Untrue Tarantula Myths You've Heard?

[Greg Wolfe]

Birdeater...

What about T. blondi "goliath bird eater", hence, the name that they eat birds in the wild, I read some books that says this is a misconception, that they rare or ever been seen actually catching birds in the wild, is this true?

The term "birdeater" comes from European naturalists who upon visiting South America for the first time found a pinktoe on a branch consuming a bird.
A few drawings and wood carvings were made of this incident and the story took Europe by storm. Like wildfire, the myth swept through Europe during the 18th century that these monster spiders fed on birds. Quite the contrary.
T. Blondi's cannot leap from the ground and catch birds, but some avicularia and/or aboreals will feed on chicks and the like when they commence their nightly excursions. It happens by chance that they stumble on a nest.
Much about this myth is in the TTKG introduction.
Fascinating stuff...

 

[LPacker79]

This thread actually reminded me of something. Over a year ago, one of our members was collecting myths and was going to put them in book form. I don't remember which particular member it was, but she was quite active on the boards. Does anyone remember this person or remember who it was? Did anything ever come of it?

 

[Sting Crazy]

I'm sure a large T. blondi WOULD eat a small bird if given the opportunity.

 

[CedrikG]

hahhaha this tread IS ILLARIOUS!!!!!

just yesturday, in my french class, I've heard these question:

- if you get bite, will you get paralyse till the rest of your life ?

- will you die ?

- do they bite, sting or what ? why you dont defang 'em

AND THE BEST ONE, I've keep it for the end...

a pet shop sold a rosie to someone in the class, and the pet shop said : when she will do web, destroy it, or she will be able to auto-sex her and wil get baby's

I was like Omg......

VERY nice tread hahahahahah

 

[Blasphemy]

I'm sure a large T. blondi WOULD eat a small bird if given the opportunity.

I was actually going to try that. I was going to attempt to feed a finch or some small bird species to my adult female goliath, but never ended up trying that. I did however feed her an adult mouse, which she easily took down...and she made a horrible mess of it

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

With me, its the odd notion that tarantulas run loose in my apartment.
I always say Yes, I have tarantulas, 55 of them in fact.
And the FIRST reaction is always
'Just running around?'
'Aren't you afraid you'll step on one?'
'Won't you lose one?'
'Aren't you afraid one'll bite you!?'

Cages, people, cages! Why on earth does everyone think pet spiders run free? Has anyone else been asked this?
hahaha, and yeah, I get the regular questions, too.
'Won't they bite you?' is the second most popular.
D.

ever see Home Alone?

 

[Washout]

What about T. blondi "goliath bird eater", hence, the name that they eat birds in the wild, I read some books that says this is a misconception, that they rare or ever been seen actually catching birds in the wild, is this true?

I will prove everyone wrong when my goliath gets big enough and I feed it chicks and ducklings.

 

[Kid Dragon]

How about this myth, "When a T is getting ready to molt you need to increase humidity".

Or, "Ts like drinking water out of a sponge".

Or, "You can tame a T by handling it often".

 

[cryptly]

I heard a great one from a clerk in the Farm and Family Center when I was buying crickets.

Supposedly her nephew's "teddy bear tarantula" somehow managed to lift the lid on its tank, with the rock that was on it, crawl out of her nephew's bedroom, across the house and into the garage, where it made a huge web, bit the boys father and put him in the hospital for over a month with "swelling, extremely painful muscle cramps and pain" (her words, really!). I nearly broke a rib trying not to laugh at this story.

And another one I heard "All tarantulas are extremely toxic to the touch"

 

[Apocalypstick]

I love this thread... it makes me laugh so hard my stomach hurts!

I think we need to add the one posted by a new person yesterday.

* it's a "Pink Toe".... obvious rosie
* they drink from the substrate... ooh gawd help the poor creatures in pet shops

 

[Snipes]

How about this myth, "When a T is getting ready to molt you need to increase humidity".QUOTE]
I thought that was true, and if the humidity was too low they might get stuck in the middle of a molt

 

[Windchaser]

How about this myth, "When a T is getting ready to molt you need to increase humidity".QUOTE]
I thought that was true, and if the humidity was too low they might get stuck in the middle of a molt

It is more important that the tarantula be well hydrated prior to the molt than the ambient humidity. As long as the T is well hydrated, they are quite able to molt in very dry conditions.

 

[Snipes]

ah, so the humidity counts for nothing? Its just the hydration? Well, i still woulnt call it a "myth" like they can jump 5 feet straight up or can spit venom. Those would be within the diamond, and the humidity would be way out in left field.

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

how about...


"Will it sting you" :?

 

[Blasphemy]

how about...


"Will it sting you" :?

Adding to that...I've heard "Do they bite?" when referring to a scorpion.

 

[Belarius]

How about the idea that all Tarantulas have hairy legs and armpits cuz deep down in their little hearts they all back up the hardcore feminist movement? :} Okay girls, just kidding, you can kick my butt later.

 

[MyNameHere]

True Stories from the American Southwest...

This is an actual conversation I had w/a friend of mine. This man is well-educated, with two post-secondary degrees (niether of which prevented him from sending me an email with this story in it, unfortunately )

he: "I have this spider bite and..."
me: "when did you get bitten by a spider?"
he: "I dunno."
me: "did you feel it when the spider bit you?"
he: "no."
me: "did you see the spider?"
he: "no, but it looks just like the spider bite my mom had."
me: "did she see the spider that bit her?"
he: "no, but that's what the doctor told her it was."

:wall:

 

[Rob1985]

The best I ahve heard form Deatgco is. "Hey those Goliath Birdeaters man they vicious, I saw eat a bird here" I told him "really and how big was the T.blondi"? he said "T.blondi, what is that"? "I told him that was latin name for it", well anyways he said it was about 5 inches. I just laughed and told him and the bird didn't kill it? Another was a "Does it have venom"? No it squeezes it deatch and cooks WTF? Another one is "does it poo", I said" no it just eats and then stores it"!!! WTF. Pet stores need to educate themselves alot more before selling them.

 

[CreepyCrawly]

"Don't forget...never scream if you see a tarantula.They are attracted by screams and will just come closer and bite you.

Hahaha... my friend and I nearly proved this one true when we were in highschool. I was staying the night at her house, and her A. seemani had gotten out of it's tank, and we hadn't even noticed it yet. The next morning her mom was walking down the hall to her bedroom to wake us up or something, and started screaming (like mad screaming, not scared screaming) because the spider was in the middle of the hall.

We opened the door to see what exactly was going on. Almost like it was out of a movie - her on one side of the door leaning over to see through the door, me on the other side, and her mom dead center of the hall screaming with the spider facing her mom, and heading straight towards her. My friend's mom didn't mind the spiders, and wasn't afraid of them, she just got very upset when they would get loose, as it is irresponsible.

No doubt it was because the hall was dark and quiet before her mom came down the stairs and turned on the light, and started screaming - which I'm sure disturbed it at least a little and it probably just wanted to find a good hiding spot, and to get out of the bright light and noise... but it was quite funny to see her backing up and continuing to yell at us despite the pretty large black and white spider scurrying towards her relatively fast. Itsy Bitsy (the spider's name) was extremely slow, and was always hiding. Who knows what prompted her to push the lid off her tank though.

We quickly scooped up the spider, put it back in it's cage (and secured with a very pretty rock), and she promptly hid and wasn't seen again for a month.

 

[Blasphemy]

At least she didn't freak out enough to grab a broom and start smacking it