Latrodectus Hesperus walking on hand,...!!!

[Splintercell]

Hello@all,

I have seen this amasing video on "YouTube".
Amasingly stupid I mean ;-)

However, since thought ya'all might want to see this:

WBeIq6xGYec
(or just type "hesperus" in the search space)

There are more, nicer video's of widows.
like L. ex Laos, etc...

have a look ;-)


Greetz, Tom.

[moricollins]

One of the easiest handling spiders I've ever owned... (http://atshq.org/forum/showpost.php?p=10918)

[rattler_mt]

actually if you are aware they are there, they pose lil danger. the problem is when they feel they are being crushed you get bit. if they can move freely they arent going to bite you.

[cacoseraph]

i've played with hesperus for something like 10-12 years now. free handling is really not *that* likely to result in a bite, but gods weep if you get tagged.

also, i am actually nervous of the females when they have eggsacs. they are NOTHING like their normal tractable selves!

[Splintercell]

Hello@all,

Nice to know this info. Thanks.
I didn't know this, realy.
But again, since Murphy is a very good friend of mine,
I wount be doing this ever with my hands.

PS:
Do some people out there handle other latro spec. this way?
Or is it just with the hesperus spec.?
Can't imagine someone doing this with a menavodi...
(unless at gunpoint ;-) )

Greetz, Tom.

[CopperInMyVeins]

I've ended up free handling both L. mactans and L. tredecimguttatus while trying to guide them into good positions during photo sessions. They're really not aggressive at all, and would rather play dead than bite, so the risk really isn't huge unless you're rough with them. That said, I'm not gonna go out of my way to let one walk all over me.

[JPD]

also, i am actually nervous of the females when they have eggsacs. they are NOTHING like their normal tractable selves!

I was transfering an L.bishopi one time and didn't notice the eggsac and she ended up crawling onto my hand and giving me a wee-bite. No ill-effects which lead me to believe that it was dry.
Must agree with everyone on the ease of handling. I have done it in the past but don't really see a need now. Of course, there wasn't a need then other than the "look at me maw, I'm handlin' a Black Widerw Spida"

[cacoseraph]

I was transfering an L.bishopi one time and didn't notice the eggsac and she ended up crawling onto my hand and giving me a wee-bite. No ill-effects which lead me to believe that it was dry.
Must agree with everyone on the ease of handling. I have done it in the past but don't really see a need now. Of course, there wasn't a need then other than the "look at me maw, I'm handlin' a Black Widerw Spida"

jesus, i would have peed myself!

[Arachnophilist]

wow thats so very lucky of you. bet that got your heart pumping pretty good hey? I had an accidental handling of one in the wild looking for frogs once.. she had eggsacs and ran over my hand but didnt seem to notice me when i flipped the rock over. I couldnt move... only time in my life I have been scared stiff!

[JPD]

jesus, i would have peed myself!

I was a little worried but more interested to see if anything developed. This curiousity is obviously due to my own ignorance of how bad it could have been.

[whoami?]

i've played with hesperus for something like 10-12 years now. free handling is really not *that* likely to result in a bite, but gods weep if you get tagged.

also, i am actually nervous of the females when they have eggsacs. they are NOTHING like their normal tractable selves!

Aren't fatalities extremely rare?

[buthus]

I did this once on purpose. I was trying to convince a few people that they were relativily gentle creatures with very little offensive behavior. I was in a calm and blissful state ...stoned ...one with the spider. :rolleyes: :D It crawled over my hand and back onto the desk. Besides that silly ego moment, I have inadvertently had more then a few get on me during transfers and one or two during capture. I just stay calm and allow them to crawl onto my brush.
I used to pick them up during capture when they did the ball-up and drop. Strange thing is, that only once in awhile I run into a group that react that way. The ones that I have been collecting around my house rarely display that behavior. Genetics play a key role in personality traits (or instincts for you cold, lower forms of life dont have character and feelings types. :rolleyes: :D ) with most animals, so I suspect that is true with spiders.

Anyway...I love the video. I will point people to it when trying to debunk the widows are natural born killers myth ...and I wont have to handle one myself to do so. :D I have tons of them around me and they still scare me a little. :D :D

[Glen Southern]

I suppose, as with most things like this, it is all well and good until an accident happens. Letting a Latro walk on your hands may be fine if no accidents occur, like a dog running into the room etc.

However, a video like this may lead less `aware` individuals to think it is ok to do it. When that happens accidents can and do occur. Followed by the inevitable Killer-Spider-Murders-Teen-Student and all the bad press that follows. It won't `usually` be a spider keeper that gets bitten. It the T' keeping hobby people are getting tagged all the time. I suppose no one want to be the first Latro keeper

I think we should retain the respect they deserve and leave them as `show` and `study` only. To be honest I am more worried about skin necrosis. Strange, I know, but the thought of that does worry me and I don't keep anything that can do that to me.

[Sheri]

LMAO.

I remember getting my first widow... and it was the first I had ever really seen of them - so I had no idea what to expect.

You can read all you want, but until you've had a chance to study a live specimen, you just don't yet know how they the move or how to anticipate behaviour.

Anyway, it took me about 5 yers to transfer her out of the vial and into the enclosure. She failed to thrive and died about a year later - but was docile as hell.

Recently, we got some hesperus and I am much more relaxed and comfortable with working with them, after having kept one and observing dozens in the field.

But there is the one female who is quite skittish. She is also the largest and fattest of the four we received.

And WC.

Kinda makes me wonder...

[buthus]

LMAO.

I remember getting my first widow... and it was the first I had ever really seen of them - so I had no idea what to expect.

You can read all you want, but until you've had a chance to study a live specimen, you just don't yet know how they the move or how to anticipate behaviour.

Anyway, it took me about 5 yers to transfer her out of the vial and into the enclosure. She failed to thrive and died about a year later - but was docile as hell.

Recently, we got some hesperus and I am much more relaxed and comfortable with working with them, after having kept one and observing dozens in the field.

But there is the one female who is quite skittish. She is also the largest and fattest of the four we received.

And WC.

Kinda makes me wonder...

A 6 year old widow ...now thats something.

[John Apple]

Russian roulette can be played many ways:?

[edesign]

Aren't fatalities extremely rare?

i had read somewhere a year or so ago that there has not been a confirmed widow bite fatality in the US in over 35 years...i can't provide a link though :(

is that L. hesperus or L. mactans in that video? i forget the differences...but our entire fabrication shop at work (couple ten thousand some square feet) is full of black widows. I keep telling the mechanics to catch em for me and I'll sell em online and split the revenues lol (BIG puppies too).

[cacoseraph]

Aren't fatalities extremely rare?

yeah. but it still hurts like god to be bitten by a female!

[buthus]

i had read somewhere a year or so ago that there has not been a confirmed widow bite fatality in the US in over 35 years...i can't provide a link though :(



If you look around you will find statistics that claim its been over 10 or 15 years since a fatality in the US. I think there was a couple in Spain a few years ago, if my memory is intact.


Russian roulette can be played many ways
Isn't Russian roulette where one puts the output end of a loaded revolver against his temple, pulls the trigger and rolls out a one in six chance of a messy brain displacement? ;) :D

[TarantuChimp]

Is it possible too free handle reculse? or do they bite readly?

[edesign]

it's possible to free handle anything...

as for biting...chances are you will not get bit but is it worth the risk (aka...what is the point?)? I understand they have very small fangs and can have a hard time penetrating human skin...but that doesn't mean they can't ;) So again...why bother? :?

[CopperInMyVeins]

On this subject, I ended up with my L. mactans walking across my hand and all the way up my arm while I was cleaning it's container in the sink today, apparently giving them a freshly molted mealworm is a bad idea, I don't know what exactly happened, but I'm guessing that the unhardened exoskeleton was liquified too, there was yellow liquid everywhere in there. Oh, I didn't try taking any pictures of video if it walking on me though.