When transferring tarantulas I sometimes put the KK in a ten gallon aquarium before trying to catch the spider. There's usually not enough room in a KK to maneuver and cup the spider, so they often bail out of the KK before I can catch them. The 10-gallon serves as a safe back-up to keep the spider from sprinting across the room. Once the spider is in the 10-gallon, I remove the KK. This gives me unobstructed room to maneuver, and cupping the spider is easy.
A second trick that works with SOME tarantulas is to place the KK in a large teflon pan before opening it. Some spiders have a very difficult time climbing the teflon sides. (Warning: Note that this works only for SOME of them. A recent event with a Holothele showed that some spiders have no difficulty launching over the sides of a teflon pan.)
My wife uses a pan of water when photographing spiders and scorpions. She puts a rock in the middle of the pan and places the animal on that rock. Sometimes the animal can zip across the water (wolf spiders can) or dive into the water (some scorpions do this), but most of the time the photo subject remains on the rock and can be photographed more easily without fear of escape.
A second trick that works with SOME tarantulas is to place the KK in a large teflon pan before opening it. Some spiders have a very difficult time climbing the teflon sides. (Warning: Note that this works only for SOME of them. A recent event with a Holothele showed that some spiders have no difficulty launching over the sides of a teflon pan.)
My wife uses a pan of water when photographing spiders and scorpions. She puts a rock in the middle of the pan and places the animal on that rock. Sometimes the animal can zip across the water (wolf spiders can) or dive into the water (some scorpions do this), but most of the time the photo subject remains on the rock and can be photographed more easily without fear of escape.
