B Vagans odd temperment

Hi everyone, I was given my second T a B. Vagans for my birthday from a friend of mine. 4inches. And the first week I had the T everything was fine, I was able to hold the T from time to time, and then all of a sudden, out of the blue, I had to refill the water dish, but the T was near the water dish (not touching it though) so I went in and started moving the water dish with my finger, next thing I know the T goes for my finger, no warning, just lunges and tries to bite me. I got cautious and took a straw(very soft plastic) and started moving the dish again and then the T bit the straw several times, so I decided to distract the T by giving it a cricket, and then I continued trying to move the water dish, the T drops the cricket and goes for the straw again. I don't know the sex of the T, and now the T has dug a hole in the substrate and has basically closed up the hole lightly with web. Could this be a pre-molt thing? Or is my T a male and getting aggressive due to reaching sexual maturity?

Please help guys, I'm really concerned about my T

Kind Regards

KnifingPanda

Your T is being a tarantula, never use your fingers to do maintenance, you don't want to put it where it doesn't belong. Always use tongs. This goes to show how unpredictable they are, leave it alone, they don't like to be held. The reason it went for your finger/straw was most likely because he/she was mistaking it for food, or was trying to defend it's territory. The water in the water dish might be evaporating quickly, or there might be webbing covering the water dish, just clean it out, that would do the trick.. most Ts seal themselves off during pre-molt or when they just want to be left alone, nothing to worry about, just leave it be. I strongly recommend against handling, it stresses the T, and most bite reports are from handling.. they don't benefit from it, only you do, they see you as a predator and nothing more, nothing less.. and if they panic and bolt from your hand and fall to the ground you have a T with a ruptured abdomen, which is fatal.. so just leave it be.. for a side note, if the T drinks a lot and the water doesn't disappear due to evaporation or webbing, just check the T for injuries, but I highly doubt that that's the case.. hope this helps

B.vagans is one of the more skittish species of Brachy.

BobGrill said:

B.vagans is one of the more skittish species of Brachy.

Click to expand...

And one of the more aggressive.


Why are you worried...that's like going onto a dog forum and saying you're worried because your new lab barked.

Doesn't sound like anything to worry about to me. They're wild animals and can act unpredictably. Always use tongs or chopsticks to do your maintenance or eventually you WILL get bitten, and/or haired.

KnifingPanda said:

Hi everyone, I was given my second T a B. Vagans for my birthday from a friend of mine. 4inches. And the first week I had the T everything was fine, I was able to hold the T from time to time, and then all of a sudden, out of the blue, I had to refill the water dish, but the T was near the water dish (not touching it though) so I went in and started moving the water dish with my finger, next thing I know the T goes for my finger, no warning, just lunges and tries to bite me. I got cautious and took a straw(very soft plastic) and started moving the dish again and then the T bit the straw several times, so I decided to distract the T by giving it a cricket, and then I continued trying to move the water dish, the T drops the cricket and goes for the straw again. I don't know the sex of the T, and now the T has dug a hole in the substrate and has basically closed up the hole lightly with web. Could this be a pre-molt thing? Or is my T a male and getting aggressive due to reaching sexual maturity?

Please help guys, I'm really concerned about my T

Kind Regards

KnifingPanda

Click to expand...

My female vagans is mean as all hell. Unpredictability is just part of the hobby. There's no need for concern. Unless you fed it after midnight...you didn't do that did you?

B.boehmei, B.autarum, and B.vagans are the more skittish and sometimes defensive members of the genus.

+1 Bobgrill. nothing wrong with a defensive temperament. Attitude varies with individuals so even the most docile Ts like B. smithis could have that one individual that
is really defensive.

I'll add to the above comments and say my 5in fem B. vagans is very food oriented, but also will not tolerate any disturbances in her enclosure either. She does not mess around. chop sticks or tongs > fingers, for sure!

Ok, cool, thanks a lot for the many responses. And I was just a little concerned because the temperament was such a sudden change. I will keep what you guys said in mind.

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it.

I am a new T owner, I got my first one on the 24th of December, a G.Pulchripes sling, and now I have the B.Vagans.

Thanks again.

Kind Regards

KnifingPanda

You can't go wrong with a Brachy IMO.