All that have been bitten:

[dantediss]

haha actually...outta the 40 some odd ts at my house right now with half being things you dont wanna mess with..i ended up getting tapped by a l.p. that i thought smoked pot when i wasnt home cus of how chill and laid back it was and is haha

 

[bamato]

I have been bitten by many huge Pythons and I don't jerk at all. I have yet to get tagged by a spider, but the thought scares me. I imagine it would hurt like a mo fo.

I've been bitten by many pythons and boa's as well. And just like you, for some reason the thought of a T biting me frightens me more.

And I don't handle my T's. I let them enjoy the peace I can offer them. It's just those times when I have to do cage transfers, and unpacks and so forth that I have to interact with the T or it's environment.

 

[bamato]

Has anyone here kept aggressive/defensive tarantulas for over a year and never been bit?

I've been keeping tarantulas for four years now. Ranging from OBT's and Lividiums and pokies. You might not consider Pokies very defensive or aggro, but my wife's regalis is mean little brat. You so much as slide the top open, and when any other pokie would run for cover..... she comes darting towards me ready for action throwing threats like a gangster....

 

[phormingochilus]

Yes - I have had tarantulas since '91 and only managed to get my first bite last year ;-) My focus area of interest is asian tarantulas - pretty defensive if my say so. I only got bit because I were too lax/confident.

Regards
Søren

Has anyone here kept aggressive/defensive tarantulas for over a year and never been bit?

 

[burmish101]

Ive been bit 9 times now getting too confortable around juvies mostly lol. Heteroscodra maculata tags make you learn VERY quickly, nothing ever bit and hung onto me yet, not even some decent sized retics that nailed me.

 

[NixHexDude]

I've been bitten by many pythons and boa's as well. And just like you, for some reason the thought of a T biting me frightens me more.

You guys are joking right? A hundred little needle teeth which curve backward vs 2? I've never been tagged by either knock on wood, but I'd take a bite from a KB or blondi over a decent sized constrictor.

 

[Travis K]

You guys are joking right? A hundred little needle teeth which curve backward vs 2? I've never been tagged by either knock on wood, but I'd take a bite from a KB or blondi over a decent sized constrictor.

LOL, it's not the teeth that you need to worry about. I was tagged by a buddies constrictor and it got my hand real good on both sides. I am much more leery of getting tagged than bitten by another constrictor. Maybe we should be compare venomous snakes with ts to make it a little more even. But in that scenario the snakes will win.

 

[the nature boy]

I can only say to nature boy - if you want to speculate about being bitten you should try it before going public about what you "think".

Soren,

I was being a bit sarcastic about not having been bitten. Among my favorite bites were an OBT and a S. calceatum. Check out the bite reports. These species don't take a second seat to anything when it comes to how delightful their bites are.

--the nature boy

 

[Tapahtyn]

I know for a fact I would jerk, but luckily when I do hold my T's I'm always sitting on the carpet. I had a dream my hentzi got out and came after me and jumped on my hand. He wouldn't let go lol. To me it's like riding motorcycles, it's not if you're gonna get hit, it's when

 

[the nature boy]

Funny. I had a nightmare last night that seven or eight of my S. calceatum got loose. They were grouped together on a wall in my T room and I got a clear take home dinner thing over them. Immediately they went nuts, zooming laps around inside it, shooting threat displays, you name it. I suddenly realized that I had nothing in reach to slide under the container--lol! If I took it off, even a bit, they'd do their number on me. You talk about sweating it out! Fortunately I woke up before paying the piper.

--the nature boy

 

[bamato]

You guys are joking right? A hundred little needle teeth which curve backward vs 2? I've never been tagged by either knock on wood, but I'd take a bite from a KB or blondi over a decent sized constrictor.

You would think so but no. However that being said, I've never had one of my burms or retics try to constrict me. I'm sure that would be an unpleasant experience. Strictly speaking I've had plenty of just bites. The boas liked to bite and hang on.... that sucked.

Venemous snakes are a different story. Give me an S calceatum or pokie bite, or even a few of them over being bitten by a hot herp.

 

[bamato]

Fortunately I woke up before paying the piper.

--the nature boy

OH c'mon now, you know you were bummed you woke up.

 

[El Viejo]

I can only speak about the one time I was tagged by a tarantula. I had a WC A. anax that I was keeping at the school where I teach. I was showing it to the students one day, and decided to let it crawl on my hand. I had done this many times before with this species with no problems. Well, I guess this guy didn't get the memo about their species being so calm so as he crawled across my hand, he let me have it in a finger. With a bunch of elementary kids around me, I decided that it would be best not to flinch, or act in any way to show that I had been hit. So I just put the tarantula back in his cage and closed it up. There was a little blood, but no type of reaction at all. I have had many T's, snakes & other critters in my classroom over the years, and I have never allowed the students to handle a T, even the lovable little rosie that's up there right now. They do handle the snakes, but only after I am sure that the animal is docile enough not to hit the kids. I have had rat snakes, corn snakes, and bull snakes. Right now it's a little 1 1/2 year old bull snake. Through the past 34 years in the classroom, I have always had critters, and in doing so, the safety of the kiddos is of utmost importance. They always use Germ-X after handling a snake, and so far so good! I believe that it's important to teach these kids a love for these wonderful animals, and try to dispel some of the myths and fears that some of them bring into my classroom.

Just my .02 worth.

 

[the nature boy]

no, but...

OH c'mon now, you know you were bummed you woke up.

Lol, but no. Now if the dream had been about me being bricked into a wall and them thrown in just before the last brick was laid...

--the nature boy

 

[Medicinewolf]

chomp

I have yet to be bitten by one of my two Ts, but have been bitten by my boas, parrots, crabs (while scuba diving), and most recently by a very scared chipmunk the cat brought in. In many of these bites, the critters just latched on and stayed there.

I never had that "fling 'em" urge. Honestly, I believe that if one of Ts just decided to chomp on me while I was holding it, I would be able to just ride it out, BUT---its when they start running or bolting that I notice a STRONG urge to just jerk away.

One of my boas tried to eat my thumb when she was young. My fault---I'd been handling a feeder mouse, and I tapped her on the neck gently to make sure she was awake. She wasn't but she woke up REAL quick, grabbed my thumb, constricted my wrist, and then tried to eat me. She realized her mistake soon enough and backed slowly, carefully off. I was too scared to move for fear of breaking her fragile teeth. The whole affair felt like getting slapped hard with a bristle hair brush.

 

[Robert Jordan]

The first time I handled my A. Avic (then only my second T), I was totally ignorant of how fast and agile they are (compared to the Rosie I had). I tried using the pinch method to get her off my lap because she wasn't into crawling back onto my hands. In a fraction of a second she flipped over and latched onto my hand, but didn't bite. Being the nervous newbie that I was, I still flung her reflexively. What was amazing is that she went up into the air and caught hold of the edge of a desk chair with grace and form worthy of a 10.

 

[NixHexDude]

I always dream they get out and start eating eachother before I can grab something to put them in.

 

[Stagger-Lee]

that sucker held onto me for almost 45 sec before it occurred to me to tickle her back leg to get her to pull out and go after me again. next day it felt like i had smashed my finger with a hammer ya know that numb tender feeling you get afterwards, funny thing is i kept telling Ken itd be a versicolor who bit me. gosh what else has bitten me since i started hanging out with you Ken hmm lets see there was the large parahybana i was being rough with during an examination who showed me even though i had her grasped and turned over that she could still shove her fangs into my finger, it was a quick dry in and out leaving 2 drops of blood i apologized to him for the rough treatment. then there was the big genic grrl who went after a male during breeding that i had to throw my hand in front of, she gave me a real shallow quick poke with her fangs and my finger felt a little hot for a few min. i think she realized i wasnt the male when she tagged me cause i would expect her to hang on like that versi did. there was another parahybana who gave me a quick dry poke when i startled her, i wasnt even sure she had pierced the skin till i squeezed my finger and 2 micro droplets of blood appeared.
n just the other day while helping Ken pack stuff i had a little 1.5" B.boehemi get pissed for me dragging it out of its pill bottle and bite me on my finger, that didnt even itch.

... Funny thing is I have seen Mike(Troll) get bit and he does exactly what you are talking about....he just grins and bears it. I don't know how he does that. I saw a versi get him once and he did not move except to try and get her fangs out as she did not want to let go. He was just like owe owe owe...ok come on let go. Talk about calm behavior.

 

[Bill S]

Maybe we should be compare venomous snakes with ts to make it a little more even. But in that scenario the snakes will win.

Don't be so sure. I've been tagged by five different kinds of rattlesnakes, but having read some of the bite reports for T's I've decided to avoid some of the nastier ones for now. (Actually, my wife has drawn the line on a few of them.) Some of the experiences I've read about in the bite reports sound much more painful and worrisome than my snakebites have been