Musicians & Ts

Grey · Aug 17, 2014

So if you haven't already read, I'm new to the hobby no T experience. I was just curious about fellow musicians. I play guitar and fiddle and I was thinking that once I begin a collection I may make a T/music room. I play acoustic instruments only and so the volume isnt out of this world. I was curious if any fellow musicians play your instruments around your Ts and if so how do they react? I'm curious because of how sensitive Ts are to vibrations and airwaves. I was curious because if it stresses the TS out then I wouldn't do it but I wanted to hear some first hand experience. I really don't plan on having a five piece band jamming to my Ts but it would be nice to hear how it affects them.

cold blood · Aug 17, 2014

Grey said:
So if you haven't already read, I'm new to the hobby no T experience. I was just curious about fellow musicians. I play guitar and fiddle and I was thinking that once I begin a collection I may make a T/music room. I play acoustic instruments only and so the volume isnt out of this world. I was curious if any fellow musicians play your instruments around your Ts and if so how do they react? I'm curious because of how sensitive Ts are to vibrations and airwaves. I was curious because if it stresses the TS out then I wouldn't do it but I wanted to hear some first hand experience. I really don't plan on having a five piece band jamming to my Ts but it would be nice to hear how it affects them.

I would advise against this, they are extremely sensitive as you mentioned...in fact there was JUST a thread discussing this fact with some members showing disruption simply because a speaker was too close. Why intentionally overload their senses?

Grey · Aug 17, 2014

I've read threads on here and there are members on both sides of the fence. An acoustic instrument played softly isn't nearly as loud as some most speakers and all the threads I've read were about speakers not actual musical instruments being played which is generally much softer and gentler than a blaring speaker. It's not natural for any being to be completely without stimuli.

vespers · Aug 17, 2014

An acoustic guitar is not much louder than people talking, especially depending on the playing style. I don't think its much of an issue.

DVMT · Aug 17, 2014

I play guitar, bass , and drums and I keep it as far away as possible. I keep my it's in the bedroom and I don't even listen to music in the bedroom anymore.

cold blood · Aug 17, 2014

Music, no matter the kind, is 100% vibration...no way to get around that. If I can "feel" music, what's it going to be like for a t, built to sense the slightest vibes on the planet. There was good first hand t reactions on that previous thread if you can locate it.

vespers · Aug 17, 2014

I certainly wouldn't put a full-on band practice in a room with T's, but there are plenty of things that cause vibrations regularly and daily. Even your footsteps walking into said room. Tarantulas don't live in a vacuum, and I think some T keepers worry about certain things a bit too much (heat, humidity, vibrations, etc.). Hell, the forest isn't a still and silent place, either. The wind causing hundreds of branches and thousands of leaves to move and rustle, countless birds and frogs calling in unison, screaming monkeys, etc. I don't think an acoustic guitar in someone's bedroom once in a while is going to be a catastrophe of any sort. Not any worse than the vibrations one causes when opening an enclosure to feed, spot clean, or fill the water dish, for example.

Grey · Aug 17, 2014

I agree, I don't think that one instrument playing in a medium sized room is going to have any stressful effects on the Ts. If they were made of paper mâché they wouldn't have survived for millions of years. I'm still curious to see if playing has any effect on a Ts behavior. I read in another thread that some Ts seemed to enjoy the vibrations.

Gpappy31 · Aug 17, 2014

I play guitar, all metal. DO NOT play around your T's

Grey · Aug 17, 2014

Why? I don't play metal.

Gpappy31 · Aug 17, 2014

Grey said:
Why? I don't play metal.

I am drunk and overlooked your initial post. An acoustic guitar will be fine. I listen to music and watch tv in my office, where my T's are, and they aren't bothered. You will be fine as long as you're not hooking up to an amp. Distortion and bass is not a T's best friend.

iemmaamme · Aug 18, 2014

My Ts are in the living room, where I keep & play my guitars - I've never noticed any reactions from the Ts while playing the acoustic or using a standard sized amp at a reasonable volume. I can't see the fiddle being any different. My Ts react more to footsteps than anything else. I've recently added little rubber "feet" to the bottoms of their enclosures, which are on a bookshelf surrounded by creaky floors - I may go with a slab of styrofoam as well just to muffle my efforts to sneak up & observe them

pyro fiend · Aug 18, 2014

well im going to agree with not going with it.. now i know typically an acoustic isnt very loud. but it also depends on the room size and whos playing it..and how small of a room iv heard some people strike those stings like they was the hulk X( or pluck a sting like they was shooting a bow *shutters*.. i personally play alot of instruments.. almost any of the brass family, quite a few strings, woodwinds and all forms of percussion.. the only instrument iv ever played around an animal was a pungi and a cobra [lol stupid i know i was young, dumb and cocky] i dont think id go as far as even playing an instrument in my T room just due to how iv heard sounds bounce off some walls in small unproofed rooms. in my room with all my herps and inverts is a low volume room [kinda odd when people see the "quiet or die" note on my door when i hang out with metal musicians and now go to the concerts lmao] in my room i wear Beats or Turtle beach headphones when watching tv or listening to music. just as a precaution.

but thats my $0.02

dementedlullaby · Aug 18, 2014

I guess it can't be worse than people who keep their tarantulas in the living room with a loud blaring TV. All noise is vibration of course.

Personally I have my animal rooms away from such distractions. The lizards and tarantulas in particular can't tell me what they want so I just keep the volume down in there. The sugar gliders co-habit the room but are fairly quiet. A little "bark" once in a blue moon and running on their wheel is the extent of the noise they generate. I know the parrots freak out at loud sounds so I try to keep things to a minimum in their room too. It probably helps I'm not a loud person

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Grey · Aug 18, 2014

When you think about it logically, I don't think it's really a cause for concern however the cages may make the sound more intense inside the tanks. I may have to experiment by playing softly and trying to pick out any odd behavior and stopping abruptly if it seems detrimental, it's all really speculation, I guess.

I think a lot of folks want to shelter their Ts and forget that they're not teddy bears but ultimate death machines, haha.

timisimaginary · Aug 18, 2014

i wouldn't play bass, or drums, or anything really loud. but i don't see how a relatively quiet acoustic instrument would hurt the T's in any way. T's are sensitive to vibrations, but i would expect that evolutionarily they would have developed instinctive responses more sensitive to certain types of vibrations. footsteps for example, a lot of people report their T's can sense footsteps and respond to them, which would make sense since in the wild footsteps could well indicate a predator approaching. something like a guitar, a T wouldn't have evolved a frame of reference for how to respond to.

i also think T's are a bit more responsive to some of the vibrations we take for granted, the constant hums or vibrations of something like a fan or the hums generated by computers, refrigerators, etc. a constant vibration like that can send a T climbing up the walls (literally) inside their cages to escape it. but the kinds of sounds/vibrations generated by periodic activity such as playing an instrument i think are less likely to produce that response.

awiec · Aug 18, 2014

I prefer not to have music in my T room but my mother's stained glass room is next door and her grinder is very loud. I have not seen any adverse effects on my Ts they have seem to adjust and do all their normal things. I had to do some spider behavioral studies for one of my classes where I was de-sensitizing wild spiders to certain vibrations; they eventually did not react by the time I was done training them. Now I would not do this to my own personal pets as I don't feel like stressing them but I do live by a railroad where my whole house shakes when a train goes by (which is about 5 times a day). It used to upset my Ts but over time they became used to it, so they can adjust but why intentionally put them through that?

sandybanjo · Aug 18, 2014

My Rosies seem to really like KLUV 98.7 DFW area. I put that on the FM station, turn up the volume, and some of my spiders who usually don't come out of their hides....or fill the role of "Pet Rocks", begin climbing the walls of their enclosures. When I turn the volume down, they go about their business of being spiders. They don't seem to respond to classical music, talk radio, or my trombone playing.....any thoughts?

freedumbdclxvi · Aug 18, 2014

From what I can see from the limited access I have to documents via Google Scholar, the majority of acoustic cues spiders respond to either represent courtship or predators when processed. From the books I have access to here (Foelix and Barth), there are no detrimental effects from exposure to loud noise listed, and the summaries of the papers seem to validate this assumption. I would say that, as long as you don't have a full on concert going on right next to your spiders, you're fine.

sugarsandz · Aug 19, 2014

I play the violin and have on a few occasions played it in my tarantula room to avoid the cold basement. I didn't notice any changed behavior, having said that I have noticed my dogs barking sets a few of them into motion. When I notice one about to molt or just molted, I refrain from loud vibrating sounds as much as possible. I also have my tv in the tarantula room and play video games in there nightly and it's never bothered them that I can tell but I also don't blast the volume.

I guess if you observe them showing signs of stress then you know it bothers them, if not then just be mindful when you play.

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