how do i know if my chilean rose will bite??

[princess_lover]

Ok so i just recently bought myself a chilean rose tarantula,she is very well behaved and she seems to be happy. I brought her to work with me because my room-mate is scared of her. My boss picked her up right out of her traveling cage. I usually let her crawl into my hand, she did not mind him picking her up direcetly. My boyfriend and our friends have now convienced me that she is going to bite me. My boyfriend also says that when and if she does bite it will only be like a bee sting. I am now super scared she is going to bite me. I really don't like being afraid of her i love her so much and she really likes being handled. Soi was wondering if anyone here has been bitten and if so how does it feel and what made him/her feel scared enough to bite.
thank you for your time.
meg

 

[Jmmarich]

As a general rule, any Tarantula can of course bite you. Often, you will see signs they are getting upset, but not always. If you hold one, you run the risk. Rose Hairs are pretty docile, but if you grab it wrong, or it feels unsafe, it could bite you. As of how bad it would hurt, theres debate on that. Personally, I have never met anyone who has been bit so my rule of thumb is not to get bitten I actually have never held any of my T's even once. I enjoy looking at them way to much to even think of touching them. Just not my thing. Good luck!

--Josh

 

[sansoucie]

Anything with teeth has the potential to bite. From what I understand a rosie is the most handleable, except for the hairs. I was bit by an Indian Ornamental and it's not anything I want to repeat at any point in my life I guess other than taking it out for a cricket dinner and a little sweet talk, you won't know if it bites until you try to pick it up. These guys (insane folks, really) handle everything... I am sure they can give you some pointers.

 

[princess_lover]

thanks

hey thanks very much. I used to be very open with her and on the first and second day i had her she was out of her cage for long periods of time and she would crawl all over me so i had no issue with biting. But ever since everyone is running scared of her and telling me shes going to bite me and i am going to die.. i have been kind of frightened of her. My boyfriend said she will not kill me or anything and that it will only hurt for a while. but i am still kind of scared and i know she can sense it.

 

[manville]

Just be gentle and it will most likely not bite. Dont make any sudden movement. I have not been bitten before and i dont know the feeling of it.

 

[sansoucie]

It's not gonna kill you, unless you have some wierd 1 in 10000000000 reaction. I wouldn't worry about the death from rose hair bite scenario

 

[luther]

Although G.rosea has a long reputation in the pet traded for it's docility and calmness, any tarantula can bite you if provoked. Even G.rosea has an off day (or couple of years).

I've not seen a lot of people posting saying "Oh my God, my rosey bit me and I thought I was going to die!". Their venom seems mild from what I understand. Check the bite reports forum here for first hand descriptions. Mine has never bitten me, but I rarely have to handle her. She's got "personality".

Generally your tarantula will adopt a defensive posture before biting in anger. She'll rear up and make herself look as scary as possible. She'll give you as many clues as she can not to push your luck. If your rosea is an adult she'll have a strong mechanical bite. I should imagine that hurts, even if it's just a dry bite.

There's a danger at this point for the tarantula. Many people seem to react to a sudden bite by involuntarily flinging the tarantula, or at least dropping it. This is the reason I don't handle my tarantulas much. I'm not confident enough that I would react calmly enough to a bite to guarantee the innocent arachnid's safety.

If your not confident with handling your tarantula and are not willing to accept getting bitten as a possibility I would suggest that you keep handling to a minimum. Tarantulas don't seem to want to be handled and live happily without it. They seem to thrive undisturbed and unstressed.

 

[protheus]

Not having had a lot of experience with tarantulas, I can say that I wouldn't be worried about a bite from G. Rosea. Of course, it varies depending on the animal. If you brush a finger against the spider, and it raises its legs at you, and the like, leave it alone; it's in a bad mood.

Otherwise, from what you said about this spider, there's not much of a chance that it will bite, though it certainly could. Ask yourself this question: Would you worry so much about handling a hamster or gerbil? Their bite would almost certainly be worse -- think of the amount of tissue damage involved compared to a spider bite -- and some of them (hamsters, gerbils...) have been known to get nasty, really fast.

Now, I haven't been bitten, myself, but by all reports, a bite from this spider may leave two tooth-marks, is likely to sting a little, and may make your hand (or whatever) sore for a while. If you're heavily alergic to bee or wasp stings, it may leave a bump for a few days. (So I hear from the sting/bite report forums)

Read the bite report forum and see what people say, and by all means, don't accept the common wisdom (which is all too common, and none too wise) where arachnids are concerned. Once you dig up some actual facts, you'll find that you have little to worry about. Above all, both you and your pet must feel safe. Don't let people scare you. As you're well on your way to finding out, spiders aren't the mosters that many suppose them to be.

Chris

 

[sansoucie]

Shoot, I am much.. MUCH.. more scared of a hamster bite or a bee sting than getting bitten by a T.

 

[Gretchen W.]

I handled my rosie for the first time a week ago. It was something I really wasn't going to do but I did it anyway. He walked right onto my hand and just sat there. It was quite nice for me but Im not going to make it a habit. I know it's best just to let them be. I am not afraid at all of him ever biting me..but of course you just never know. I wouldn't let anyone else handle him though. I wouldn't worry about them getting bit...I would be more worried about my little guy getting hurt.

 

[protheus]

Shoot, I am much.. MUCH.. more scared of a hamster bite or a bee sting than getting bitten by a T.

As you should be, which is my point People never consider "what if my dog/cat/hamster/plecosthamus bites me." Even though it's a real possibility if you upset any pet. They worry about spiders, I assume, for two reasons:

They're venomous. (Ok, good reason, but in the case of a mildly venomous animal like G. Rosea, that works to your advantage. The only teeth it has are those two little fangs, so the tissue damage is minimal)

They're creepy. (Yep, I really think it's a case of society's prejudice against arachnids that gets people worrying about this. The 'man is trying to keep our pets down.)

I do admit that the whole "spiders are creepy" thing got to me at some point; not that I was scared of them, but I kept my distance, and didn't particularly like them either. I tend to be stronger in logic than most, so it didn't take long after learning a little about them for me to change my mind. I've since found that they're intriguing, basically harmless, and likeable (that's important in a pet).

I have a healthy respect for any spider, as with any other animal, but they're nothing to fear, and can be charming animals.

Chris

 

[Wolfchan]

I got a report of a G. rosea bite from a customer who told me that it caused a little localised swelling and a small bruise, but wasn't that bad at all.

On the other paw, I was nailed by a MOUSE, and I don't know what happened, but my finger swelled to the point where I couldn't move it at all, and turned a magnificent shade of blue-green. I worry much more about rodent bites transmitting bacteria now that I do about getting bitten by a T. Good luck with your little one!

 

[Longbord1]

my rule of thumb is to not hold my Ts when they are most food aggressive which is over the summer here

mike

 

[protheus]

I got a report of a G. rosea bite from a customer who told me that it caused a little localised swelling and a small bruise, but wasn't that bad at all.

On the other paw, I was nailed by a MOUSE, and I don't know what happened, but my finger swelled to the point where I couldn't move it at all, and turned a magnificent shade of blue-green. I worry much more about rodent bites transmitting bacteria now that I do about getting bitten by a T. Good luck with your little one!

I probably should make it clear that I didn't consider the possibility of infection from a rodent bite earlier. Even without the infection, just given the relatively deep cut they can produce, I'd prefer the spider bite.

Chris

 

[Professor T]

We went over arachnids today in my biology classes, and my rosie "Fluffy" was handled by approximately 30 kids that had permission slips. While the T could bite, this one never has, partly because I use common sense. We don't blow on it, or make a wind current by talking loud. The kids put their hand on the lab table, and "Fluffy" walks across their hand. We did the same thing with "Spike", an emperor scorpion.

In general G. rosea tend to be docile as a species. Compound that with an individual that has not been aggressive, and you have a high probability event of not getting bit if conditions are kept calm.

 

[edesign]

ok, i'm new to this too (had my costa rican zebra since sat) and had a quick question. Can't say i intend to handle mine much other than what's necessary and reading this thread has me wondering...

i noticed some people said if they raise a leg or go into a threat posture to leave em alone...sage advice. I was wondering what are the chances of one skipping this stage and going straight to a lunge? The guy who sold it to me at the pet store had it running around on his shirt when i got to the counter...even crawled up by his neck before someone else could pick it up and put it in the box for the trip home. Didn't seem aggressive, just skittish as they are commonly described...guy just sat there and let it do it's thing (the right thing to do i'm assuming). anyway...that's my question

thanks!

 

[Gretchen W.]

ok, i'm new to this too (had my costa rican zebra since sat) and had a quick question. Can't say i intend to handle mine much other than what's necessary and reading this thread has me wondering...

i noticed some people said if they raise a leg or go into a threat posture to leave em alone...sage advice. I was wondering what are the chances of one skipping this stage and going straight to a lunge? The guy who sold it to me at the pet store had it running around on his shirt when i got to the counter...even crawled up by his neck before someone else could pick it up and put it in the box for the trip home. Didn't seem aggressive, just skittish as they are commonly described...guy just sat there and let it do it's thing (the right thing to do i'm assuming). anyway...that's my question

thanks!

I won't handle my A.seemani. Anytime we get near him removing crickets he flicks hairs. He has gone into the threat poster a couple times as well. He's usually down in his burrow so thats when we reomove the unwanted crickets now
He's a fantastic looking tarantula. I just enjoy watching him do his thing.

 

[princess_lover]

thanks again

well thank you to all of you telling me about bites and worse bites!!!! I really enjoy all your stories. I am not much scared of her as i am her bite.. i don't know why that is. Shes realy sweet and kind and about 3 or 4 people have already handled her and she was very calm and fun she actully crawled down my friends body and fell into her cleveage and didn't bite or anything. I just lifted up my friends shirt and she crawled onto my hand. does anyone know how big her fangs are anyways? i think shes about 7 months old right now...

 

[Overmenneske]

You really shouldn't be this worried.
First of all: you seem to handle it a lot/occasionally. That is really not wise unless you are confident. I say that because I've seen with my own eyes what harm a trembling hand may cause. You are not ready to handle it until you know/trust it. Then you will learn to read the spider's body language. You know that a fall from only inches easily could kill it? I'm not trying to come off as an anti handler here, I'm merely saying that handling while not confident equals possible death.

Second: it's hard to get bitten while handling a G. rosea. You would have to do something like squeezing before attack is initiated. Normal behaviour does not trigger attacks, at least not with yours (as I understand it has been handled multiple times). Some of this species are aggressive, but that's the minority.

 

[metzgerzoo]

First of all, stop listening to your "friends", they are only trying to get your goat and scare you...and it's working. You wanna know what getting bitten by a G.rosea is like...I'll tell and this is from my adult T, not a sling. You'll look at your finger (let's use that as an example) and think, "ouch, you snot, you bit me. Hmm, that kind of hurt, ok, so I guess that's what a wasp sting/bee sting is supposed to feel like...ok, no prob". Your finger will turn red around the bite area, hurt for a few hours and if you're lucky, it might even swell...a tiny bit. But....after a few hours all the drama is gone and no skin has rotted off and no fingers have fallen off and you're not puking your guts up or thrashing on the floor in convulsive seizures. Trust me, rose hair bites aren't that bad. Heck, my cat bites harder, it hurts more, swells more and lasts longer. You really shouldn't be handling your T and letting everyone and their dog handle it as well. That is one VERY good way to wind up with one VERY dead T in a VERY short amount of time. They aren't puppies or kittens, they are MUCH more fragile and one wrong move can not only get you or someone else bitten, it can get your T launched across the room because someone freaked out...say bye bye to your T. They are display pets, not play pets.