Handleable Ts?

Frostbyte

Arachnobaron
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Aug 31, 2002
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I was always under the impression that Red Knees were great beginner Ts . Thinking also that you could handle them from time to time. The one I have is about 2" , the problem I have is that it flicks hair if I even look at it wrong . Theres no way I could even get near . Im not the kinda person that handles my Ts alot , it just makes it easier when I do cleanings to pick them up and transfer versus the trap under the plastic bottle method. This seems to freak my Ts out and makes them spooked. ( My Cobalt hid in the neck of a plastic 2 liter bottle for 2 days and wouldnt budge. I had to put the bottle and all in her home when I transfered her , til she came out. I tried to unscrew the cap and nudge her easy. She wouldnt even move at all . ) But back to the Red Knee. Where do they come up with the ideas of certain Ts being good beginners , like Avics , Rosies , Pink Zebras , Etc.

Thanx !
 

stu

Arachnoknight
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Apr 16, 2003
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my red knee is about 2 inch but she is fine with handling - ive yet to see her flick a hair - its just different from T to T.

Im assuming that most beginner tarantulas are recommended because of their hardiness as well as being docile - beginners can learn how to keep a T without having one that is either defensive or needs better husbandry to keep alive

cheers,

Stu.
 

crawshayi

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 28, 2003
Messages
41
handling

well Brachypelma smithi will charm down when its older as will most other new world spiders. african and asian i will never try a nd handle. they are to agresive and some time very fast the only new world arborial sp what is realy handlbe is Avicularia sp. the others eg. Psalmopoeus, Tapinauchenius are to fast and can usealy be agresive. and as for Poecilotheria sp. they are not as agresive as evey body allwasy thinks yet they have a strong vemnom. and for Haplopelma, Chilobrachys, Selenocosmia, they are not to be hanleded unless you bevlive ur specimen is docile.
as for Stromatopelma, Heteroscodra, dont these in no way are docile and are very fast and also havea very strong vemoem. and also are very agresive. as for Citharischius dont tese dont give you a second change. get some Hysterocrates can be very docile and not even try and bite but most are not like this most are agresive. Pterinochilus, Ceratogyrus, Eucratoscelus tese can viry from sp to indivdaul. but i am nto telling you to handle eney spider just that new world terseral do chalm down. sory about my bad spelling
 

Dragoon

ArachnoGoon
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Oct 6, 2003
Messages
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Thanks for that post crawshayi, bad spelling and all! I was wondering about the handling issue myself.

Will repeated handling accustom a spider to it, or will a flighty one, always be that way?

I'm getting a crawshayi soon, is that your favorite, and why?
Thanks in advance.
D.
 

dennis

Arachnodemon
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Jan 2, 2003
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The most handlable spider in my collection would be my G. pulchra (even tough the little bugger is just 1")...
 

vulpina

Arachnoprince
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For handleable I would go with a PZB, Chaco, pulchra, or an A. avic. Smithi's are very handleable but always seem to throw hair.

Andy
 

Palespider

Arachnodemon
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When I got my B. smithi a few months ago he was the most insane hair kicker I have ever seen. I have had T. blondi that have never kicked hairs at me from slings to maturity and this guy would turning my head to look at him. I'm not exaggerating either!

But, I think he was just majorly stressed. After a couple weeks of calming down he hasn't kicked hairs since and it's been a good 3 months. I don't hold him mind you (I'm sure I could), but cage cleaning, feeding and cage transfers he has been completely calm...I'd say one of the calmest in my collection. A big change from the one I bought a few months ago. I had serious thoughts about trading him in for another T ;)

Did you just get her? If so give her a chance to settle in. Holding her may just keep her stressed.

Jim B.
 

Phillip

Arachnoprince
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Most Brachys tend to be flickers when young but grow out of it when they get to be larger. Some such as boehmei remain flickers but most smithi grow out of it.

Phil
 

Bagan

Arachnosquire
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Oct 18, 2003
Messages
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I definately have to say that PZB's, Chacos, and Brazilian Blacks are good T's to handle. My little 1 inch Black has already been exhibiting behaviors associated with T's that like to have some Out of Enclosure time by trying to escape from her Delicup.
 

spidermark

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 23, 2003
Messages
3
My two rosea's are good to handle.
Furthermore my avic avic's are really good to handle although there is one who is very skittish. They like to walk on the back of my head and just sit there for a while.
My adult A. geniculata is also pretty flickering with the hairs.. but first I thought it was just a "white" smithi.. After that I found out that the animal has some pretty painfull venom. So now I'm a bit procosious with handeling the spider. The two little ones are very tempering so I wont handle them anymore.

My poecies are not to handle, from the tiniest to the bigger ones. I will never handle these creatures because of their nature and venom.
Then there is my P. murinus "usambara" spp. This one is really a bitch. She attacked my pincet 5 times while lying on her back.. After that she ran away. After 30 minutes "struggling" in the corner of the ceiling she went down and I was able to catch her. But it was an adrenaline seaking adverture.
The Psalmopeus spp I have are also not for handling.. they are just to quick and aggressive.
The rest of the collection I tend to leave alone.

Mark
 

pategirl

Arachnoangel
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Dec 11, 2002
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I think the term "aggressive" is greatly overused in the above posts. Sure, they get mad when you bother them, they think you're going to eat them or something. They're not actively searching out humans to bite, just defending themselves from what they percieve as a predator. Any tarantula can be considered docile at some point or another....when they're out and walking on a hand, they rarely attempt biting. Saying that all H. maculata or usambara are all defensive all the time is not a correct generalization. They're fast, I agree, but not always prone to bite.
 

Venom

Arachnoprince
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Saying that all H. maculata or usambara are all defensive all the time is not a correct generalization. They're fast, I agree, but not always prone to bite.
Then why don't you try handling one! I agree that for most T's, the term "aggressive" is a bit of a misnomer. "Aggressively defensive" would be a better term, but it's too long to bother typing, so "aggressive" has been synonymized with "aggressively defensive". There are T's that will rear up and / or flick hairs prufusely when disturbed, but are reluctant to bite- these I would term defensive. Others, such as Pterinochilus, Citharischius, Haplopelma, will usually not hesitate to bite, may bite repeatedly, or even make a positive effort to attack something ( hand or tongs ) that isn't eminently threatening them- this I would call "aggressively defensive", or "aggressive" for short. So I think it is over nit-picky to say that we should use the term "defensive" instead of "aggressive", as the meaning of these terms is, at least in my mind, different, and we generally understand what someone means by an "aggressive" spider - aggressive in the defense of itself. But this thread was about handleable vs. unhandleable, so whether they are "aggressive" or "defensive", the fact remains that they generally shouldn't be handled.
 

Palespider

Arachnodemon
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Originally posted by Phillip
Most Brachys tend to be flickers when young but grow out of it when they get to be larger. Some such as boehmei remain flickers but most smithi grow out of it.

Phil
I am a firm believer that this has a lot to do with the stress levels of the T. For an example when I moved, I put all of my T's into deli containers to make it easier to transport them and they all turned into hair kicking freaks. Even my Rosies were kicking hairs right a left. Mind you NONE of them were kicking hairs before hand, and the majority of them have never 'kicked' in my care. The only one that had in the past was my B. smithi and my L. parahybana male. And I had 12 other NW terestrials that never have.

As soon as I got them back in their enclosures they were fine. And I was in a week recovery from the itching :?

Haven't seen any of them kick hairs since.

Jim B.
 

pategirl

Arachnoangel
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Originally posted by Venom
Then why don't you try handling one!"Aggressively defensive" would be a better term, but it's too long to bother typing, so "aggressive" has been synonymized with "aggressively defensive". There are T's that will rear up and / or flick hairs prufusely when disturbed, but are reluctant to bite- these I would term defensive. Others, such as Pterinochilus, Citharischius, Haplopelma, will usually not hesitate to bite, may bite repeatedly, or even make a positive effort to attack something ( hand or tongs ) that isn't eminently threatening them- this I would call "aggressively defensive", or "aggressive" for short. So I think it is over nit-picky to say that we should use the term "defensive" instead of "aggressive", as the meaning of these terms is, at least in my mind, different, and we generally understand what someone means by an "aggressive" spider - aggressive in the defense of itself.
I doubt that a spider would attack tongs or a hand just to be attacking them. That would waste a lot of energy, and spiders don't tend to waste energy attacking something they don't percieve as a threat or food. To some spiders, a hand or set of tongs poking around in their space is a threat. I would probably defend my home aggressively also, if I was being invaded. That doesn't mean I'm an aggressive person. Oh and here are my tries at handling these "aggressive" spiders:

H. Mac:


Usambara:


I don't recommend everyone go out and handle their defensive spiders, but I wanted to show that their reputation isn't always warranted.
 
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avmaviator

Arachnosquire
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Aug 10, 2003
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...

Nice OBT Pategirl. Mine is a little smaller than yours but she/he is a darling. I take it out often and does not seems to be on the mean side, hopefully that won't chnage has it grows up.
My PZB is just awesome for handling cause she doesn't do much... I have used her several times in getting people used to tarantulas and not afraid of them, because she is so nice. Anyways

Arno
 

Palespider

Arachnodemon
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May 30, 2003
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Wow.

This is a close up of one of the pictures I submitted for the calendar of my H. maculata adult female. If you look closely you can see that her chelicera is spread. That's because her fangs are out, they were out the entire time biting at anything and everything I used to prod her. Even when not in her threat posture she left her fangs out ready to bite, dripping with venom. They remained out for a couple hours after the shoot.

Apparently I am no where near as skilled as Joy at 'taming' these savage beasts ;)

Jim B.
 

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Venom

Arachnoprince
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Lol. I should have known you'd actually do it!

Anyway I still think it is acceptable to use the term "aggressive" as long as it's meaning is understood. BTW, nice pics!.
 

Malhavoc's

Arachnoking
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You do not tame a tarantula you jsut simply have to know its limits any tarantula can be handled if your smart enough to do it without pissing the t off like making it look like yoru a threat not ot mention once a tarantula is out of its secure place IE its burrow its more intrest in running then attacking because nwo its in the open and not as cornered.
 

pategirl

Arachnoangel
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I really doubt there is any skill involved on my part(if there is, I haven't seen it)...as stated by Malhavoc, it is possible to handle pretty much any T as long as you're on your toes, so to speak. In an attempt to catch some decent pics of my male H. lividum yesterday, I ended up with him on the top of my head after he bolted up my arm. You can never tell when a spider is going to get a notion to bolt, but they usually don't bite when they're out walking.
 
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