Just a taste, dear . . .

Smulkin

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 13, 2004
Messages
29
(file under n00b has flesh tasted)

Had a bit of an unusual experience with our donated rosie this past weekend - had the lil girl out while I was checking around her cage, etc and she was quite content to be hanging out - the wife and kids never thought I'd hold her lol!

I was watching her walk around on my hand when i noticed she was kind of cocking her head up a little bit and bringing the fangs out. 'Surely not . . .' I thought - there was no movement on my behalf or anything that would have triggered a bite or even startled her - her posture wasn't aggrivated in the slightest - all legs on the ground . . . well on my skin at any rate.. She kind of dug into the skin a little with them, kind of in an exploratory pinch - almost felt like she was pulling herself forward using her fangs. Though I have not experienced one I venture to say it was not a full fledged bite, just felt like a few pinches. She did this all with languid calm, no sudden moves, no raised legs and on the heels of nothing which might have caused her to react.

After I put her back I noticed she'd drawn blood in 3 pairs of linear points but no irritation or anything - i think the pinpricks of blood were more a function of how sharp her fangs were rather than a mechanical pressure because they barely went in at all - but she did smile and squeeze three distinct times. I knew it was coming but couldnt quite conceive it, but at least I've been bitten enough that I didn't jerk or anything that might've wound up flinging her.

Question for you seasoned keepers: was she just testing the flesh? do they pull themselves along on their fangs from time to time? will they bite unprovoked or without signaling agitation through posture? Was she just checking out this funky warm flesh which was decidedly NOT her substrate?
 
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