Attention crazy breeders, dealers and mass keepers...

[Sheri]

How do you deal with it? The itching... with hundreds of NW with their insane little hairs all over the place...

We just unpacked the itchiest bugs - ever. And had to clean old terrariums of other itchiest bugs ever to make room for the new habitants.

Honestly, do you suit up in biohazard gear?

Next time, I'm wrapping myself in cellophane. Like a whole Costco sized roll. Then I will shower in it and peel it off outside, against a really, really strong wind.

I'm gonna send the papertoweling that they were packed in to CSIS to be employed as an interrogation tool. Osama should be ours within 14 days.

 

[Steve Nunn]

Hi Sheri,
LOL, honestly, most of the bulk keepers I know almost exclusively keep OW spiders (except, um............Andy M.......geez, Andy's about it) Now I think about it, that's probably why

Steve

 

[Michael Jacobi]

I don't keep itchy spiders. I don't really even sell them. And, yes, Andy Matthews had told me that he wears goggles and gloves. When I do have the occasional itchy thing I use a surgical mask, face mask, and surgical gloves and have the Benadryl spray handy and pop a couple of Benadryl tabs! People do vary in their sensitivity to urticaceous setae, but eventually most will become hypersensitized and realize that Old Worlds are much cooler! I'm even getting rid of my Avics now - fortunately Taps and Psalmopoeus aren't a problem. My other New Worlds are limited to Cyriocosmus, Holothele, etc. You can keep the others. I'd be happy to never see a Brachy, Pampho, Theraphosa, Xenesthis, etc. again!

Cheers, Michael

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

How do you deal with it? The itching... with hundreds of NW with their insane little hairs all over the place....

A little rum intake and lots of four letter words does the trick quite nicely. But seriously, gloves, long sleeves and goggles never did work for me as the bristles always seem to make it to my neck, hands, and arms no matter what I wear. Most likely because as soon as the "work" clothes came off, the urticaceous setae are released into the air. Out of my modest collection (under 100 but over 50 individuals mostly NW) of Brachypelma, Aphonopelma, Theraphosa, and the like the only species that hurt the most are Theraphosa sp. Even the itching induced by the bristles of Theraphosa sp. only last a few hours so it's no biggie. So all in all I just grin and bear it. Give me a giant hair kicker over anything spastic that bites as a first resort any day!

- Lonnie

 

[senor ocho]

I just go full on Berzerker through everything and try to limit how many times I get blasted. Though, with a large collection it works in theory only. Acanthoscurria and Lasiodora get me every time; kinda like Colt 45.
I've found that taking Alavert prior to working with itchy New World devils really helps to alleviate much of the itching. But, I won't give them up, fiberglass or not!
-chris
www.krazy8sinvertebrates.com

 

[bananaman]

Out of my 25 Ts, all except one are NW... I dont care much for the itching, im not very sensitive apparently... though sometimes I do get, but dont mind...

There was this one time though that I inhaled B.vagans hairs... my throat swelled up and it hurt to talk, smoke, drink or eat for like a week... not fun... Im more careful now...

 

[mike89]

K what are new world T's and which ones are ow T's im confused? the ow dont flick hairs? How do u know if they are NW or OW?

 

[Whiskeypunk]

K what are new world T's and which ones are ow T's im confused? the ow dont flick hairs? How do u know if they are NW or OW?

HI! READ ME! Specifically the VERY FIRST LINK.

Buy ME!

Here is some more basic info.

 

[Gesticulator]

I fall into none of the three categories mentioned in Sheri's thread title, but I sure can relate to her question. I wear latex gloves when feeding and doing cage maintenance, but it doesn't really help. I will inadvertently touch my face with the gloved hand and start the slow itch that increases to a burning raw flesh eating episode. Basically my whole collection is new world and I get haired by all of them. I've given away most of my kickers, but kicking is not what precipitates the itch. I have no real profilactic measures other than the gloves...and I will take Benadryl if necessary. The worst is the throat swelling and eye burning. For some reason, I know I got it bad when my neck starts to burn.

 

[Wolfy72]

My Lesson learned, THE HARD WAY...

I'm at work. ( I'm "The Spider Guy" at the local pet store) anywayy..

Guy comes in and says would you be interested in buying a Rose Hair Tarantula, Sure no biggie i say, but they dont sell for much.... He says ok no probs.....
2 Hours later he returns with a 10 gallon glass tank, about half an inch of some odd Substrate, nasty dirty bone dry tank, no water dish, and a small 4 inch wide , 1 inch tall , plastic cup sort of thing turned upside down for this "Rose Hair" to hide under....
I take the tank and place it on my feeding stand since the customers like to watch me with the T's.....ANYWAY...
I remove the lid from this so called "Rose Hair" lean sort of over the tank so I can see the size of this T and offer the guy a fair price, I reached over and very VERY gently lift the plastic cup thing this T is hiding under, all the while this guy is tryin to impress me with his idiocy of T's,..He's tellin me she is only 5 months old and she just moulted a week ago, and that she just doesnt move around enough for him, or let him handle her to which i say "you shouldn't be handling them anyway".... he just smirks....
ANYWAY... I gently lift the cover and peek in.... and like an H bomb going off, I get the full brunt of a freshly moulted 5.5 inch female L.Parahybana, directly in my face and chest... I sooooooo wanted to hit this idiot...I jump up and shouted , "Are you stupid or what" That's a Parahybana !!!" Of course to which i recieved a look of total bafflement, so i shouted at him... Salmon Pink Birdeater,.. a very large and beautiful female... my cusotmer simply goes "hmmmm cool, is it worth 20 bucks if i give you the tank to?"
As I madly scratch and dig and claw and paw at my now red swollen itchy face, neck, chest, hands, pretty much my entire upper torso.... i think hmmmmm "I have a mature male at home" ... hehe...
Ultimatley I ended up giving them both away, due to my over sensitivity to the Urticating hairs....
Now whenever I do anything with any of my hairkickers, it's long sleeve shirts and neck scarf...
I just cant get rid of them though I enjoy the SP too much..

 

[Merfolk]

There is some kind of electric air filter that they use on a table when everyone is smoking around and it simply sucks in any pollutant in the air. Might be worth the try!!

(And you could sell those itchy particles to a prank store!!!)

 

[IguanaMama]

I have trouble sleeping so I take a generic form of benedryl each night to help with that anyway. I find that using a moisturizing lotion on my hands, face and neck help alot. It also keeps me young and beautiful looking. When it gets really bad, I use benedryl anti-itch cream. I used to feed and water the spiders randomly, but now I do them all at once.

 

[Sheri]

Brachypelma hairs were used as "joke" itching powder long ago.

Thanks all.

I'm still going to check out the hazmat idea - I still kinda really want to keep T. apophysis and M. robustum again - though last night I really didn't want to.

 

[beetleman]

yep, i used to keep all the itchies,i couldn't take them anymore,i still luv em but the hairs really got to me,i still have my brachy smithi i just don't startle her(she's 16yrs)can't giver her up! as for the other spiders,i'll just stick to my king baboons,haps,no problem with them,exept if i get bit that is :}

 

[Wolfy72]

Spiderlings Vs Adults

I recently aquired a new B.Smithi the other day, 2.5 spiderling got it for 40$ ... but anyway... it moulted when i got it home, so after a few days i went to rehouse it... now I know im sensitive to normal Brachy hairs and parahybana and etc etc... but im thinkin to myself... how bad could it be ... it's just a baby right? RIGHTTTTT..
I noticed as i was moving her kick hairs at me only twice... i thought awww how cute.... cute until the itch set in,,, about an hour later i was covered in little red bumps and itching like man in a fuzzy tree...WOW I never expected the sling and spiderlings to be as bad as the adults... another hard lesson learned...

 

[Varden]

I've got about 80 NW sps in my collection. So far, except for the time I got the hairs in my eyes and throat, I haven't had much of a reaction to them. My husband, however, has a bad reaction. Within seconds he gets huge red itchy welts all over his skin. He discovered if he lotioned up his exposed skin in a thick layer before entering the spider room and then showered off afterwards, it stops the welts and itching.

 

[FryLock]

Ian Wallace's worker's used to use hazmet's back when he was in biz in the UK when unpacking big shipments of new worlders (a fact that was used in a newspaper story in one of the local papers) it would not surprise me if some big exporters/importers still do.

 

[Sheri]

Ian Wallace's worker's used to use hazmet's back when he was in biz in the UK when unpacking big shipments of new worlders (a fact that was used in a newspaper story in one of the local papers) it would not surprise me if some big exporters/importers still do.

I can't see how someone working with them longterm could do it without the kind of hardcore preparation that FEMA would envy...

Well, I was kinda joking when I mentioned hazmats... but as it turns out, someone has some they're going to send me!

Pics as soon as I get them, I promise.

And I think I'll mow the lawn in it too... just to ensure another year of no socialization with the neighbors again.

I was making lunches for the kids this morning, and holy mother... I guess there were still hairs everywhere, because WOW, do I feel it again.

The worst is between fingers and areas like palms that you almost need a razor blade to scratch with in order to feel any relief.

 

[angelarachnid]

EC45 cream seems to work a bit.

Being carefull with your spiders, I.E. not startling them, handeling them etc doing stuff that causes them to discharge thier hairs helps a great deal.

I agree with the person who posted about an air extractor for a room, that might work.

Ray

 

[GoTerps]

I have HEPA filter running all the time in my spider room. I changed the outer carbon filters once without using gloves.... BAD idea! I'm such a genius.

I'm still currently working on reducing my large itchy stuff b/c of my increasing reaction to hairs. It got to the point that just being in my spider room would cause me to itch... and I just got fed up.

I'm keeping some of my favorites, and lots of the smaller theraphosinae genera, but the big boys are being phased out.

Eric