Sitting here reading this thread, I jumped about a foot in the air when I got a little itch on my foot. Jesus Christ. Guess I'm not going to Australia any time soon.
__________________
But living an honest life - for that you need the truth. That's the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, leads to liberation and dignity. -Ricky Gervais
I don't like it when spiders are big enough to make eye contact with me.
That's one of the things I like most about some of our smallest spiders, the jumping spiders. They'll follow you around and watch you and are quite inquisitive. They're tiny, harmless (unless you're a small insect) and no one in their right mind should ever be afraid of them.
That's one of the things I like most about some of our smallest spiders, the jumping spiders. They'll follow you around and watch you and are quite inquisitive. They're tiny, harmless (unless you're a small insect) and no one in their right mind should ever be afraid of them.
It's not so much the fear of dying that bothers me so much as the fear of pain.
Of course, having never suffered an actual spiderbite I don't really know how much it hurts, but I don't intend on finding out any time soon. I've heard some pretty nasty stories though if you happen to get bitten by the wrong species.
The better question would have been Have you ever been bit by a any new world t's. All of my bites have been from old world t's, most of your aggressive species are from the East. My spider bites are as follows.
H Lividum x 3 (Cobalt Blue) Ever seen the movie Gone In Sixty Seconds? This spider is my Eleanor. My first bite was from one I had as a pet when I first got into exotics, the other two have come from tank transfer mishaps.
Poecilotheria Regalis (Indian Ornamental) We call these guys Pokies but they are certainly not slow. One of these ran up the side of a tank, up my pant leg and when I went to get it out the bugger tagged me on my calf. Pretty spider though, they have bright yellow on their under side.
Citharischius Crawshayi (King Baboon) My favorite spider and the second largest tarantula. This species is normally aggressive and will even sound like it is hissing at you. My female however is pretty docile and I have handled her quite a few times with no incident except once where when I put my hand down in front of her to pick her up she tagged my hand. Surprisingly despite it being the largest out of this group her bite hurt the least.
Cyclosternum Pentalore (Guatemalan Tiger Rump) Another hand biter.
Poecilotheria Metallica (Gooty Ornamental) This spider is the current pride of my breeding stock. I got tagged by a female on the finger trying to get the male the hell out of Dodge after they mated as P. Metallica are not cheap! This is the spider that I am always the most in demand for because of how beautiful they are but they should only be kept by serious experienced hobbyists as they are super fast, very skitterish, and bite quite easily. This bgeauty gave my my worst reaction. My arm got hot and swollen, I could not move my fingers or close my hand for 3 days and I vomited and sweated like hell for about 12 hrs despite taking a solid dose of antihistamine
immediately after.
Unless you are allergic you will never die from a tarantula bite. As a matter of fact there really is no spider in the world that will kill a full grown healthy adult. The Brazilian Wandering Spider and Sydney Funnel Web both however can kill a small child and do some serious health damage to an adult. As for North America only the Black Widow and Brown Recluse can pose a problem and that is not by killing you but by killing the tissue around where they bite you. The bites from those spiders can cause serious damage to your muscle ans skin around the bite.
No offense, but are you out of your freakin' mind!!! Ey yi yi!!! No way, keep them away from me!!
Just cup them and let them go outside. If you don't like killing them and you have an unfinished basement just let it go down there. Most spiders you find in your house have an average life span of a year so they would probably die in the spring anyhow.
Now I have a question. Most spiders I just leave alone. Frankly, I like having them around because they're hopefully dealing with the bugs I don't like. But at what time of the year can I start throwing them out of the house and not having to worry that they'll freeze? Sadly, the huge spider I saw that had me start this thread was thrown outside. (My mom was is of the opinion that it's gotta either go outside, or die.) But that night I think the low was -3. I feel really bad about it.
__________________
Life is all about ass; you’re either covering it, laughing it off, kicking it, kissing it, busting it, trying to get a piece of it, behaving like one, or you live with one!!!
NSFL=Not So Funny Lady. But I will also accept Not Safe For Life and Not Sober For Long.
Now I have a question. Most spiders I just leave alone. Frankly, I like having them around because they're hopefully dealing with the bugs I don't like. But at what time of the year can I start throwing them out of the house and not having to worry that they'll freeze? Sadly, the huge spider I saw that had me start this thread was thrown outside. (My mom was is of the opinion that it's gotta either go outside, or die.) But that night I think the low was -3. I feel really bad about it.
They are pretty resilient buggers, that spider unless it landed in snow probably survived although he would be sluggish. Look at it this way, if you throw it outside it has a chance, if you squish it then it's game over. Anything from the freezing mark up should be ok but if your still in doubt and you want to make sure it lives just let it go in the basement, if the basement is finished you can always go with the attic. Either way you are assured you are not ever going to see it again. I guess in actuality it really doesn't matter because garden spiders, orb weavers, ect only live a year and in nature die in the winter. They leave behind their egg sacs which hatch in the spring and the next generation mature fast, breed, create more egg sacs, rinse and repeat.
Last edited by dissentowner; 03-16-2010 at 06:37 PM.
They are pretty resilient buggers, that spider unless it landed in snow probably survived although he would be sluggish. Look at it this way, if you throw it outside it has a chance, if you squish it then it's game over. Anything from the freezing mark up should be ok but if your still in doubt and you want to make sure it lives just let it go in the basement, if the basement is finished you can always go with the attic. Either way you are assured you are not ever going to see it again. I guess in actuality it really doesn't matter because garden spiders, orb weavers, ect only live a year and in nature die in the winter. They leave behind their egg sacs which hatch in the spring and the next generation mature fast, breed, create more egg sacs, rinse and repeat.
Ok, so I feel better about throwing it outside. It's actually never occurred to me to take it into the basement. I'll do that next time.
__________________
Life is all about ass; you’re either covering it, laughing it off, kicking it, kissing it, busting it, trying to get a piece of it, behaving like one, or you live with one!!!
NSFL=Not So Funny Lady. But I will also accept Not Safe For Life and Not Sober For Long.
Perhaps some spider experts can answer this question for me. When I was in Guyana they also had these spiders with really long thin legs. The leg span must have been at least a couple of feet. The bodies were, however, quite small.
I have been trying to find litterature on these spiders but have found nothing. Maybe these weren't true spiders?
Perhaps these?
Last edited by FlamingStuffedTiger; 03-16-2010 at 09:12 PM.
Although I watched the video of that Australian bloke trying to catch the spider and it was the least frightening of all these posts. I totally thought it was going to jump on his face and bite him but after he missed it with the plastic thing the camera pans away and you can't really see what happens.
I do not understand this thread! Normally I am so good with respect to clicking on absolutely horrible things knowing that there are photos that are going to make me piss my pants.
This thread is curiously intriguing... I just HATE the pictures. And whats with the spider breeder guy??? good lord, what is wrong with you??
I do not understand this thread! Normally I am so good with respect to clicking on absolutely horrible things knowing that there are photos that are going to make me piss my pants.
This thread is curiously intriguing... I just HATE the pictures. And whats with the spider breeder guy??? good lord, what is wrong with you??
Nothing is wrong with me, I like spiders and snakes and so do many people.
It also is the only thing keeping me afloat in this economy because there are zero jobs here in SW Ontario. If it wasn't for my animals my son and I would be living on the street.
Ey yi yi!!! No way, keep them away from me!!
I have snakes and saltwater fish and inverts as well.
I kid, I kid.
