Stupidest thing youve ever done while careing for Ts and other inverts

[Arachnophoric]

Yikes! How big is big enough?

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/tarantulas-chewing-through-wire-mesh.248341/

Check this thread out.

 

[WildSpider]

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/tarantulas-chewing-through-wire-mesh.248341/

Check this thread out.

I was considering keeping it in a plastic drawer when it grows up but maybe I should come up with a plan B, lol.

 

[Arachnophoric]

I was considering keeping it in a plastic drawer when it grows up but maybe I should come up with a plan B, lol.

Drawers aren't any good lol. Something with a secure lid is a must.

 

[WildSpider]

Drawers aren't any good lol. Something with a secure lid is a must.

Heard they're pretty strong and can lift unsecured lids too. Little Houdinis!

 

[MikeofBorg]

Yikes! How big is big enough?

The fangs on a mature T blondi are as long and thick as roofing nails. And probably sharper too.

 

[Torech Ungol]

My Aphonopelma hentzi, named Nightcrawler, can teleport. Not in the sense of moving really fast, but in the sense of popping into existence at another location, irrespective of intervening matter. It's true! It doesn't have *anything* to do with the too-large ventilation holes I had put in his enclosure.

On an entirely unrelated note, he's in a new enclosure with smaller holes. Clearly, he likes it better, because he hasn't attempted to teleport out even once.

 

[ShyDragoness]

Well, I'm older and I've had a lot of animals during my lifetime, so how much time do you have?

My first large spider, G. pulchripes AF, was set up in an enclosure with sliding doors. Well, I have cats and you can imagine what happened: One morning I came down and found the enclosure open, substrate everywhere and the spider nowhere to be found. Finally I convinced my mildly arachnophobic neighbour to dismantle my huge wall to wall - then book - now spider - case and found her, alive and well, though minus all her urticating setae, completely bald. (I still have all my large spiders in enclosures with sliding doors but they have cat proof locks now.)

I found out 'when the carapace fits, the whole spider fits' the hard way when my juvenile X. immanis squeezed through the gap between the doors and disappeard. Luckily he chose a small cabinet as a hiding place so I didn't have to dismantle the whole book/spider case again.

I know this is about inverts but the stupidest things I've ever done involved vertebrates:

'Borrowing' the neighours horses as a teen an racing them through the woods without saddle or reins, just with a rope, repeatedly. Of course I got thrown off at one point and was extremely lucky to suffer no more than a bad concussion.

Getting complacent when working in a zoo and strolling into the wrong enclosure while daydreaming - got bit by a coyote in the leg and walked on crutches for a week.

(not as stupid as one idiotic new keeper, who walked into one wolf enclosure full of machismo and got attacked by the pack. He was extremely lucky to make it out alive with no more than about a dozen or so serious bite wounds - with the help of another keeper who risked her own health, maybe even her life, to get him out.)

Forgetting to lock the enclosure of my minks. We built a huge, walk in-enclosure for the minks I used for my diploma thesis in my moms garden, so they wouldn't have to be put down and could live out their lives in (moderate) luxury. Well, I forgot to properly lock the enclosure, the minks got out, and as the good predators they are they found the neighbours chicken pen and killed all the young chicks he was raising, about 30 or so. Luckily the neighbour chalked it up to 'nature' and even gave us all the dead chickens as mink food so they wouldn't be wasted... (The minks were all recaptured in his chicken pen, they were basically tame.)

Well if were talkng about vertebrae and not just inverts then the stupidest thing Ive ever done is definitely forget to properly lock the sheeps pen while at work experience.. they were all found in the barn shed gorging on hay hahaha

 

[draconisj4]

Not realizing how fast even a terrestrial T can move. I almost gave my P. cancerides youngster a free ride out of it's enclosure. I was removing a roach that it had been ignoring for hours and was at the opposite end of the enclosure from the spider. I had the roach halfway out of the enclosure when I realized there was a spider hanging off the end of the tongs. It must have jumped for the roach, I swear I was looking at the end of the tongs the whole time and never even saw it. Taught me a lesson that day, I'm much more cautious now.

 

[Wolfspidurguy]

chew a small hole through the cardboard

wait WHAT they can chew through CARDBOARD thats not terrifying

Drawers aren't any good lol. Something with a secure lid is a must.

So if i cant have a mesh lid what do i use cuz im assumeing plastic is out of the question

 

[Arachnophoric]

So if i cant have a mesh lid what do i use cuz im assumeing plastic is out of the question

What do you mean? Hard plastic like what tubs are made out of is fine. You can also take measurements and cut acrylic to replace it. Just be sure to drill holes.

 

[Mini8leggedfreak]

I went to collage and left Mom to take care of my spiders.....

 

[darkness975]

@Wolfspidurguy telling people I have them.

 

[burnsj22]

I worked at a pet store (local mom and pop place) and wanted to start playing with the hobby before spending my own money and starting a private collection and I ordered a brachypelma emilia for the store and put together a beautiful 12x12x12 Exo Terra setup for it. The T shows up and ends up being a tiny little sling but I put it in the planned enclosure anyway. It quickly found a spot (probably a crevice of the branch that didn't belong in there for a terrestrial anyway) never to be seen again.

@Wolfspidurguy telling people I have them.

I feel your pain...

 

[TarantulaVito]

1. Left the lid of my OBT Enclosure wide open for about 15 hours. (She is always exploring the whole enclosure in the Night). When i saw it, i freaked out so much that i didnt even look if she is still in. Canceled my Work and started searching. At the end she was still in her burrow, trying to hide from me

2. Wanted to remove and old Molt of my C. Versi Sling out of her Web, the web was so strong that i pulled the corkbark with it out and the sling started running on my table. Everything went fine and atleast i had the Molt

3. Rehoused a C. Fimbriatus Sling everything went fine and i checked it after 30 mins and i couldnt find her anymore, i thought she was the fastest burrower and is already deep in the subsrate but i thought wrong. Later the day she was chilling on my wall and enjoyed freedom. I taked her back in her cup and closed the holes which were bigger than the ones i made ( never escaped After that)

 

[Derivative]

The dumbest thing I have ever done was attempt feeding a tarantula that ended up molting 30 minutes later. Luckily she was fine and there were no issues but holy crap that was stupid.

 

[SonsofArachne]

Many yrs ago, as a teenager, I got my first T, (Aphonopelma seemanni) and first scorp, (Pandinus imperator). I didn't have much money, so I decided to divide the one ten gal. I had in half with plastic divider. I noticed a gap of about a quarter inch between the lid and divider, but knew the scorp couldn't climb and no way that T was going to squeeze through that little opening. Everything seemed fine the first day but when I looked in the next morning, no T. So I looked at the scorps half and saw the T in full threat display in front of the scorps hide, and then saw two raised claws sticking out the hide. What I did next still surprises me as I had zero experience with T's. With my my thumb and forefinger I made a perfect grab between the front and rear facing legs and it froze while I put back on its side. I then taped an envelope(!) on top of the divider to close the gap. the two them lived together for several yrs like this without any problems (well the T did escape once, but I found it in the crotch of the jeans I was about to put on - really glad I looked first).

 

[swedishboss]

I originally got a sponge for my T, going off a friend's advise.

 

[Dannica]

I left the lid unsecured on the condiment cup one of my A.ezendami slings lived in...it’s gone. I’m not sure if I’d prefer to find it, though it’s so tiny I don’t think I could if I tried. Of course it had to be the one that was constantly roaming the enclosure, instead of the one that made a perfectly round burrow that it never leaves!

 

[Ellenantula]

1) sifting through every inch rosie's substrate once because I put a mealie in without crushing its head first -- it burrowed down & out of sight quickly - she didn't even know she'd been fed

2) getting an OW (OBT sling) way too early - he grew at a faster rate than I could learn

3) feeding a huge discoid roach to rosie -- took 45 minutes of loud banging, dirt slinging, wrestling and them rolling together before she could finally subdue the discoid monster - and it took her an additional 24 hours to consume it. I had begun to worry to she might not succeed and the roach might hurt her but there was no separating them. FYI: discoid roaches also have much longer legs than one might imagine.

4) leaving the top feeding hatch door open on a KK enclosure; luckily I discovered my error before the T did (though I didn't catch my error until the NEXT feeding... so it was left open 1+ weeks)

5) (still do this one) working with my bare hands inside enclosures when feeding, doing water refills and providing maintenance. I do know better. (sigh) It's just quicker and easier.

 

[Alvara1996]

Tried to remove a food bolus from my juvi female B hamorii's enclosure with tongs, discovered that she is no longer scared of me... she tried to attack the tongs, I twitched and flicked her straight out of the cage onto the lid (it is one with a little door in the lid). She jumped straight back in (thankfully) but I was worried for the rest of the day that she might be injured. Definitely not doing that again unless she is far, far away from the bolus!