Can anyone think of a reason to WEIGH a tarantula??

[starlight_kitsune]

I lurk in a few groups on the book of faces. Mostly to look at the pictures people post. But lately there's been a weird trend with people in two of the groups wanting to know how long it will take their spider to grow 10 grams or the best way to weigh their spider etc. And I have no idea why anyone would want to.

Anyone know where this weird new trend has come from and WHY?

 

[viper69]

I lurk in a few groups on the book of faces. Mostly to look at the pictures people post. But lately there's been a weird trend with people in two of the groups wanting to know how long it will take their spider to grow 10 grams or the best way to weigh their spider etc. And I have no idea why anyone would want to.

Anyone know where this weird new trend has come from and WHY?

Boredom- no need for this- that site is full of idiots

 

[emartinm28]

I lurk in a few groups on the book of faces. Mostly to look at the pictures people post. But lately there's been a weird trend with people in two of the groups wanting to know how long it will take their spider to grow 10 grams or the best way to weigh their spider etc. And I have no idea why anyone would want to.

Anyone know where this weird new trend has come from and WHY?

Maybe from the ball python hobby? Seems like a waste of time to me, plus harassing the spider for no reason...

 

[Smotzer]

#FacebookIdiocy

 

[starlight_kitsune]

So at least the one specific post from today the guy came back and explained he's selling it to a "medical company for antivenom" allegedly. The group consensus on that one is he's actually selling it to be killed, dried and ground up for "medicine." It's a dumpster fire in that group atm and I'm not touching it with a 50 foot pole. But I don't think the other posts I've seen have been the same thing, hopefully.

Boredom- no need for this- that site is full of idiots

#FacebookIdiocy

Most of it is probably just stupid people being stupid. Its just been A LOT of posts lately like that.

Maybe from the ball python hobby? Seems like a waste of time to me, plus harassing the spider for no reason...

It would sort of make sense that it's a holdover from the reptile hobby. A dumb holdover, and unnecessary but at least I could see why some people would believe it was something they should do if they didn't know better.

 

[Jumbie Spider]

You don't have to kill a tarantula to milk its venom. I suppose a medical company should know this. Fishermen weigh their catch all the time, and I suppose scientists would want to record similar information as well, but I don't know for sure.

 

[starlight_kitsune]

You don't have to kill a tarantula to milk its venom. I suppose a medical company should know this. Fishermen weigh their catch all the time, and I suppose scientists would want to record similar information as well, but I don't know for sure.

Yeah, I know antivenom doesn't require killing an animal to produce typically. The OP on that post admitted what company he was selling it to before the post was deleted from that group and apparently it's one of those alternative medicine deals though. It's not going to be used for antivenom most likely unfortunately.

I could see other scientists and researchers maybe wanting to weigh an animal but I think most research into invertebrates typically deals in lengths rather than weights.

 

[Frogdaddy]

I lurk in a few groups on the book of faces. Mostly to look at the pictures people post. But lately there's been a weird trend with people in two of the groups wanting to know how long it will take their spider to grow 10 grams or the best way to weigh their spider etc. And I have no idea why anyone would want to.

Anyone know where this weird new trend has come from and WHY?

Pre and post meal weights might be interesting. As might pre breeding/post egg laying weights. Probably not much value for the average hobbyist and a lot of potential disturbances for the T.
Imagine the fat shaming? She knows she's got a fat booty but you keep feeding her.
Trying to get a spider to some imaginary, arbitrary weight mark is absolutely ludicrous and potentially harmful to the spider. But you can't voice your dissenting opinion on FB. You'll be banned.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

By weighing a tarantula you can gain some insight into its metabolism then make comparisons between species or to find out if environmental conditions, such as temperature, has an effect.

For example, for the month of May feed your tarantula on your normal feeding routine then on June 1st record its weight and stop feeding all together and only provide water. Weigh your tarantula, and track the weight, once a week without feeding and only provide water. How long does it take for your tarantula to start losing weight to the nearest gram? If it doesn't lose any significant weight after a month, don't feed until it actually starts losing some weight and record how long it takes for it to lose 1 gram. Repeat the same experiment during the cooler months only turn off any external source of heat to cool it down. Is there any difference in the rate of weight loss between summer and winter? Try the experiment with a species from a temperate climate and one from a tropical environment. Does the species from a tropical environment lose weight faster than the one from the temperate environment?

You can even compare your weight data with the rate you observe your tarantulas molting. For instance, you can attempt to find a correlation between weight and the molting cycle to find out if a tarantula needs to reach a certain weight before it can molt. There are many reasons why you would want to weigh your tarantula, and you don't have to be some credentialed scientist to get some simple insight on how your tarantula works by tracking weight. If you can't find a reason, then don't, it wouldn't be worth the hassle.

 

[cold blood]

LOL, I dont even weigh my dog but once a year at most....I dont even know how much I weigh......the only living thing I weigh are bass.

Now maybe if someone had a t they thought was a weight record...sure, if you are into that I could get behind that.....but I ain't weighing my ts, I especially am not doing it for growth.....DLS already does a good enough job of that for me and I dont have to move a t to measure that.

 

[DomGom TheFather]

To sell for consumption.
Best i could think of.

 

[l4nsky]

By weighing a tarantula you can gain some insight into its metabolism then make comparisons between species or to find out if environmental conditions, such as temperature, has an effect.

For example, for the month of May feed your tarantula on your normal feeding routine then on June 1st record its weight and stop feeding all together and only provide water. Weigh your tarantula, and track the weight, once a week without feeding and only provide water. How long does it take for your tarantula to start losing weight to the nearest gram? If it doesn't lose any significant weight after a month, don't feed until it actually starts losing some weight and record how long it takes for it to lose 1 gram. Repeat the same experiment during the cooler months only turn off any external source of heat to cool it down. Is there any difference in the rate of weight loss between summer and winter? Try the experiment with a species from a temperate climate and one from a tropical environment. Does the species from a tropical environment lose weight faster than the one from the temperate environment?

You can even compare your weight data with the rate you observe your tarantulas molting. For instance, you can attempt to find a correlation between weight and the molting cycle to find out if a tarantula needs to reach a certain weight before it can molt. There are many reasons why you would want to weigh your tarantula, and you don't have to be some credentialed scientist to get some simple insight on how your tarantula works by tracking weight. If you can't find a reason, then don't, it wouldn't be worth the hassle.

This is a very nice way of articulating what you could do with that data point.

There's certainly value with knowing a T's weight at a given molt, especially when paired with feeding/temp data in establishing base line growth rates per species. I love data and I'm making a system so I can collect a lot of it on my collection, but weight isn't going to be tracked lol. To limit stress on the T and the chances of being bitten, you'd have to collect that data during rehouses, so I'd probably only get 3 or 4 data points over an animals whole life and that really wouldn't be enough to do anything meaningful. Trying to collect more data points outside of rehouses would mean consistently digging up a T or destroying dirt curtains and IMO the value of that data doesn't outweigh preserving the T's quality of life.

 

[mack1855]

Why would a keeper take a T out to weigh it,and risk falling,escapes,bites,urticating hair.when we tell new keepers"dont poke or move your T around with a paintbrush/tweezers".
Anybody even inventing a reason to do this is out in left field.Waste of time,imo.

 

[viper69]

By weighing a tarantula you can gain some insight into its metabolism then make comparisons between species or to find out if environmental conditions, such as temperature, has an effect.

For example, for the month of May feed your tarantula on your normal feeding routine then on June 1st record its weight and stop feeding all together and only provide water. Weigh your tarantula, and track the weight, once a week without feeding and only provide water. How long does it take for your tarantula to start losing weight to the nearest gram? If it doesn't lose any significant weight after a month, don't feed until it actually starts losing some weight and record how long it takes for it to lose 1 gram. Repeat the same experiment during the cooler months only turn off any external source of heat to cool it down. Is there any difference in the rate of weight loss between summer and winter? Try the experiment with a species from a temperate climate and one from a tropical environment. Does the species from a tropical environment lose weight faster than the one from the temperate environment?

You can even compare your weight data with the rate you observe your tarantulas molting. For instance, you can attempt to find a correlation between weight and the molting cycle to find out if a tarantula needs to reach a certain weight before it can molt. There are many reasons why you would want to weigh your tarantula, and you don't have to be some credentialed scientist to get some simple insight on how your tarantula works by tracking weight. If you can't find a reason, then don't, it wouldn't be worth the hassle.

True- what percent of owners are doing this if you had to estimate

1. Almost none
2. Median
3. Above median
4. Virtually everyone

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

This is a very nice way of articulating what you could do with that data point.

There's certainly value with knowing a T's weight at a given molt, especially when paired with feeding/temp data in establishing base line growth rates per species. I love data and I'm making a system so I can collect a lot of it on my collection, but weight isn't going to be tracked lol. To limit stress on the T and the chances of being bitten, you'd have to collect that data during rehouses, so I'd probably only get 3 or 4 data points over an animals whole life and that really wouldn't be enough to do anything meaningful. Trying to collect more data points outside of rehouses would mean consistently digging up a T or destroying dirt curtains and IMO the value of that data doesn't outweigh preserving the T's quality of life.

Personally, I think the notion of stress is far over rated in this hobby. I think I am in the minority who think so, but I occasionally put some of my tarantulas through some situations that others may find horrendous for the sake of knowing the limits of what they are capable of. Nothing dangerous that would put any of my tarantulas in any real danger, of course, but some situations that would be considered stressful and avoided at all cost to avoid this so-called "stress."

An example of what I mean is by looking at what happens when you flood the container of a spiderling that comes from an arid climate. In one case I intentionally flooded the burrow of one of my Aphonopelma mooreae spiderlings to see what it would do. Turns out, it had a solution to that problem. When the burrow was completely flooded with water, it clinged to the top of the burrow upside down to escape the standing water. When the water was drained, it came down and resumed normal resting position. Until then, I never knew an Aphonopelma species had a strategy for a flooded burrow. Now I have some insight on how a wild tarantula from a desert would deal with an occasional down pour.

In another instance, I wanted to know how an adult tarantula would react by being housed in a small container with little ventilation. So I put my adult Euathlus sp. in a plastic shoebox style container with a small layer of soil and a 1 ounce condiment cup for water. I didn't drill any ventilation holes in the container to find out if there was already enough ventilation without adding more. Turned out that there were no adverse effects at all. That was several years ago and it is still housed in the same plastic shoebox with no ventilation holes. It eats and drinks and carries on like you would expect a healthy normal tarantula would; there is no mold or fungus growth; etc. The conclusion drawn from that experience was that high amounts of ventilation really isn't that necessary in housing.

We often times underestimate how much crap a tarantula can take without any observable adverse effects to its health and well being. I don't think everyone should be running experiments on their tarantulas, but to not try something just because it is thought a tarantula can't handle the stress is, in my opinion, ludicrous.

 

[l4nsky]

Personally, I think the notion of stress is far over rated in this hobby. I think I am in the minority who think so, but I occasionally put some of my tarantulas through some situations that others may find horrendous for the sake of knowing the limits of what they are capable of. Nothing dangerous that would put any of my tarantulas in any real danger, of course, but some situations that would be considered stressful and avoided at all cost to avoid this so-called "stress."

An example of what I mean is by looking at what happens when you flood the container of a spiderling that comes from an arid climate. In one case I intentionally flooded the burrow of one of my Aphonopelma mooreae spiderlings to see what it would do. Turns out, it had a solution to that problem. When the burrow was completely flooded with water, it clinged to the top of the burrow upside down to escape the standing water. When the water was drained, it came down and resumed normal resting position. Until then, I never knew an Aphonopelma species had a strategy for a flooded burrow. Now I have some insight on how a wild tarantula from a desert would deal with an occasional down pour.

In another instance, I wanted to know how an adult tarantula would react by being housed in a small container with little ventilation. So I put my adult Euathlus sp. in a plastic shoebox style container with a small layer of soil and a 1 ounce condiment cup for water. I didn't drill any ventilation holes in the container to find out if there was already enough ventilation without adding more. Turned out that there were no adverse effects at all. That was several years ago and it is still housed in the same plastic shoebox with no ventilation holes. It eats and drinks and carries on like you would expect a healthy normal tarantula would; there is no mold or fungus growth; etc. The conclusion drawn from that experience was that high amounts of ventilation really isn't that necessary in housing.

We often times underestimate how much crap a tarantula can take without any observable adverse effects to its health and well being. I don't think everyone should be running experiments on their tarantulas, but to not try something just because it is thought a tarantula can't handle the stress is, in my opinion, ludicrous.

I can agree to a point, especially with one-off experiments like those you have listed. The knowledge learned for that species/genera outweighs the mitigated risk to one specimen and I've done a few myself. For me though, if I wanted to use weight in any analysis, I'd have to get the post molt weight every time (and it would have to be for a few different genetic bloodlines) to get any kind of accuracy in predictions and that's just an increased risk for injury to the T and to me. The data would be nice to have for sure and I may change my mind in the future, but for now I can't justify collecting it on my end.

 

[mack1855]

See,this is something that I would not do.You could be a researcher or academic,looking to do a paper or thesis.
And that's your call.But just for proper husbandry,its imo unnecessary,and subject an animal in my care to stress.Over rated or not.

I don't think the animal can let you know if its stressed,as it cant vocalize or give visual cues that indicate being uncomfortable,or under stress,as opposed to other animals.
Weighing a spider is not going to be ground breaking.Molt progression and DLS increase will give the average keeper a good indication of proper care.

But...if somebody wants to pull that T.blondi or P.rufilata out to weigh it,by all means.
Is it worth it?.Doubtful.

 

[l4nsky]

But...if somebody wants to pull that T.blondi or P.rufilata out to weigh it,by all means.
Is it worth it?.Doubtful.

Lol that's my thinking at the moment. Is it really worth trying to corral a 7"+ P. rufilata when I would otherwise have no reason too? Right now, the answer is no lol.

 

[mack1855]

Lol that's my thinking at the moment. Is it really worth trying to corral a 7"+ P. rufilata when I would otherwise have no reason too? Right now, the answer is no lol.

And I almost think the ruffi would be preferable to the blondi.

"Ok buddy,im going to put you on this scale,so I need you to sit for a couple of minutes,OK?".

 

[Craig73]

The only reason for me is so my wall shelves won‘t collapse.