bite story

arachnomop

Arachnopeon
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Sep 23, 2002
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hey onc agen ... the bloke from australia, last week (i think) i was cleaning out my spiders cage coz i havent done it in a loooong time ... i knew my type of T is heaps poisonous so im usually really careful but i put my hand in to take out the water bowl and my mind was preoccupied when she jumped out and grabbed my finger, her fangs went in really deep and she couldnt get out ...

eventually she ripped herself off my finger (i needed 6 stitches) and within abouta minute i couldnt see or swallow. i began to forget where i was and i couldnt thnk right ... i was sweating alot.

eventually i got over it but i was wandering if ne1 else has crazy storeis like that one??
 

Immortal_sin

Arachnotemptress
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Jul 17, 2002
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wow...you need to go to the 'bite report' area on this website, to report it...!!
Is it a Selencosmia (wrong spelling I know) species?
I guess their venom can be quite strong...tell us more!
Glad to hear you are ok though!
H
 

arachnomop

Arachnopeon
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Sep 23, 2002
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im not real sure of its scientific name as im only 14 and got it for my birthday, but ic an tell u its a queensland bird eating spider ... poisonous and one of the biggest species here in australia
 

arachnomop

Arachnopeon
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Sep 23, 2002
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i found out my spiders latin name ... is that the same as scientific name? they r all incomprehensible to me.

it is Selenocosmia Crassipes :?
 

MrDeranged

He Who Rules
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In general yes. What you have is your T's scientific name. Not all scientific names are latin though which is why I said in general. You won't find a T with a latin name and a scientific name. T's will all have scientific names although they may not all be latin, but sometimes bastardized latin or just something that was made up by or for the person who discovered the species.

Scott
 

MrDeranged

He Who Rules
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Yes, I have heard of it. I believe that they are in the pet trade over here, but I have never gotten one at this time. Selenocosmia are generally highly defensive and are said to have medically significant venom. It seems that your reaction proves this to a point. Personally, I'm of the belief that, like with black widows, a healthy adult has nothing to worry about from a bite from any tarantula. On the other hand, yours is the first bite from a T that I've ever heard of anyone needing stitches for.

Scott
 

Code Monkey

Arachnoemperor
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I'm still trying to figure out the stitches thing. A T doesn't have any sort of equipment to cut you badly enough to need stitches, so how about some details?
 

MrDeranged

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The only thing I can think of is that instead of extracting the fangs, it kinda ripped them out causing the skin to tear. Would this be it AM?

Scott
 

schlinkey

Arachnoknight
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Jul 28, 2002
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yeah.. that's what i thought too.. instead of pulling em out she as he said; ripped em out *ouch* them T fangs are sharp! (or pointy at least ;) ) punctured my skin when i was playing around with a molt.. :p hehe
 

Immortal_sin

Arachnotemptress
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hmmm, I didn't do too bad on the spelling...just left out an 'o' !!
Yes, they can be quite feisty, that's for sure. Steve & Dannye Nunn keep quite a few of these. I believe Steve actually handles them from time to time as well...
But they definately have an attitude.
Yes, me too...wanna hear details!
 

Ultimate Instar

Arachnobaron
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Aug 20, 2002
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Recently, I was watching a program on saber-toothed cats and the cutting action of their fangs. Basically, if you apply force in the correct direction, you can cut through without too much effort. If a T has a sharp edge along the inner arc of it's fang, it should be able to cut very easily if it wants. As a defensive measure, slicing up your enemy should be more efficient than wasting precious venom. (Yes, I do play violent computer games.) I wonder why Ts don't slash at their enemies, God knows that they're fast enough to do that. Perhaps their teeth could get snagged by exoskeleton.

Karen N.
 

savian

Arachnoknight
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Jul 17, 2002
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I think he said that he was 14yrs of age. Remember how soft and small hands can be at that age. And also that if it is a adult T that could put a big hole. They also may have crossed the stiches to get it to close and not leave alot of scaring.
:D ;) :)
 

arachnomop

Arachnopeon
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Sep 23, 2002
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OI! no age jokes!! i row so my ahnds rnt as soft as sum others

yeah well she did rip them off ... and it wasnt really my finge .. it was the area of soft skin between ur forefinger an ur thumb ... u know what imt alkin bout .... and then when she pulled back (shes pretty strong for a small one) it tore them out

i am under the impression they put a whole lot more stitches in than was needed:mad: but o well ... maybe they did do it so it wouldnt leave scarring ... and it was my big brother who stitched me up coz hes a doctor so maybe there was some sadism going into the equation?
-phil
 

Valael

Arachnodemon
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You know, I could swear I heard that there are no tarantulas in Austrailia, just large true spiders. Can anyone confirm that?
 

arachnomop

Arachnopeon
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Sep 23, 2002
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well ppl classify t's as different things. example: i have heard that a T is any large hairy spider.

so it depends ... but yeah we have large true spiders
and not so large ones
 

schlinkey

Arachnoknight
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Well what we call tarantulas (theraphosidae) aren't really Tarantulas either.. (or am I wrong?) The "real" tarantula is the Lycosa Tarantula (wolfspider) which created havoc.. lot's of rumours about bites, and the cure: to dance the tarantella! alot..for hours.. hehe nice cure eh? think it was mainly in Southern Italy for the last part of the medieval-age. :)
 

Code Monkey

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Originally posted by schlinkey
Well what we call tarantulas (theraphosidae) aren't really Tarantulas either.. (or am I wrong?) The "real" tarantula is the Lycosa Tarantula (wolfspider) which created havoc.. lot's of rumours about bites, and the cure: to dance the tarantella! alot..for hours.. hehe nice cure eh? think it was mainly in Southern Italy for the last part of the medieval-age. :)
Wrong but not completely. No one is really certain what spider was the *original* tarantuala of the lore you speak of, or even if was a single species at all. Long after the spider/dancing hysteria was over, it was given as a scientific species name to a large European wolf spider.

However, tarantula as a group applies to the theraphosids. Of which, I might add, the Selenocosmia are members. The Australian Ts are indeed Ts. It's not a technical term, of course, which is where some of the room for confusion comes in, but if you say Tarantula, I guarantee you that 99% of the people you say it to are not going to think, "Oh, isn't that the scientific species name for a large, hairy European wolf spider?"
 
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