Urticating hairs not affecting me?

So I've been keeping tarantulas for a while. Brachypelma species have never bothered me. Today I just showed my roommate how harmless my sling nhandu chromatus was by petting its abdomen. I'm leaving for 2 weeks and needed to convince him that if he got out of his deli cup he would be an easy catch. When I pet his abdomen he kicked literally all of his hairs on to my finger. My question is am I just lucky with these two species or do I have a genetic tolerance to uricating hairs? I have
2 brachypelma species, a lasiodora species and a nhandu species. None of these have ever gave me hair problems. Am I immune or just lucky with the genus's I have listed?

I do hope you realize that Nhandu sp. do not stay harmless and it may one day in the future have a verrrrry different reaction to you trying to pet it. So there's that.
And actually on topic, different people have different sensitivity levels and these levels can change over time and also depend on the type of urticating hair. I, for example, wasn't really sensitive early on (as an aside, I get hairs on me during maintenance/feeding/whatnot-I'm not a handler). It was mostly my B.albos that affected me. Then my A.genic. And now I'm considering getting latex gloves for maintenance because I'm becoming increasingly more sensitive and I can't even pinpoint which ones are even causing it anymore. This could happen to you, it could not. Everyone is different.

Don't go bragging quite yet, there are species with much more irritating hairs than Brachypelma.

I didn't react to hairs for many years. But one day I opened a package and a mm B. smithi kicked a me. I didn't have a shirt on and didn't think much of it. 10 mins later I had welts all over me. I now react quite easily to a lot of species. It can take time to develop a reaction. Some people might never get one. If you are one of those lucky few congrats!

May be a dumb question as it seems like the answer is probably yes, but will a Ts hairs get more potent or powerful as they get bigger? My new L. Parahybana flicked me immediately upon housing it. It was mildly annoying for the majority of a day. the spider that did that to me is about 4 inches but I know they get four to six inches bigger and R reputable for having some of the worst hairs around. so are they going to get worse as the spider gets bigger? Or am I may be lucky enough to just not have that bad of a reaction to it?

The urticating hairs is an allergic reaction. Because you are not reacting now does not mean you are immune. Just means you are not reacting now. There is 6 different types of urticating hairs. They change and develop as the tarantula gets older.

Any antihistamine or immune suppressor will reduce the effects of the hairs. Wet skin (sweating) also reduces the effect of the hairs. Washing hand and affected areas will reduce effects.

In most cases, the tarantula will simply not flick enough to get you. If it decides you are a seriously threat, they will make you suffer.


But "petting" a tarantula will not get you to react to the tarantula. Even if the tarantula kicks "all of the hairs on to your finger".

gobey said:

May be a dumb question as it seems like the answer is probably yes, but will a Ts hairs get more potent or powerful as they get bigger?

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Not sure, but a bigger spider has a lot more hairs to send airborne than a small one does.

The reptile dealer near me uses sealing tape to remove hairs on the arms and hands when they work with Theraphosa. They say it works very well.

I don't seem to react at all to my T.stirmis hair

JZC said:

I don't seem to react at all to my T.stirmis hair

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I'm having trouble believing this.

I believe him or her. I never reacted to any brachys or therophosas hairs except b boehmeis.

Poec54 said:

I'm having trouble believing this.

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Yeah, believe it or not I just don't. I used to war a "theraphosa suit" when feeding etc (hooded longsleeve sweathshirt, dust mask and gloves) but I just don't react. She kicked hairs once when I was transferring her, and I didn't react, though I was suited up. I can have my bare hands in the tank whilst tong feeding her and still nothing. My sister, on the other hand, gets a rash if she is even near the tank, and got a somewhat bad rash by putting her hand on the top.

Belle Fury said:

I do hope you realize that Nhandu sp. do not stay harmless and it may one day in the future have a verrrrry different reaction to you trying to pet it.

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I'm aware of this lol, its about a 1/2" right now and I shouldn't have used the term "pet" as it was more of a single light touch just to show that he would just retreat to his burrow. The reason I listed these three genus is that I've heard quite alot of people have bad reactions to their hairs. Now I still haven't had any Theraphosa species so I can't attest to them, just thought it was interesting that no hairs have affected me yet.

If you haven't had a reaction to urticating hairs yet, you most likely haven't been around them long enough, or haven't been exposed to the species that will do it for you. I'd be surprised to hear of a long time keeper of the big terrestrial Central/South Americans who still have no reaction. Everyone seems to have a different level of severity, but it also seems to catch up with everyone. Urticating hairs should be taken seriously.

Later,To

Philth said:

I'd be surprised to hear of a long time keeper of the big terrestrial Central/South Americans who still have no reaction. Everyone seems to have a different level of severity, but it also seems to catch up with everyone. Urticating hairs should be taken seriously.

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Good to know. I have never had a reaction, although none of mine flick, last time was 13 years ago, last time one of mine were handled. I saw it flick, didn't get haired or didn't react. Because none of mine actively flick, and I never suffered a reaction, I admit, I was probably not taking them as seriously as I should. I have a couple big terrestrials growing up now and a bunch of Brachys of varying sizes, I will pay closer attention in the future. TY Tom

JZC said:

Yeah, believe it or not I just don't. I used to war a "theraphosa suit" when feeding etc (hooded longsleeve sweathshirt, dust mask and gloves) but I just don't react. She kicked hairs once when I was transferring her, and I didn't react, though I was suited up. I can have my bare hands in the tank whilst tong feeding her and still nothing.

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I'm talking about them actively kicking, not just being around them. I can't see anyone getting a good dose of Theraphosa hairs and not reacting. I doubt you've had a cloud of them land on you.

Would love to keep a T. stirmi or apophysis, but simply can't. Checked it out while at a breeder. He only opened the tank, I got close to it and had to back up immediately. From my own collection, I somehow react worst to my A. versicolor (she does kick them actually!), A. geniculata and B. auratum. The rest are very benign to me - so far! I do, however, get a slight rash from my geni so I'm really careful with not getting exposed too much too often.

I live in Utah and my grandpa caught me a tarantula that was found i think in north salt lake. When I was putting him in his new cage he kicked hairs and it didn't affect me at all.


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Desert scorps said:

I live in Utah and my grandpa caught me a tarantula that was found i think in north salt lake. When I was putting him in his new cage he kicked hairs and it didn't affect me at all.

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That's an Aphonopelma and their hairs are bad. The worst seem to be some of the big South Americans. Being so large, they can't hide as well, and are easy targets for birds and mammals. Strong urticating hairs helps keep predators away. The hairs of Theraphosa are so bad they can inflame the nasal passages of rodents so much that they can suffocate. The hairs also embed themselves in eyeballs.

Well what do you know? Picked up an A. avic the other day. Working with her enclosure and handling her for a moment I finally had my first reaction. I've had two A. versi's for a year and never had anything from them.

I keep many Brachy and Nhandu, several Grammostola, a few Aphonopelma and Avicularia and a single Lasiodora. I have yet to have a major reaction. >>knocking on wood vigorously<< I have picked up the random stray 'hair' during feeding, tank maintenance or handling molts and been itchy for a bit. None of mine have been big kickers. I do try to set them up in 'happy' enclosures and minimize situations where they might feel inclined to kick hairs. i.e. - I rarely handle, avoid poking and prodding, etc. On one feeding day, all my Ts seemed to be 'on the rag', for whatever reason. After the third typically non-kicking spider kicked hairs at me, I aborted mission and they all got fed a couple of days later.

Especially when rehousing NW with urts, I wear gloves and move slow to minimize wafting. Afterward, I gently roll a lint roller over my forearms then flush well with copious amounts of cool water. Hot water opens the pores, and scrubbing sets the hairs deeper.

Repeat exposure does increase sensitivity in many people. Just because someone doesn't react today doesn't mean they won't react tomorrow. An acquaintance was recently doing tank maintenance on a LP that she had had for years and experienced her first ever urt hair reaction. And it was a doozy! Her forearms looked like raw hamburger and she ended up seeking medical attention. Never say never...

My first Theraphosa will be on its way to me next week. Even though it's still pretty small (~2.0 inch dls) I plan to set it up in it's permanent enclosure right off the bat. The less I have to muck around with it, the less I have to worry about urticating hair reactions.