How fast can a tarantula be?

mistertim

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My two cents... I'm no physicist, but I am a mathematician. Working on my MS in industrial engineering, undergrad in mathematics.

@Matabuey has it down on numbers. His statements are based in numbers, which are hard to deny. But there's an element beyond numbers here - the human psyche. We're fighting against natural instinct here. There is an ingrown fear of spiders in general, regardless of experience level. Compare that with the speed and unpredictable movement (as @bryverine brought up) that these creatures exhibit, and we have a perceptually fast animal. It's a combination of speed, short distances, and psychology.

They're fast. Whether they look like it on paper or not.
Its also more than just speed...its acceleration. Tarantulas go from zero to top speed in almost no time at all. Sometimes I think my Psalmos or Poec actually quantum tunnel. Tarantulas have different probability waves than other animals.
 

Trenor

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Its also more than just speed...its acceleration. Tarantulas go from zero to top speed in almost no time at all. Sometimes I think my Psalmos or Poec actually quantum tunnel. Tarantulas have different probability waves than other animals.
Come one man. Lets get real here. They are ambush predators not quantum particles. Yes, they can strike quickly, that's what ambush predators do. They ambush (jump quickly) at things to get food. But lets not get crazy with wild claims.
 

Chris LXXIX

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Anyway a lot of people keeping both T's & Cats are concerned about venom, this is understandable but IMO Cats are by far badass predators, no matter the speed of T's.

See how much this OW is owned v




In a "Cat VS T" fight, eight legged are those that seriously risks. Cats are lovely cold blooded Ninja.
 
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Louise Nolan

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Anyway a lot of people keeping both T's & Cats are concerned about venom, this is understandable but IMO Cats are by far badass predators, no matter the speed of T's.

See how much this OW is owned v




In a "Cat VS T" fight, eight legged are those that seriously risks. Cats are lovely cold blooded Ninja.
That's one fast t
 
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mistertim

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Come one man. Lets get real here. They are ambush predators not quantum particles. Yes, they can strike quickly, that's what ambush predators do. They ambush (jump quickly) at things to get food. But lets not get crazy with wild claims.
 

Jeff23

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I'm perfectly aware (I'm a mechanical engineering and physics major), but that's kinda irrelevant here. When we are talking about speed we are talking about how fast they can travel from point a to point b in relation to their body size. When viewed in this model they are incredibly fast animals. To look at it from a literal standpoint is deceptive since any human could react to a object moving 1.1mph but a tarantulas ability to traverse distance in relation to its size is what makes them formidable
I agree with both of you (as another engineer in the mix:)). Essentially it is the acceleration that comes into play. Considering that the strike distance for a T attacking prey is only a short distance the comparison for the T versus other animals might be its acceleration from zero speed to its speed at the target which is probably a much more competitive number with some other high level competition. It would be interesting to compare this number.
 

Trenor

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This is exactly what I think every time I read a post where someone is talking about tarantulas teleporting/quantum tunneling/ninja log substitution (fill in any over the top term for movement you want here). Maybe your joking... maybe not. I thought it was a joke the first time I saw someone posting about their tarantula teleporting only to find out they were serious. Regardless, I just don't get the crazy fast hype. I mean, my ball python can strike just as fast and over a longer distance. He has never been accused of teleporting or breaking the laws of physics.

In reality, you just have a quick tarantula in a small box and people seem shocked when it shows some speed. If you took the tarantula out of the small box and watched it move in the open you'd see there are lots of things that are as quick if not faster.

Again, be aware of the speed but lets not get crazy.
 

shining

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Anyway a lot of people keeping both T's & Cats are concerned about venom, this is understandable but IMO Cats are by far badass predators, no matter the speed of T's.

See how much this OW is owned v



In a "Cat VS T" fight, eight legged are those that seriously risks. Cats are lovely cold blooded Ninja.
Not to mention this crazy fact, our lovely domesticated felines have a max sprint speed of 45 mph. I need to familiarize myself with their reaction time studies again. Amazing animals.
 
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Jeff23

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This is exactly what I think every time I read a post where someone is talking about tarantulas teleporting/quantum tunneling/ninja log substitution (fill in any over the top term for movement you want here). Maybe your joking... maybe not. I thought it was a joke the first time I saw someone posting about their tarantula teleporting only to find out they were serious. Regardless, I just don't get the crazy fast hype. I mean, my ball python can strike just as fast and over a longer distance. He has never been accused of teleporting or breaking the laws of physics.

In reality, you just have a quick tarantula in a small box and people seem shocked when it shows some speed. If you took the tarantula out of the small box and watched it move in the open you'd see there are lots of things that are as quick if not faster.

Again, be aware of the speed but lets not get crazy.
While I agree with you over the longer distances I would bet that a T competes decently with other fast animals over a 6 inch distance. In fact I bet it out accelerates a Cheetah over this distance though I can't find any site that provides accelerations over this short of a distance.

Mantis shrimps throw the fastest punch of any animal. They strike with the force of a rifle bullet and can shatter aquarium glass (per some Google site).
 
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mistertim

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This is exactly what I think every time I read a post where someone is talking about tarantulas teleporting/quantum tunneling/ninja log substitution (fill in any over the top term for movement you want here). Maybe your joking... maybe not. I thought it was a joke the first time I saw someone posting about their tarantula teleporting only to find out they were serious. Regardless, I just don't get the crazy fast hype. I mean, my ball python can strike just as fast and over a longer distance. He has never been accused of teleporting or breaking the laws of physics.

In reality, you just have a quick tarantula in a small box and people seem shocked when it shows some speed. If you took the tarantula out of the small box and watched it move in the open you'd see there are lots of things that are as quick if not faster.

Again, be aware of the speed but lets not get crazy.
Um, of course I was joking. I'm fairly certain that tarantulas do not violate the laws of physics or employ macro level quantum tunneling.
 

lunarae

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How's this, since there's debate over what 'turn of phrase' is acceptable now. T's can be to fast for you to react to. To fast for your eyes to track depending on the T in question and how terrified it is. Never underestimate the speed of a T compared to what you are capable of reacting to.
 

Matabuey

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We taking plasma or that them there quantum physics stuff?

I think the problem you're going to find is that the fastest Ts don't always move in a straight line.

I think the best way to avoid/circumvent this is to utilize a clear tube and spook one down it. Some simple optical beam breaks would reduce video analysis time and since lasers are cool, I think this is a fun way to make measurements! :astonished:

I tried analyzing a video awhile back, but I gave up...:embarrassed:

Also, I think the real interest should be acceleration, not velocity.
I do work with Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics, but in all honesty it's not something i particularly enjoy. So potentially looking to change to a PhD in Astrophysics/Cosmology so i can study more interesting things (in my opinion) such as black holes.

It's actually quite easy to analyse a video if you know the length of something.


For example this video. It is a 30 frame per second video, thus each frame is 0.033333.. seconds. If you break the video down it takes around 0.53 (16 frames) seconds for the T to get from one end to the other.

That 1 litre bottle is 30 cm tall. You need to account for the hypotenuse towards the top, as this would give an increased displacement travelled , simply drawing up a quick rough model, would give total displaced to be 31cm.

Which would equate to 1.3 mph, and an acceleration of 1.1 (1dp) m/s^2 over the 0.53 seconds. However, from analysing other videos i would propose that constant velocity is achieved as quickly as 0.2 seconds, simply by looking at the distance displaced in each frame of a video. Therefore we recalculating the acceleration over 0.2 seconds, and obtain the figure 2.9 m/s^2 (1dp)

Which is reasonably quick, but to put it into perspective Crotalus atrox can accelerate it's head towards prey at 28G = 275 m/s^2. They will not even be the fastest striking snakes either, i can put money on the fact Bitis arietans or Bothrops asper would be even faster.

Or comparing it to a Cheetah which accelerates at around 9 m/s^2.

We can also look at body lengths/sec as that's usually what people use for comparing animals of different size, for this T it would cover around 58 cm (22.8 inch) in 1 second, assuming the T is 6 inches - it would cover 3.8 body lengths. Now for the Cheetah, whose average body length is 1.3 metres, it covers 26 m/s, covering 20 body lengths.

Fun little test: http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime

I averaged 251ms, as a 25 year old. Would be interesting to see other peoples average time, with your age (be honest, not a competition). However that is under perfect conditions, where you're kind of pre-loading a motor sequence into the brain, due to expectation of the green dot appearing.

There are lots of things that would significantly slow down your ability to react promptly in real life, such as age, fatigue, distractions, etc.

Let's put this into distances just for fun :troll:

If you were sitting there knowing this T was going to come out and try to bite, sat there completely alert, and ready to move your hand the instant your brain picks up on the visual stimuli. Let's say you have average reaction times, which is 0.25, in that time this T could cover 14.5 cm. If you were any closer than that you'd be getting tagged.

If you were cleaning out some bolus and you are pretty sure the T is just hiding away and isn't too bothered by your presence, but a bite would be unexpected you'd react around 1.15 seconds (Taken from analysis of how long it takes drivers to react to unexpected visual stimuli on the road ahead, which is 1.05 seconds + 0.1 seconds to initiate an action response) - If you aren't tired, or distracted, as they'd further increase your response times. In that time this T could cover 67cm...

I am aware this is Psalmopoeus emeraldus and not an OW sp. But in my experience from having kept P.irminia, I'm pretty sure it was faster than some of the OW's i have. I would doubt, species such as T.gigas or S.calceatum are more than 10-20% faster than a Psalm. But will shall see, i will try and catch some higher framed footage of my T.gigas and S.calceatum to try and ascertain their speed to a better degree of accuracy in the near future.

I personally wouldn't call them lightening fast, but that's my opinion.

But yes, they're faster than you can react depending on your distance away.
 
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Trenor

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In fact I bet it out accelerates a Cheetah over this distance though I can't find any site that provides accelerations over this short of a distance.
I'd need to see some proof to show this was true before I'm willing to even entertain this. We often get wild with speculation and that's how we get telelporting Ts.

Um, of course I was joking. I'm fairly certain that tarantulas do not violate the laws of physics or employ macro level quantum tunneling.
Fair enough. If you want to see how crazy some people can get with their claims check out this link.

Can they move faster then you can react? Sure, that's why you should keep your fingers where they belong and work with them expecting this.
 

DeanK

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Fun little test: http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime

I averaged 251ms, as a 25 year old. Would be interesting to see other peoples average time, with your age (be honest, not a competition). However that is under perfect conditions, where you're kind of pre-loading a motor sequence into the brain, due to expectation of the green dot appearing.
Averaged 425ms as a 31 year old
 

Matabuey

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Fair enough. If you want to see how crazy some people can get with their claims check out this link.

Can they move faster then you can react? Sure, that's why you should keep your fingers where they belong and work with them expecting this.
That post genuinely made me laugh out loud, the figures are hilarious haha.
 

Trenor

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I averaged 251ms, as a 25 year old. Would be interesting to see other peoples average time, with your age (be honest, not a competition). However that is under perfect conditions, where you're kind of pre-loading a motor sequence into the brain, due to expectation of the green dot appearing.
Averaged 425ms as a 31 year old
This would be cool to do on a thread in the watering hole. :)
 

Nicklikesbugs

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I always hear about some Ts being lightning speed, but as I've never seen one doing that I can't really picture it in my head.
So, my question is:
Is there a video that shows how fast a T can run?
My ont ran off on me the other night and i still havnt found. Talk about speed it was gone before i could blink
 

basin79

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The "problem" with tarantula speed is the unknown. Going for the water dish, taking out left over food. You're not expecting a bite. It would be very unlikely but a T could sense the disturbance and go full yolo.

I don't like to use the word complacency but I'm sure we're all guilty of it with our T's if you've had them long enough. And it's that that will get you bit.

Off topic but I used to own a couple of 50: dwarf reticulated pythons. Both sound as a pound. That was until Bia my 13ft beauty bit me. And she bit me again a few months later.

Basically if you're careful and treat a T like a wandering spider you really shouldn't have any problems.
 

Jeff23

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I'd need to see some proof to show this was true before I'm willing to even entertain this. We often get wild with speculation and that's how we get telelporting Ts.
Or comparing it to a Cheetah which accelerates at around 9 m/s^2.
It would be different if we are just comparing over a very short distance where we are looking a reaction speed rather than a sprint. I think that acceleration value for the cheetah is probably an average or maximum value. The initial acceleration will not be linear since Frictional / Gravitational forces also come into play. The tarantula has eight legs to accelerate its extremely light mass versus the Cheetah having four legs for its much higher mass. I'll even go so far to suspect (I don't bet - :D) that a Tarantula will win a very short race against almost all much larger land mammals over the distance at which a T might suddenly bite a person - 6 or 7 inches. Now a better competition would be against a snake since it has only air as the friction and doesn't have a large mass either. I suspect that a snake might win over this short distance but I don't know much on either one's measured results. Of course a person jerking their arm away from the spider isn't similar to a cheetah either, but generally the spider has already started its acceleration when the person tries to react so it can be scary close if the person doesn't get bit. :)

EDIT* I think the "teleporting" and "lightening fast" are just fun terms people like to use.
 

JumpingSpiderLady

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Yeah and if you`re unlucky as a human male if you are bitten, it will leave you with a erection, as I`ve heard :D Viagra go home:p
Oh man.... I just watched a video about this. Sounds awful. Every part of the experience. Bite=awful Symtoms=awful Treatment=horrifying. gave me the willies. My husband, understandably, took it even worse. He was thoroughly freaked out.
 
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