Do the T's "Know" You?

[rbpeake1]

if i didnt have my g.rosie id say no they dont ..but since we have it i know they can tell the difference...our rosie knows when its me and when its my wife...its ready to tear my arm off when i put my hand in her/his cage to hold it ....but its ok for my wife to hold her and put her hand in there...i dont think T's get enough credit from humans in respect to ..feeling ...seeing ...being able to think even the slightest bit but thats just our 2cents...but until a human can transform into a Tarantula ..and another human cut its leg off i guess the world will never know if it really hurt or not..i mean think about it ..look at all the pets we (you) have if they werent smart then how do they get us to take care of them and keep buyin more and more ...if we was smarter we could get our pets to take care of us..lol

With the right keepers, pets do have a good deal!

And the T's do seem in my opinion to have some brains, and perhaps are smarter than we give them credit for.

 

[DR zuum]

I have one tarantula, an A chalcodes, that will ALWAYS climb out of her container onto my hand, EVERY time I open the lid.

Same here old B.smithi female does the same thing and will then sit and chill out with me on the armrest of my chair this has nothing to do with food.While others exhibit the broad generalized conditioned response behaviour mentioned.The B.smithi is 17yrs old.Perhaps just as in people the level of understanding,intelligence,whatever varies from individual to individual specimen.

 

[Greg Wolfe]

Tarantula Brain Power...

I have often thought about this very subject. What is instinctive or what is "learned" I have not a clue. They must have some brain capacity, or they wouldn't have survived for millions of years.
I can attest to some of my T's displaying behaviour that warrants some brain activity. Some of my avics will crawl out onto my hand when I remove the lid.
Some of my T's come out of their burrows when I remove the top during feeding sessions, like they "know" it's dinner time.
I think it would be instinctive for a T to bolt if you shined a flashlight on it. Most T's abhor bright light.
As far as vision goes, T's have mediocre eyesight. They pretty much feel their way around. Aboreal T's seem to have better vision, living in the canopy most of their lives.
Jump through a hoop or take the trash out? Prolly not...

 

[Mattyb]

They can distinguish light from dark I imagine. I'd say that they have evolved and adapted to their environments to the point where eyesight is not of significant importance. New World Ts are slower-moving than Old World Ts, but they have other defenses (urticating hairs) that allow to them combat a predator if it sneaks up on them. Many OW Ts can simply run away quickly. Many arboreal species have better eyesight than terrestrial species, as they need it to survive in their environment.

They need to be able to distinguish daylight from darkness, but other than that I don't see a huge need for eyes.

Evolved? Sorry but i don't believe in evolution...anyway i think the only way we would find out is to ask an expert, someone who knows Ts inside and out, and even they could be wrong.


-Mattyb

 

[BlkCat]

My A versicolor wouldnt go to anyone else when I had him out.

 

[HaloMiles]

I think mine recognizes me due to the fact I'm the only one who handles him, but I wear gloves to prevent the reactions on my skin from his hair. He's always very calm, because I believe he knows me from the feel on my gloves, but when someone else (a close friend) handled him, he bit the kid in the thumb. Tarantulas are mysterious creatures.

 

[mimic58]

In some sence

My smithi has now become aware that my lifting or disturbing or having my hand inits tank generaly means theres going to be food , inicialy it would always run away now it comes out to see what im going to chuck in

I dont think it recognises me as such but its not afrade of my hand anymore and seems to wait anciously below knowing im about to drop some crickets in

 

[rbpeake1]

Mutual Respect

I think mine recognizes me due to the fact I'm the only one who handles him, but I wear gloves to prevent the reactions on my skin from his hair. He's always very calm, because I believe he knows me from the feel on my gloves, but when someone else (a close friend) handled him, he bit the kid in the thumb. Tarantulas are mysterious creatures.

I think they somehow get to know (and respect?) the person who takes care of them. It seems like such a relationship of mutual respect to me, that's just the feeling I get.

My B. vegans, for example, usually attacks a cricket before it hits the ground of her cage. But yesterday I first took out the water dish and cleaned and replaced it. Next I put in the crickets, but she did not attack them but waited a little bit, I think to be sure I was not still working in her cage. I must say, my hat is off to her, if only we could get such respect sometimes from our fellow humans!

 

[8leggedrobot]

It seems to vary in individual Ts how 'intelligent' they are. If you treat your T like something to study rather than a pet of course it will never act, in your care, like a pet. I have a P. lugardi I find rather intimidating and never touch, but I have an A. braunshaunseni I can't keep my hands off of and the latter is always wanting to come out when it sees me. I don't open the lid to feed it, there is a small hatch I dump the crickets in, and I use rubber gloves to handle Ts so it can still sense it's me. If a tarantula is capable of liking and disliking things in it's enviroment, I'd think it likes or dislikes us as factors in it's world, which is fine by me. Light=bad. Big, soft warm hand=good (or bad, depending on your Ts temperment, LOL) ;P