The most defensive tarantula you've had

[Jeff23]

None of my tarantula's have given me any defensive stances yet. But a couple of them have bitten straws during rehousing and maintenance.

EDIT* My only current OW is a H. gigas and it is a pet hole right now.

 

[YagerManJennsen]

Probably H. maculata, that little bugger is such fun to rehouse.

 

[Olan]

My male OBT and my female Brachypelma angustum.

 

[boina]

Phormictopus atrichomatus, hands down. All my (few) OWs just run and hide, but that one will actually come after you...

 

[krsears]

My Phormictopus Cancerides male is very defensive and offensive. He's punched through a drinking straw before. Not a pet for handling.

 

[Moonohol]

None of my Ts have proven to be very defensive yet. Out of three Harpactira spp., two Chilobrachys, and one Pokie, I'm just waiting for one of them to develop a 'tude. For now they're all just shy, I guess they haven't realized their true potential yet.

 

[Ungoliant]

Here lately, my female A. avic. I can't do anything without her slapping the tongs out of my hand, and slapping everything else that moves.

 

[Goodlukwitthat]

My little (4 ish inch) G. rosea/porteri (fluffy brownish/with reddish pink carapace) makes the feistiest OBT look like a saint. I open her lid and I get immediate fangs spread with venom dripping and her legs out in the air as high as they'll go just begging me for a hug. She was so sweet when I first got her and now that she molted, she's just a demon and that's putting it mildly lol. She doesn't do the slap thing either.... had a long fake leaf trying to get her away from her water dish so I could fill it.... you could hear the fabric crack where her fangs went right through it. Once she let go, there were 2 little holes perfectly lined up lol glad it wasn't my skin. My OWs are nicer than she is.

Now I'm anxious about my little itty bitty A.geniculata....that thing is maybe 3/4"... I can open its lid and it will try to kick hairs at me (honestly it's cute) but I'm just wondering how it's gonna be when it gets bigger lol.

 

[Andrea82]

P.muticus, but only during housing her really.
Generally one of my P.pulcher is the most defensive. If I accidentally breathe in its direction it will come up from its burrow to slap at me and throwing legs in the air, fangs extended.
My B.kahlenbergi can also threatpose during maintenance, especially when fussing with its waterdish.
The rest are pretty mellow or more skittish than defensive really.

 

[Jeff23]

P.muticus, but only during housing her really.
Generally one of my P.pulcher is the most defensive. If I accidentally breathe in its direction it will come up from its burrow to slap at me and throwing legs in the air, fangs extended.
My B.kahlenbergi can also threatpose during maintenance, especially when fussing with its waterdish.
The rest are pretty mellow or more skittish than defensive really.

I have seen precursors on my P. pulcher T's recently. But I don't get any defense postures yet. They usually turn facing downward away from me in the deli cup while I do maintenance. One of them was a little more hungry recently. It grabbed a cricket, but stayed at the top of the deli cup and even climbed up on the side such that a couple legs were blocking the path to close the lid. I used a straw to lightly touch those legs to request her move and ZAP!!! She grabbed the straw and bit it pretty good. She then ran down into the cup. Another one bit the tongs as I changed out the water vial on a different session. I can't wait until my other Psalmopoeus get some size comparable to my pulcher's.

 

[Andrea82]

I have seen precurors on my P. pulcher T's recently. But I don't get any defense postures yet. They usually turn facing downward away from me in the deli cup while I do maintenance. One of them was a little more hungry recently. It grabbed a cricket, but stayed at the top of the deli cup and even climbed up on the side such that a couple legs were blocking the path to close the lid. I used a straw to lightly touch those legs to request her move and ZAP!!! She grabbed the straw and bit it pretty good. She then ran down into the cup. Another one bit the tongs as I changed out the water vial on a different session. I can't wait until my other Psalmopoeus get some size comparable to my pulcher's.

Maybe she thought you touching
her was another cricket?
My two are like Jekyll and Hyde really. One is defensive as hell, and the other doesn't mind me rummaging around in its enclosure. It'll go down to burrow and stays there.
Well, at least for now I must add, two molts ago it was the other way around....

 

[Jeff23]

Maybe she thought you touching
her was another cricket?
My two are like Jekyll and Hyde really. One is defensive as hell, and the other doesn't mind me rummaging around in its enclosure. It'll go down to burrow and stays there.
Well, at least for now I must add, two molts ago it was the other way around....

True. Or maybe it was my manners at the dinner table STOP TOUCHING MY LEGS!!!!
Mine still have a lot of growing to do so they may end up more defensive. But I really like this species.

 

[Jeff23]

I just got initiated tonight. I opened my P. irminia sling deli cup tonight expecting to see the same sealed dirt cocoon in the cork bark tube. Instead I found the top of the dirt cocoon open. I could barely see my sling (maybe 1.5" size) down in there so I dropped a really small cricket in there. The T missed the cricket but instead came up to greet me with two legs up. I really wish I had a camera handy with a good macro mode. I need to fix that problem soon. I can tell this species is a little more serious than my P. pulcher slings.

 

[Tanner Dzula]

Out of all the T's i have, my top 3 most defensive are by FAR:
P. irminia
A. Geniculata
and
T. SP Panama

any time you even look at them, they will do what they can to let you know not to touch them. which is ironic as i have 2 OBT's, a O. Philipinus, and few other OW's and Baboons that look like well behaved kids compared to these guys.

 

[loversnsinners]

My OBTs are always very aggressive and my big LP is very fast and will catch the bug right before it touches the ground and will also grab up to 5 bugs if given the chance. And when i pour water into her bowl, she attacks the water with the food in her mouth. Everyone else runs into their burrows.

 

[Formerphobe]

Lasiodora parahybana female was a nasty witch from the time she was about 2 inches. Her male sac mate wasn't nearly so feisty. I got so I only did tank maintenance when she was on her back molting. She put all my OWs to shame. Would attack the walls of her enclosure as I walked by, fangs bared, dripping venom.
My OBT has never even offered a threat pose.
B schroederi has always been quick to defend her water bowl with a partial threat pose, which is generally more comical than threatening.
I have a juvenile C olivaceum that is scared of his own shadow and threat poses crickets, shadows, water droplets, etc. He stayed on his back with fangs bared for a good half hour last week over a cricket. Finally decided it was food.

 

[Nightstalker47]

Defensive doesn't bother me. Generally you can predict what they're going to do. The worst is when you reach in an enclosure and get your hands mistaken for food. I've had a few scary close calls, I use tongs now! But as far defensive goes my female H. Sp Cameroon has gotta take the cake, then again I was stealing her babies so it's understandable.

 

[Paiige]

Out of all the T's i have, my top 3 most defensive are by FAR:
P. irminia
A. Geniculata
and
T. SP Panama

any time you even look at them, they will do what they can to let you know not to touch them. which is ironic as i have 2 OBT's, a O. Philipinus, and few other OW's and Baboons that look like well behaved kids compared to these guys.

I've gotten really lucky so far, I was a little concerned about my A. genic's potential attitude but I've gotten no kicks and no threat poses so far. Granted she's only about 1.5" and I know that can change very quickly but I'm going to keep believing that she's going to stay a sweet little angel

 

[PanzoN88]

I should've added my A. Geniculata to most defensive list, while my B. Sabulosum are the most defensive, I just had an experience with a very angry lady (A. Geniculata). I went to remove the water dish for cleaning (good thing I had a straw to hold her back) and she attacked the straw leaving bite marks on it.

B. Sabulosum
A. Geniculata
P. Cancerides

My most defensive tarantulas (updated)

 

[The Grym Reaper]

I think some people are confusing a Tarantula having an insane feeding response with actually being defensive.

My A. geniculata will attack anything that moves but once she realises that something isn't food (I.e. tongs/water) she'll just sort of dejectedly walk away, she might kick some hairs if you continue to annoy her but she's not actually what I'd call defensive.

My L. difficilis has the exact same feeding response as the genic (I.e. she'll attack anything that moves), the difference is that if it turns out that what she's just attacked isn't food she will then throw up a threat posture before walking away, she'll throw up more threat postures if you continue to annoy her before resorting to kicking hairs, I'd say she's slightly defensive.

My L. parahybana has the exact same feeding response as the previous two (I.e. "if it moves then it's food and I must kill it") but once she realises that something isn't food she either bolts from it as fast as she can (and she can bloody shift when she wants to, trust me) or kicks up clouds of hairs like it's going out of fashion, she's pretty much the definition of skittish.

My B. smithi will immediately turn to face, slap whatever touched her and throw up threat postures that almost knock her off-balance (which to me is kind of funny to watch as, prior to her last moult, she used to be almost catatonic concerning anything other than food), she won't even kick hairs as a warning, she just slaps everything and does the "get the **** out of my house" dance, that's a defensive Tarantula.