Avic able to distinquish between strangers?

Dave Marschang

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I bought an adult female A.avicularia in my last order because...well, she was cheap and why not?
She has quite an extensive tube web in the back of her tank. I always feed this spider from the tongs. she will rip the prey from the tongs without hesitation every time I try. even if unlocking the exo-terra shes in scares her into her tube farther she will still come up and snatch the prey from me.

The interesting part is whenever my wife tries to feed this spider, as soon as my wife reaches back to the web the spider panics , shoots out the bottom of the web, out of the tank and jumps to the next tank over. once I go over she somewhat calmly lets me herd her back to her proper cage.

We are experimenting to see if my wife's technique differs from mine in anyway, but on the surface it looks like the spider just doesn't recognize my wife as being friendly since it deals with me mostly.

personally I am skeptical that the spider perceives my wife as a stranger, either through smell, or sight.
I feel it HAS to be some action or movement my wife is making that scares the T.

What do you guys think?

---------- Post added 07-02-2015 at 09:35 AM ----------

I guess im asking does the spider panic because my wife is a stranger or because my wife makes strange movements?
 

Storm76

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Ever thought of odor, parfume...that stuff? Most females I know use parfume and often some kind of lotion for their hands and stuff...spiders are pretty sensitive to certain things like that.
 

ratluvr76

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Ever thought of odor, parfume...that stuff? Most females I know use parfume and often some kind of lotion for their hands and stuff...spiders are pretty sensitive to certain things like that.
ooo.. good point, I wouldn't have thought of that!
 

horanjp

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Seems unlikely, I'd sooner expect that she is moving differently somehow and the tarantula is sensitive to this. Thus you recognize mixed results.
 

Dave Marschang

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Seems unlikely, I'd sooner expect that she is moving differently somehow and the tarantula is sensitive to this. Thus you recognize mixed results.
I agree, but we will try some experiments to see if the perfume/lotion makes sense.
 

DVMT

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I agree with Storm on this one. Perfumes and lotions could definitely play a part in it. Also, tong feeding is ridiculous IMO. These are highly evolved predators for one....let them do what they do best. The risk of breaking a fang is also greater when tong feeding.
 

Dave Marschang

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I tong feed the arboreals with the because I am trying to get away from crickets and if I just drop a roach or mealworm in an arboreals tank it will just burrow and not get eaten.
I use bamboo tongs not metal. and every spider I tong feed uses their legs to pull the food off the tongs to their mouths, then bites it.
I am honestly skeptical that this broken fang thing is really even a thing. has anybody actually had their spider break a fang on tongs? my spiders seem smarter than that.
my lizards on the other hand will jam them tongs 2" down their throats if I tried feeding them with it.
 

BobGrill

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I would never tong feed my Pokies or arboreal baboons.

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Ultum4Spiderz

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+1 since T prob is afraid of her maybe ,smelly hand lotion or something??. Sometimes Ts get scared !! of anyone!:eek::eek::eek:!
Seems unlikely, I'd sooner expect that she is moving differently somehow and the tarantula is sensitive to this. Thus you recognize mixed results.


---------- Post added 07-02-2015 at 08:39 PM ----------

Ive still never had a T run up my tongs, not even an OBT.
Tongs feeding also gives T's a one-way highway straight to your hand lol.


---------- Post added 07-02-2015 at 08:41 PM ----------

My pokies get very used to being tong fed!!
I would never tong feed my Pokies or arboreal baboons. F that.

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BobGrill

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+1 since T prob is afraid of her maybe ,smelly hand lotion or something??. Sometimes Ts get scared !! of anyone!:eek::eek::eek:!

---------- Post added 07-02-2015 at 08:39 PM ----------

Ive still never had a T run up my tongs, not even an OBT.

---------- Post added 07-02-2015 at 08:41 PM ----------

My pokies get very used to being tong fed!!
I've had a P.cambridgei and an A.diversipes run up my tongs during feeding. It does happen.

I think I'll pass on tong-feeding my Pokies. Or any OW species for that matter.

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Dave Marschang

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I have to point out here that all the arboreals im feeding are babies that hide in there holes at feeding time. I do not and have not fed adult pokies with tongs and assume I would not be brave enough to anyway. but for right now I don't know how else to get the mealworms and roaches to them
 

cold blood

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I actually feed many of my arboreals with my fingers often...including pokies.

Now before everyone freaks out and goes ballistic, I will explain exactly what I do. See, I have all of them (not slings, they're in deli cups and get fed normally by just dropping in a cricket) in sterelite tubs/containers and I use a larger drill bit to make the ventilation holes. These holes are big enough to put a superworm or cricket through (crix have to be squeezed in a little).

So basically I can just put prey in through the vents near the spider. Feeding couldn't go quicker or be any easier. I never need to open the lid and potentially disrupt the t's. I use tweezers a lot of the time to be honest, but not always as its often easier to stuff the prey though manually.

I hate tong feeding, and did actually have a striata lose a fang when it hit the cricket before I had a chance to drop it...and I wasn't even intentionally tong feeding. Took 2 molts before it began to come back.

I'd love to see the bamboo tongs, I can't say I've ever seen a pair.
 

Dave Marschang

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typical post, got sidetracked by "OMG! your doing that wrong!" like they all do.
can we get back on track folks? so the Avic...
The wife is going to offer her a cricket tomorrow the same way she has in the past only this time making sure to not have any lotion/perfume/chemicals on, and see what happens
 

BobGrill

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I actually feed many of my arboreals with my fingers often...including pokies.

Now before everyone freaks out and goes ballistic, I will explain exactly what I do. See, I have all of them (not slings, they're in deli cups and get fed normally by just dropping in a cricket) in sterelite tubs/containers and I use a larger drill bit to make the ventilation holes. These holes are big enough to put a superworm or cricket through (crix have to be squeezed in a little).

So basically I can just put prey in through the vents near the spider. Feeding couldn't go quicker or be any easier. I never need to open the lid and potentially disrupt the t's. I use tweezers a lot of the time to be honest, but not always as its often easier to stuff the prey though manually.

I hate tong feeding, and did actually have a striata lose a fang when it hit the cricket before I had a chance to drop it...and I wasn't even intentionally tong feeding. Took 2 molts before it began to come back.

I'd love to see the bamboo tongs, I can't say I've ever seen a pair.
I hate sterIite. I can't see crap through those containers.

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Formerphobe

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Tarantulas are extremely sensitive to their surroundings, including scents, variations in movements, etc. Not long ago we had some workmen in the house. Before they arrived I'd been doing some feeding and tank maintenance. Nearly every spider in the room was visible, as is typical. I can walk around, enter and exit room repeatedly and none of the spiders change position.
After the workmen had arrived, and before they started their job, one asked to see the Ts. We went in the room and except for about 5 spiders (out of 80 plus), it looked like I had a bunch of empty tanks. I attribute it to difference in vibrations of footfall.
All my animals, furred and setaed alike, have acclimated to regular ordnance testing at the local military base. Thunder doesn't bother them. Fireworks has all of them ramped up or in hiding.

I started tong feeding my Avics by accident a few years ago when one of the versicolor I had elected self serve before I could drop the prey in the enclosure. I tong feed a couple of my Poecis and Psalmos. I've never had any break fangs, nor run up the tongs. But, both can indeed happen.
 
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