How can I make a tarantula friendly?

[Leila]

At least I didn't keep arguing with everybody and refuse to believe I was wrong. I wised up to the fact I'd been lied to pretty fast. Also face reveal FTW

Darn right about that! You know we see people here daily/weekly who argue like mad instead of accepting the advice of others. Lol.

So I reiterate: you were never stupid.

 

[Leila]

Man, reading this thread I was like View attachment 237630 At least I didn't keep arguing with everybody and refuse to believe I was wrong. I wised up to the fact I'd been lied to pretty fast. Also face reveal FTW

Wait- is that you in the photo??

 

[Moakmeister]

Wait- is that you in the photo??

f a c e r e v e a l

 

[EulersK]

Peanut

 

[boina]

Ok, and here we go again: The incredibly far spread and often repeated myth that animals that do not have a brain cannot learn. If you all are so incredibly reasonable why why why do you refuse to believe scientific evidence???
Just because everyone says so doesn't make it right. Spiders can learn. Evidence:

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1078&context=bioscidiss
https://academic.oup.com/beheco/art...ping-spiders-attend-to-context-during-learned
http://www.americanarachnology.org/joa_free/joa_v35_n3/joa-35-3-487.pdf
and there is plenty more. Just google learning behaviour and spider/jumping spider

Unfortunately the overwhelming majority of studies about spider learning has been done on jumping spiders, who seem to learn best and are capable of some quite advanced learning feats. But to claim that tarantulas can't learn because they don't have a brain is very, very uninformed.
The handler of peanut was absolutely right and you are all wrong. To make it clear: The tarantula did not form a personal attachment to or knowledge of her handler, but she had been exposed to those situations often enough to form a cognitive recognition of this situation and associating it with not being dangerous.
@viper69 @VanessaS @cold blood

Learning behaviour in invertebrates is such a well researched topic and has been for decades that I can't believe the myth "no brian = no learning" still exists.

 

[cold blood]

my understanding is that these cognitive abilities are unique to jumping spiders and not applicable to tarantulas.

 

[Andrea82]

That's what I thought as well...
I know people are going to ask for this, so @boina , do you have some information that describes learning behaviour in Theraphosids specifically? Or which includes them?

 

[boina]

my understanding is that these cognitive abilities are unique to jumping spiders and not applicable to tarantulas.

I doubt that very much. Jumping spiders are probably "better" learners than tarantulas, I'll give you that. Nevertheless, invertebrate learning has been studied in so many species from worms to molluscs to whatever that I doubt very much that tarantulas are the big exception - the one specific invertebrate that can't learn. Animal behaviour textbooks state specifically that everything that has a nervous system of any kind can learn.

@Andrea82 , no to the best of my knowledge, tarantula learning abilities have never been studied.

However, all the evidence that exists - and there is so much that I can't possibly link it all - points to the fact that learning ability is an absolute basic survival trait that practically every animal has. That learning ability may be quite basic, and definitely not as advanced as in jumping spiders, but it is still there. I would be very surprised indeed if tarantulas weren't able to remember certain situations/stimuli and link them with basic things, like *danger*, *food*, *no danger*.

If anyone can prove that tarantulas CANNOT learn that would be quite a sensation.

And why would anyone assume tarantulas can't learn without proof? Again: every invertebrate tested has been able to learn in some way.

 

[EulersK]

I doubt that very much. Jumping spiders are probably "better" learners than tarantulas, I'll give you that. Nevertheless, invertebrate learning has been studied in so many species from worms to molluscs to whatever that I doubt very much that tarantulas are the big exception - the one specific invertebrate that can't learn. Animal behaviour textbooks state specifically that everything that has a nervous system of any kind can learn.

@Andrea82 , no to the best of my knowledge, tarantula learning abilities have never been studied.

However, all the evidence that exists - and there is so much that I can't possibly link it all - points to the fact that learning ability is an absolute basic survival trait that practically every animal has. That learning ability may be quite basic, and definitely not as advanced as in jumping spiders, but it is still there. I would be very surprised indeed if tarantulas weren't able to remember certain situations/stimuli and link them with basic things, like *danger*, *food*, *no danger*.

If anyone can prove that tarantulas CANNOT learn that would be quite a sensation.

And why would anyone assume tarantulas can't learn without proof? Again: every invertebrate tested has been able to learn in some way.

I think that the reason it's touted so profoundly that tarantulas can't learn is because the new hobbyist tends to ride on a slippery slope. If they can learn like you say (which they can), then what's to stop them from learning to enjoy being handled? Or to learn affection towards me? I think it's obvious that tarantulas have very basic abilities to learn. They always know where their water dish is, for example.

It's just easier to say that they can't learn than it is to explain that. However, there comes a point of simplifying information so much that it becomes incorrect.

 

[Nightstalker47]

I always wondered if they could learn, or at least associate certain things. I have a few Ts that come out of their hides when I open their enclosures. Its almost like they know they're going to be fed, maybe they associate the opening of the lid with feeding time, I don't think it's that far fetched

 

[Spidermolt]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW I was stupid back then XD
To any new tarantula owners, do not listen to anything I said in this thread. Peanut the B. albopilosum is not tamed, she is just extraordinarily docile. I plan to purchase her from the museum one day.

Lol just wait another year and look at everything you posted this week. You'll still be like "ugh why did I say stuff like that". Trust me I'm approaching the two year mark and I've seen some pretty bad advice that I regret saying. It's funny how time and experience changes us all.

 

[KaptinKrunch]

 

[basin79]

Regarding jumpers. I put my hand next to my adult male Phidippus regius. He usually walks onto it and has a wander around me for a little while.

I honestly believe (my own belief and opinion) that jumpers do "enjoy" the enrichment of being able to have a change of scenery and wander out of their enclosure.

T's on the other hand I don't.

 

[darkness975]

I know you guys! These are all names I recognize!"

*sinister background music ensues*

 

[ThisMeansWAR]

But can a tarantula make YOU friendly? It sounds like Peanut found a place in your heart, along with taking the piss and trolling the boards

Chris "L'insano italiano" LXXIX you crack me up mate...

 

[ThisMeansWAR]

Nature has them on this planet to serve a higher purpose than to be a plaything for humans, their value is not determined by us, and we have no right to attach a value to them based on what they do for us. They are here to serve their own purpose without taking into account human presence at all... let alone what we get from them. Please respect that.

Sounds to me like you're not a big fan of keeping tarantulas in captivity at all.

 

[Andrea82]

Regarding jumpers. I put my hand next to my adult male Phidippus regius. He usually walks onto it and has a wander around me for a little while.

I honestly believe (my own belief and opinion) that jumpers do "enjoy" the enrichment of being able to have a change of scenery and wander out of their enclosure.

T's on the other hand I don't.

Mine are way too small for me to handle them, but I do place their vials in another spot every few days so they have a bit of change in the view. I like to think they appreciate it, given they start to wander around their enclosures every time I do this.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Chris "L'insano italiano" LXXIX you crack me up mate...

Ah ah, you made a rhyme in Italian

 

[basin79]

Mine are way too small for me to handle them, but I do place their vials in another spot every few days so they have a bit of change in the view. I like to think they appreciate it, given they start to wander around their enclosures every time I do this.

My little female (although she's recently shed so isn't as small) is in her adult enclosure so she can have a good wander. I'm positive she'll appreciate it when she's ready to wander.

 

[G. pulchra]

I like turtles!