It seems I've got a really aggressive B.smithi

Shalayda

Arachnopeon
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Oct 20, 2011
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Went to change my T's tank for the first time since she's been in the bigger tank and I was in for a surprise. I used to handle her, but haven't in awhile because I know it just stresses them out. Anyway to put her in the other tank I was gonna pick her up and let her down in the other tank. Good thing I was using a paint brush to try and herd her into my hand because as soon as I brushed her back leg she spun around and bit the paint brush. She almost pulled it out of my hand cause I wasn't expecting the aggression. No threat display she just attacked. After that I decided a cup would be a better idea than my hand and after a lot of coaxing, another attack, and her kicking a bunch of hairs she finally got into the cup. This got me kind of curious wondering if maybe it was how I approached her by startling her with the brush so today I tried again. I tapped the brush against her corkbark hide while she was on it and she ignored me. I thought maybe last time I had surprised her and that's why she was so aggressive. Well today after the taps as soon as I brushed her leg she went at the brush again. Made me jump cause of how fast she is. I don't plan on messing with her anymore, but I'm just curious. Everything I've read about Mexican Red Knees said they were really docile and after what happened last time I'm kind of dreading the next time I have to move her. I know they all have different personalities it just figures I'd get the aggressive one.

Anybody have a similar experience? Or even some tips on how to make moving her go smoothly next time? Like I said I don't really handle her anymore so that's not an issue and with her temperment I'm not gonna let anyone else hold her either. It is kind of weird though because two molts ago was the last time I'd handled her I never had a problem. I had even let a friends of mine hold her. This attitude came out of no where.
 

obtkeeper

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 5, 2013
Messages
44
Went to change my T's tank for the first time since she's been in the bigger tank and I was in for a surprise. I used to handle her, but haven't in awhile because I know it just stresses them out. Anyway to put her in the other tank I was gonna pick her up and let her down in the other tank. Good thing I was using a paint brush to try and herd her into my hand because as soon as I brushed her back leg she spun around and bit the paint brush. She almost pulled it out of my hand cause I wasn't expecting the aggression. No threat display she just attacked. After that I decided a cup would be a better idea than my hand and after a lot of coaxing, another attack, and her kicking a bunch of hairs she finally got into the cup. This got me kind of curious wondering if maybe it was how I approached her by startling her with the brush so today I tried again. I tapped the brush against her corkbark hide while she was on it and she ignored me. I thought maybe last time I had surprised her and that's why she was so aggressive. Well today after the taps as soon as I brushed her leg she went at the brush again. Made me jump cause of how fast she is. I don't plan on messing with her anymore, but I'm just curious. Everything I've read about Mexican Red Knees said they were really docile and after what happened last time I'm kind of dreading the next time I have to move her. I know they all have different personalities it just figures I'd get the aggressive one.

Anybody have a similar experience? Or even some tips on how to make moving her go smoothly next time? Like I said I don't really handle her anymore so that's not an issue and with her temperment I'm not gonna let anyone else hold her either. It is kind of weird though because two molts ago was the last time I'd handled her I never had a problem. I had even let a friends of mine hold her. This attitude came out of no where.
I've had a G. rosea and an Avic do this to me before, and the Avic didn't have enough humidity, and the rosea was about to molt.. Has there been a change in eating, humidity, substrate? When's the last time it molted?
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
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Dec 8, 2006
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I've read of Ts changing dispositions from good to bad after molting, and staying that way. It's hard one to figure if everything about her home is the same.

I will say this, YOU can surprise a T. I have caught many of mine off guard MANY times. You may want to try something softer than a pbrush, Poec54 recommends lollipop sticks.

I have found for some species, that if you slightly disturb the substrate near them, say maybe 1 body length away, it alerts them to "something", so they aren't surprised. Alternatively I have some Ts in KKs, and I always lift the KK just enough to let them know something is up. THOUGH, to be fair on that approach, they don't always care and it doesn't always work.

As for docile..HAH, my supposedly docile Rose Hair species, well it's really a NW OBT.
 

BobGrill

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Jan 25, 2011
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I've had a G. rosea and an Avic do this to me before, and the Avic didn't have enough humidity, and the rosea was about to molt.. Has there been a change in eating, humidity, substrate? When's the last time it molted?
What makes you think it had anything to do with humidity? People really exaggerate how much humidity Avics need. I keep mine rather dry and they do just fine.
 

Blut und ehre

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 30, 2012
Messages
217
You are not alone!!!
I have three "SWA"s......[Smithi with Attitude..hahaha] They didn't put up with my nonsense when I got them....and years later...They still don't!!![but only when rooting around in their enclosure ..spot cleaning and so forth]They would rather retreat at a slow pace ...but will turn if they feel it necessary....and rightfully so!! I do not or never handled any of my Ts.....so I'm sure it is just their "personalities" so to speak. They are real calm ..very interesting...great eaters...just as long as you leave them alone.I wouldn't trade them for the world!!.... Smithi isn't always a Teddy bear.
 
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obtkeeper

Arachnopeon
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Dec 5, 2013
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What makes you think it had anything to do with humidity? People really exaggerate how much humidity Avics need. I keep mine rather dry and they do just fine.
That was the only change and once it was back to normal humidity it was back to normal. Mine always webs when it's more humid, and is much more active, when it's drier, it just sits there with its legs all scrunched up.
 

SuzukiSwift

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One thing to remember is that Ts are not completely 100% predictable in nature, we get used to our spiders temperaments over time but there is always the chance they will pull a fast one on us. Just last night I took my rosea out for one of my friends to have a try holding, I've done this a few times over the years I've had her, however this time she just kicked a whole bunch of hairs without warning (luckily before she was on my friends hand haha) and she's never done that before. There can be a multitude of circumstances that change a Ts behaviour, perhaps it was just having a particular day, or maybe it's temperament has changed more permanently
Was the last time you've handled it before its last moult? If so there's a higher chance it's a more permanent change, Ts sometimes change personality after a moult
 

LordWaffle

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Nov 20, 2013
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Have there been any recent changes in her environment? Is she possibly in pre molt? Or did she recently molt? Sometimes Ts just up and mood swing, but other times there's a cause.
 

Shalayda

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Oct 20, 2011
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Well besides changing her tank no real changes. I noticed the increased aggression almost 2 years ago when she went into pre-molt, but I don't mess with her so I hadn't really noticed it much since then. She last molted right around the beginning of summer. I don't think she's in pre-molt because she's still accepting crickets and she doesn't look like it yet. I've had her since she was a sling and this behavior started when she got close to 2 years old.

I tried alerting her to my presence in the tank today. I took my paint brush and tapped the ground near her. Hard enough that she wouldn't get it confused for a prey item, but not jabbing it into the dirt. No reaction til I brushed up against her leg and then she went off on that poor brush. I'm leaning towards a personality change and I just got unlucky. I never really handled her much to begin with, but it did make it easier when I needed to move her into another tank. And I'm not gonna lie but she's so quick that when she attacks the brush I jump haha.
 

viper69

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My female smithi is relatively cool. When I fed her, she spun 360 degrees for a cricket faster than I could blink. She was full sized too. And just a few weeks ago, she took a leap upwards for a cricket against the container wall. They are very very fast.
 

Keith B

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Sometimes smithis are just "on the rag" like every other "docile" species out there. No telling what caused it. The only time I've experienced this behavior from my female smithi is when I used a paintbrush, so you could try a chopstick instead and see what happens. It's my personal belief that the paintbrush bristles can cause a sort of "sensory overload". Sometimes they're like "wth?" and move away where you want them to, and sometimes they fight. I never see a comfortable reaction to them though. Seem to react better to solid objects.
 

viper69

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Sometimes smithis are just "on the rag" like every other "docile" species out there. No telling what caused it. The only time I've experienced this behavior from my female smithi is when I used a paintbrush, so you could try a chopstick instead and see what happens. It's my personal belief that the paintbrush bristles can cause a sort of "sensory overload". Sometimes they're like "wth?" and move away where you want them to, and sometimes they fight. I never see a comfortable reaction to them though. Seem to react better to solid objects.
I've speculated the same with Poec54. This wouldn't surprise me at all.
 

Storm76

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First off: My B. smithi is an adult female with 5" currently. I've had her since she was 2.5" and she has always behaved like the following:

* Refill waterdish => attack waterstream multiple times => get fed up => run and hide in shelter

* Prod out of the way using a plastic straw => 50/50 chance of swinging around, bite and pull straw out of humans hand => be fed up!

* Prod with chopstick => if in bad mood, kick a few hairs, generally just go "wth" and walk away

* Prod with tongs => try to climb the damn thing to get human to stop messing with tarantula => did I mention "be fed up"?

In general, my smithi is quite calm, but I due to the fact that I don't intendly handle any of mine (except for the E. sp. "red" since they're always wanting to wander around and don't mind a little handling now and then) I'd say that mine is too moody imo to try any of that sort. She's easily manipulated though and except attacking the waterdish, she hasn't shown any indication on trying to bite me. Granted, that might be because I generally use a chopstick unless I know it's a T that is genuinely annoyed most of the time.
 
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