How does handling a tarantula "STRESSES IT OUT"?

[Lennie Collins]

I guess I started something on the Myth Thread and I wanna know, How does a tarantula look when it is stressed out. Does it run around its cage? Does it try to sink its fangs into anything it can come in contact with? Does it flop on its back with its legs in the air? I wanna know. Please post a video or some pictures, I wanna see!

 

[bliss]

flicking hairs, threat posture, hunching in a corner, climbing to the top of the cage (terrestrials), just basically acting in a manner that a T normally wouldn't.

--dan--

read the original thread

--dan--

 

[Hedorah99]

Lennie, you somehow created a whole slew of work for us tonight. If your intention was to ask a serious question, then let people answer without belittling them. This is not a request. There are multiple viewpoints on this board and you'll have ot live with the fact a lot of them don't agree with yours.

To everyone else, if you have a problem with the poster, report the damn post and stop being a mock-moderator. The slate of this thread has been wiped clean and if the next post is not directly related to the original question you will be written up.

 

[Lennie Collins]

Lennie, you somehow created a whole slew of work for us tonight. If your intention was to ask a serious question, then let people answer without belittling them. This is not a request. There are multiple viewpoints on this board and you'll have ot live with the fact a lot of them don't agree with yours.

To everyone else, if you have a problem with the poster, report the damn post and stop being a mock-moderator. The slate of this thread has been wiped clean and if the next post is not directly related to the original question you will be written up.

I was called names, yet I was belittling people? I guess the comments were deleted before you could read them. I thought question about sex, religion, politics, and sports sparked hostility. I guess asking a question like this should be added to the list? Can't we all just get along?

Yes, I was serious. I am not saying a tarantula does like to be held. I know it feels some discomfort BUT stressed out? Defined stressed out?

You are alright with me. Take charge!

 

[clam1991]

well some people say a streassed out t could be a terrestrial thats climbs its cage
however ive seen my curly hair climb when i havent disturbed it for days and its dry as a desert
(notice that she has been in her habitat for some time now and it was at night-hunting?)
so i guess flicking hairs or erratic movment like jumping around or attacking anything that moves counts as stressed but then theres obts....

 

[Lennie Collins]

well some people say a streassed out t could be a terrestrial thats climbs its cage
however ive seen my curly hair climb when i havent disturbed it for days and its dry as a desert
(notice that she has been in her habitat for some time now and it was at night-hunting?)
so i guess flicking hairs or erratic movment like jumping around or attacking anything that moves counts as stressed but then theres obts....

Thank you! That's what answering a question is to me. Thank you, again!

 

[clam1991]

wouldn't say its answered quite yet
because sometimes ts will just act out for no reasons
think rosies
but im trying to get some ideas going

and for obts and cobalt blues does them not making a burrow mean their stressed?

just food for thought

 

[GOMER113]

I think part of the stress is that they don't know where they are when you're handling them. They probably get a little freaked out since they can't really see and they only know where they've been by laying webbing down. For example, if you're in a dark room you've never been in and you're trying to get out, how would you know how to get out if you can't see? You'd probably get a little freaked out, right?

 

[Talkenlate04]

I'll re post because my original reply was taken down with everything else.

Tarantulas do get stressed. Maybe not the same way you might associate the word with how it relates to humans but it still happens.
For example a tarantula that is always in its burrow comes out and starts pacing the tank or hovering over the water dish, those are signs that the environment is not suitable for the T and it is seeking better conditions. That in itself is stressful on any living creature.
When you handle a T and it kicks hairs at what it perceives to be a threat, that repeated over and over can be stressful. When several of those factors start to occur on a regular basis health then can start to be affected and you might start to see your T lose weight from becoming hyperactive directly resulting from being stressed.
Those are just a few things, I am sure there is plenty more to add to the list, but those things are not going to easily captured in a photograph and or video.

 

[clam1991]

well if a t is hungry wouldnt it pace its cage looking for food?

 

[Aurelia]

I handle my G. rosea sometimes, but I would rather err on the side of caution and maybe consider the -idea- that she -may- get stressed out than to perhaps have a dead T on my hands from not being careful and handling too much.

Nobody will really know for sure what truly stresses them out unless someone were to conduct a well-planned out, organized experiment and maybe hooked the T up to electrodes and measured their...hemolymph pressure or something. In the meantime, we can only use our own personal judgment to declare what is and is not good for the Ts in our care. There is nothing wrong with being cautious and not handling for the sake of the T's well-being, if that's what we think is best. And again nothing wrong with handling them if we see it fit to do so. It's all subjective-no right or wrong unless concrete research is done.

I hope that made sense....

 

[gvfarns]

well if a t is hungry wouldnt it pace its cage looking for food?

Probably not. T's are much more ambush hunters than active hunters.

In the wild if they decide the place they are hanging out is not good enough, they will move on, but in general they wait for prey to come to them. I pretty much always associate pacing around with stress of some kind.

Of course, they are just tarantulas. And they are our pets. That means if we want to hold them at the expense of some of their peace of mind, we can do that. At least that's what most people who handle feel.

 

[Lennie Collins]

I handle my G. rosea sometimes, but I would rather err on the side of caution and maybe consider the -idea- that she -may- get stressed out than to perhaps have a dead T on my hands from not being careful and handling too much.

Nobody will really know for sure what truly stresses them out unless someone were to conduct a well-planned out, organized experiment and maybe hooked the T up to electrodes and measured their...hemolymph pressure or something. In the meantime, we can only use our own personal judgment to declare what is and is not good for the Ts in our care. There is nothing wrong with being cautious and not handling for the sake of the T's well-being, if that's what we think is best. And again nothing wrong with handling them if we see it fit to do so. It's all subjective-no right or wrong unless concrete research is done.

I hope that made sense....

Thank you. Yes, to a degree I was being funny. But there is a guy who posted some tarantula handling on YouTube. I don't remember his name but those tarantulas be running strangely. That's what I was lookin' for...not the attack of the angry bloggers!

 

[K1j1m]

My salmon pink usualy hangs out and hovers over his water dish and i mist every 2 to 3 days. It has a big burrow and everything. because it hangs out over its water dish that means its stressed?

 

[clam1991]

you probably should mist it they like it kinda dry
from my experiences anyway

 

[RottweilExpress]

A T that is stressed out by a threat or threatful environment usually huddles up in a corner, legs protecting the body making it look small and miserable (in my eyes) Perfect example is a Haplo that didn't succed with fangs and threatpose. They just huddle up eventually.


Also, a hungry T doesn't stalk around, they position themselves outside their hide and wait for anything to pass by. Generally they hungrier they are, the further out from the burrow they sit.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

because it hangs out over its water dish that means its stressed?

I should think that means it's thirsty.

you probably should mist it they like it kinda dry
from my experiences anyway

Why would a tarantula that wants things drier hang out over the water dish?

 

[clam1991]

I should think that means it's thirsty.



Why would a tarantula that wants things drier hang out over the water dish?

sorry that should should have been a shouldnt

ive done lost my mind
whoever finds it gets a free tarantula!!!:drool:

 

[crpy]

sorry that should should have been a shouldnt

ive done lost my mind
whoever finds it gets a free tarantula!!!:drool:

passed my ged!

Well they must have let you slide on sentence structure. lol

 

[clam1991]

what for my ged?

shoot that thing was just a re-run of the 8th grade dstp

(delaware state testing program)