Tarantula Talk

[patrick]

I kinda like the little ones myself.

I checked the saved eggs a couple of days ago and they didn't make it. On the other hand my Avicularia avicularia girl had a sac that I pulled last weekend. Looks like about 50+ first instar spiderlings. Very happy about this. They sell for about $5 each but I really like them. Great first spider. If anyone on the site here would like one I would be happy to give you one for free. If you will cover shipping I'll donate the spider. I'll take a picture of them and post it. Here's what adults look like: http://www.google.co...Lj9IzrCA&zoom=1

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

Causes severe itching, rashes

Sorry, but AGGGGGHHH' cGood god this is really a thing?

Sorry - that HUGE spider just freaks me out. There's good reason to be afraid of spiders. They're terrifying. You know how animals have defense mechanisms? Yeah, spiders defense mechanism is to be super extra creepy. If I live my whole life without ever touching that ginormous tarantula? Uh, that's not long enough.

No offense if you like spiders, but Yeeeeeeeeee!!!

Gives me the willies.

I had a Wolf sider in my shower a few months back - 3+ inches. I didn't smush it - spiders are useful & help the ecosystem. So i grabbed a jar, and caught it.

It immediately tried to bite my thumb, hitting the side of the jar with a loud "clink!!!" - I felt it through the jar. I released it outside but errgh!

Sorry - carry on.

 

[sicman]

ldhs,im with ya. spiders make me turn into a little girl. but nice pics,patrick

 

[Cerberus]

I'll pay you for a couple.

 

[patrick]

I had a few fellow tarantula fans over last weekend and they all wanted to see one of my bigger girls. Who am I to deny them?

Me beginning the process of teasing her out.

I usually use my two foot tongs to do this but I was feeling lazy.

Here she comes.

She's always been very tolerant of me messing with her. Comes up slowly and never takes off. She came up fast once and took a few steps onto the outside of the container. You should have seen the people run.

All the way out.

More to come....

Great shot of her carapace. I love the design.

Here she is headed back home.

She is a Poecilotheria ornata and comes from Sri Lanka. They are the largest specie of the entire genus reaching lengths of up to 10". This particulat girl has a nine inch leg span. She's about five years old and I expect her to live another five to seven years. She lives on crickets and roaches.

The Poecilotheria genus is known to have one of the "hotter" venoms and a bite can lead to significant pain and cramping that can last weeks. However there is no documented case of any person ever dying from a tarantula bite.

That's the end of today's tarantula lesson.

 

[kylestl]

Hope you don't think I am hijacking Pat, it is tarantula talk after all Thought I'd post some pictures of some of my t's.

lampropelma violaceopes - The first two picture are of a Mature female while the last one is of a mature male

psalmopoeus cambridgei- I got this guy as a sling (short for spiderling) from Patrick

Poecilotheria Regalis Chowing down

Regalis again

Hystocrates Gigas - Notice how its rear legs are thicker. They are believed to help them when burrowing.

Pamphobeteus platyomma Mature male

Brachypelma Boehmei

Thrixopelma Ockerti - Again from patrick

I'll post some more pictures later. Any questions just ask!

Kyle

 

[compmodder26]

I am not a fan of spiders. But I must say that the colors and patterns of those are just stunning.

 

[Katrina]

I agree, I am not a fan of spiders (aside from dogs, I am more of a snake person) but some of those are stunning!

Kat

 

[patrick]

They are indeed quite beautiful aren't they? I can't get over all of the purple on the P. platyomma male. That is one case where the male is better looking than the female. Only when mature though. I hope you have plans for him Kyle. By the way I would love to introduce your L. violaceopes boy to my lovely young lady.

 

[Tweak Sairaxx]

Ah Bretheren, ​

[font="'times new roman"]Beautiful collection! I still keep, but at a fraction of the once 200+ T's that encompassed a room in my house. Still with me are; Adult F P. Miranda, H. Mac , G. Aerostriata, P. Irminias, and a handfull of terrestrial new world species, mostly Aponopelma. Did arachnoboards for a bit, but then kinda dropped out, I got more personal enjoyment out of working with my collection and not getting slammed for trivial issues and typos.......Im sure you know what I mean [/font][font="'times new roman"] [/font]

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[patrick]

Quite a beautiful T in the first pic Ts what species is that?

I totally understand your feelings about AB. Try the American Tarantula Society web site when you have a moment. Much more relaxed and moderated to keep the personal attacks down to a bone dry minimum. Nice artwork by the way. Your P. miranda lady?

 

[MGOLD86]

So, I gotta ask. When you handle them, do they "bite" or "sting"? I mean, I have always been pretty scared of spiders and it is only recently that I can even look at pictures and not freak. I am not a fan of the spiders around the house, but these photos are amazing. Such great colors. Do you all just leave them in the cages and feed em, or do you pull them out and handle them?

Who's been bitten?

 

[patrick]

Some people handle them some don't. I prefer to keep them like most folks keep fish, look only. I will handle them if necessary. They have two fangs right up front. The kind of short, bushy looking things at the front of the carapace. Some fangs can reach over 1" in length so if you do get bitten it's going to hurt. Now all tarantulas are venomous but their venom is not potent enough to kill us humans. For about 95% of the species a bite would have less of a reaction then a bee sting. There are a few species that the venom can cause health issues such as nausea, cramps, pain and other symptoms. You cannot have an allergic reaction to their venom as it lacks certain peptides that trigger anaphylaptic shock.

I have been bitten once, by a dwarf species. I was separating a male and female into their own containers after breeding. While I was putting the male away the female decided to go walk about up my arm. Now she was about the size of a quarter. When she got to my elbow I didn't want her going any farther or she would have been inside my shirt. So I slowly folded my arm in to catch her in the folks of my elbow. She didn't like that and tagged me. I didn't notice at all until I happened to look into a mirror and seen two very tiny red spots. They were gone in in less than half an hour. See if I can find some fang pics for you Matt.

Edit: Just google "tarantula fangs" and hit images. All kinds of them to look at. The biggest fangs belong to Theraphosidae blondie I believe.

 

[Tweak Sairaxx]

Quite a beautiful T in the first pic Ts what species is that?

I totally understand your feelings about AB. Try the American Tarantula Society web site when you have a moment. Much more relaxed and moderated to keep the personal attacks down to a bone dry minimum. Nice artwork by the way. Your P. miranda lady?

Thanks Man! The one in the first pic is a freshly molted Pamphobeteus nigricolor, and yes sah that is definatley a miranda. Maybe I should do some chili pepper art, that would be a new one on me.....got the ideas flowing....

I Also have been tagged only by one T ever, it was a small (1.5 inch) C. schiodetti (Malaysian Earth Tiger) and it was when I was unpacking it from its shipping vial. It was all angry faced and immediately ran up my hand and stopped in threat pose on top of my pointer finger, it stayed like that for a second until I tried to slowly move, then it got me and held on for about 5 seconds. My finger felt warm, moving to hot for about 3 hours then subsided, for the rest of the day the physical puncture felt bruised, by the next day it was back to feeling normal.

Had a couple close calls with some African and Asian species......but just ran like crazy after threat pose. Man spiders and tarantulas are badass!