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spider venom and capsaicin

xgrafcorex

xgrafcorex

ordered a few jumping spiders the other day and noticed a picture of my favorite species of tarantula (the female that came in the mail that i posted about) and a pepper. naturally i had to read more. http://www.spiderpharm.com/news/news.htm

turns out the venom of this species (not sure about others) contains proteins that interact with capsaicin receptors to cause a burning pain to accompany the pain of two big fangs puncturing your skin and whatever other good stuff is in that venom. :)
 
Shooty* said:
I am now taking bets on who the first poster will be to volunteer to drink venom.
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haha you can order 5 microliters for 20 bucks from that website. :)

sadly i'll most likely be the first to experience their venom..won't be drinking it though. i just have a 5" (legspan) female, and a 4" male that will be getting together once hes mature. should be interesting to say the least! so far i've only mated slow/docile species...well only one species of spider actually..the other was a scorpion.

yep...i'm a bug nerd. :)
 
haha i guess you could..i just found this link that briefly explains it a little differently: ( http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/science-shots/ )while looking for bite reports to see what the venom does. its quite possible that there are more than just these capsaicin-like proteins. this one is good: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19225776.000-spiders-with-a-chilliflavoured-bite.html

on another link it also mentions "In the last 10 years, Julius and his colleagues have demonstrated that this and related receptors trigger nerves to fire pain signals when exposed to Death Valley-like heat or the fiery properties of peppery food, mustard oil and other compounds."
 
imaguitargod said:
Bet's Closed, I'll do it!
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Hummm, be careful with this bet Jon. It is my understanding that the side effects of drinking spider venom will make you want to mate with a spider.
 
[quote name='Cap'n Bones']Hummm, be careful with this bet Jon. It is my understanding that the side effects of drinking spider venom will make you want to mate with a spider.[/QUOTE]

that could be arranged! :P
 
[quote name='Cap'n Bones']Hummm, be careful with this bet Jon. It is my understanding that the side effects of drinking spider venom will make you want to mate with a spider.[/QUOTE]

ROFL... we definitely need to see those pictures..!!!!! LOL
 
Sort the men from the boys, so to speak?

"Yeah, you THINK you can handle DefCon Zero, but I but you can't down this bug juice. Wimp."
 
ross said:
when are you gonna man up and get some female funnel web spiders?
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haha well i don't think there is much difference in potency of venom between male and female..but i really don't plan on picking up any funnel web spiders. :D i just ordered a few jumpers haha. they are small and not nearly as venomous. but for their size, they are fairly voracious predators. will be interesting to have them in captivity. i think one of the females i'll be receiving is gravid..so i might have quite a few more than i had planned...i'll be giving them away for shipping cost if it happens. so if any of you want jumping spiders for reasons other than to kill/eat them, let me know.

for those of you that aren't familiar with funnel web spiders..heres a pic of the worlds most dangerous spider Atrax robustus. found in australia..lucky australia..they have the deadliest spider, snake, jelly fish, and shark. not sure if i'm forgetting anything...i think africa has the worst scorpions.
http://perso.orange.fr/jean-marc.birat/Atrax3.jpg

edit..at this convention i did win a "brazilian wandering spider" which is supposed to be a Phoneutria species(the most dangerous of the new world spiders..but i think it was a different genus..either way, it was tiny and did not survive the trip back to florida. :)
 
xgrafcorex said:
haha well i don't think there is much difference in potency of venom between male and female(
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the venom is the same. the females are like 10x more aggressive than males.
 
xgrafcorex said:
well, i'm not sure if you are serious..but if you are mullet man, write up a review for this arachnid forum i'm on. :D
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Well, if it only acivates the heat receptors and won't cause damage to my tounge or body, I'm in. Send me a sample and I'll take pics and post a review.
 
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