd be fun to grow!
 
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