Chilean Rose Hair "Warnings"

[Unsafe]

A guy named Botar told me of the "Hearding Method" He said you give the tarantula the choice if it wants to go on your hand or not. I have handled my chilean rose 6 or 7 times now with gloves. I really want to try it without the gloves. So if it decides to go on my hand I guess that it should not bite right?

hey what kind of gloves do you use? haha I use leather gloves So i think if she tries to bite, it will not work.... sorry my english is not perfect..

 

[Unsafe]

ehhe I remember the last time she wanted to be hold, its the time she was in danger, she was on the top of the tank and she had just one leg that touched the tank, the others not .. dont know if you understand me ... I took her with my hand and let her go inside her hide, she did'nt want to bite me, she was happy to be safe I hope she remembers what I did for her ahahahaha! :worship:

 

[wedge07]

I too am an advocate for holding Ts. I believe it is the best way for man (and women ) to overcome their irrational fear of spiders. I have an evil rosie. She will let me handle her occasionally but I did not know this until I actually took her out and let her walk around outside of her enclosure. For the most part she just does not like it. But the point is I thought I couldn't handle her at all, until I tried. I believe everyone should handle their Ts there might be a time when you actually need to.

 

[Flower]

hello again.
personly i have no urge to really handle thousands of spiders.i dont think people should be encouraged to eithor.especially if your keeping more venomous species such as Poecilotheria,Haplopelma or Cyriogapopus ect..
bites from these spiders are far worse than a bee sting as u should know and can be a big deal!id rather not get into the whole debate of handling tho its been done way to many times.i just think its important that people know what there doing and that not all spiders should be played with.
-chris

I don't feel like the post in question specifically encouraged holding of more "hot" species. The following post even discussed not messing with Old World's much. I don't think either post encouraged irresponsible holding.

You realize your replies are to the author of the Tarantula Keeper's guide, eh? You probably have a copy of that lying around. I think the point of him holding so many tarantulas other than to get a hold of their personalities was for research purposes. You don't learn things unless you experiment.

 

[lmramsey89]

^^^Seconded^^^

But I understand your worries bout the "hot" species. Benefit of the doubt, probably just didn't see the bit about not handling them. no worries

 

[Neophyte]

I don't know how you guys do it. When I started off in this hobby I was curious about handling. Now I find myself more interested in watching them do their thing inside their enclosures and get somewhat nervous when they're anywhere else.

I even have a hard time with Roseas.

I wonder if there's a way to be less nervous about handling/rehousing/testing temperament. For me it just seems to be getting worse :wall:

 

[LeilaNami]

My rosie would have constant mood swings. I would first test the PMS level ( ) by gently touching a back leg with a paint brush. If no threat pose was given, it was pretty much a good to go thing with her. Now on the other side, I was rehousing a seemingly tolerant rosie who luckily decided to bite through a deli cup instead of my finger

 

[wedge07]

I don't know how you guys do it. When I started off in this hobby I was curious about handling. Now I find myself more interested in watching them do their thing inside their enclosures and get somewhat nervous when they're anywhere else.

I even have a hard time with Roseas.

I wonder if there's a way to be less nervous about handling/rehousing/testing temperament. For me it just seems to be getting worse :wall:

Really the only way to get used to it is to do it. It might help to watch others do it. Maybe watching others would inspire confidence. I am always actually more worried about the T than myself.

 

[burmish101]

I can understand why some hold their t's. I used to also when I first got into the hobby strictly out of fascination, my first T from a pet shop and it was G. rosea. Over the years keeping mostly old world t's the novelty has worn out for me but I still can say I appreciate them just as much behind the plastic now as I used to when I first started keeping them. Also a few painful bites from old worlders lets just call those a learning curve.;P Now I respect them even more lol.

I kind of held a 6in. Cryiopagopus sp. blue when I bought it from Josh though just cause he did! Sheesh what a rush, always thinking of Heteroscodra maculata whenever I get close to ANY T these days. But lets call that a little slip! Its been at least 4-5 years since i've had a spider on my hand, if I thought the risk was high at the time I wouldnt of done it, but she was so calm Also had a calm P. cancerides until after her ultimate molt, she became EVIL, lets see what happens with the sing blue lol.

 

[MrRogers]

I enjoyed handling my G. Rosea when I had it... then it got really annoyed with me and flicked hairs on me, not aggresively but in an "F-off" sorta way. I found them to be quite itchy

I let her be for the remainder of our time together.

 

[Tarantulysis]

Ya know,Im no expert but the more I read the more confused I get.Ive kept spiders since I was 16,Im 40 now and (dont get insulted people) Ive always had the impression we hold them for ourselves-they are unaware .They dont see us ,they dont come when theyre called,they dont remember we rescued them when they almost fell.All they really know is up and down, light and dark,and when something is making vibrations in their enclosure.Thats what I think is happening when she makes a sudden movement when my hand is near,not "hey there's my pal!".I kinda agree with the 'lets just watch them and see what they do' crowd.Theyre fascinating-ecspecially to an arachnophibic(me) and holding them is very theraputic.But, I have to respect her rights too!She didnt ask to come live with people,but since shes here Ill volunteer to take care of her,and she really just wants to be left alone to do her spider thing!My biggest problem is how to tell my three year old daughter no she cant hold "Ginger"(See we even name them!)Im not saying holding is right or wrong good or bad Im just being honest on why I would or wouldnt. All that said,to all the experts,which I already said I wasn't,am I close to correct thinking here?

 

[Unsafe]

you're right! :worship:

 

[UrbanJungles]

Anytime you put yourself in a position where you can be bitten, it's basically an irresponsible act. You are not only putting yourself at risk, but the safety of the spider and the overall hobby rights for everyone else as well.

These days, with restrictive legislature popping up all over the country...being sent to the hospital with a bad bite from a Pokie or Baboon T with only serve to make things worse, especially for the responsible hobbyists and serious breeders. They don't see that you were trying to "whisper" to the tarantula...just that you are keeping a potentially dangerous species of venomous spider.

Trying to hold a species that's known to be defensive or agressive is not "brave", the term is "stupid".

 

[Shrike]

Trying to hold a species that's known to be defensive or agressive is not "brave", the term is "stupid".

I find comments like this somewhat inflammatory.

Marguerite and I are a little braver than most arachnophiles. We often pick up tarantulas that are guaranteed to be vicious little demons from Hell, just to see if they really are. There're just too many unsubstantiated rumors about how vicious they are for us to believe just about anybody without seeing for ourselves.

So Marguerite and I handle tarantulas just to see what their personalities are. What are the gains? We've developed a very well founded, broad base of personal experience with them. What are the risks? Maybe we'll be bitten by one out of 500. And, the bite is almost surely irrelevant except that it adds another data point to our accumulated data base. Risk vs gain!

There are certainly people that hold aggressive Ts just to flaunt a sort of cowboy attitude. But the individual in this thread that referred to himself as brave went to great lengths to explain the intellectual motivation behind handling particular species. Is it really necessary to call someone (that has made significant contributions to the hobby) stupid just for holding a different opinion than you?

 

[UrbanJungles]

I'm sorry you are so thin-skinned.

The fact that they dismiss the bite as irrelevant is all the information I needed to make my assumption. Using a bite as an indicator of whether or not a tarantula is agressive (aside from the fact that each spider behaves individually) is not what I would call an "intellectual reason".

Show me someone keeping spiders for 30 years who hasn't been bitten and I can appreciate a careful and responsible keeper.

I'm sure the media would love the fact that the authors of a tarantula book was put in the hospital by one of their charges.

"think".

 

[Shrike]

I'm sorry you are so thin-skinned.

You didn't call me stupid. I take no offense.

"think"

Thank you for this pearl of wisdom. I'll have to start doing this right away. I "think" that other members of this board are entitled to share their opinions on different aspects of tarantula keeping without being insulted. This is a large community. Your school of thought is not the only one that matters.

 

[lddrmk]

I dont normally get involved in these threads as 'to handle or not' ...but reading it ..and i must say people like Stan deserve alot more respect and less criticism.
If it wasnt for these people then us hobbyists wouldnt know half of what we do today.

 

[wedge07]

How do you expect anyone to write a comprehensive book on tarantulas without getting bit? I mean even the defensive species will need a comprehensive look also. This includes their behavoirs. No two species are going to react the same way to the same stimuli, no two tarantulas of the same species for that matter as well.

 

[lddrmk]

How do you expect anyone to write a comprehensive book on tarantulas without getting bit? I mean even the defensive species will need a comprehensive look also. This includes their behavoirs. No two species are going to react the same way to the same stimuli, no two tarantulas of the same species for that matter as well.

Well said dude

 

[Drachenjager]

A guy named Botar told me of the "Hearding Method" He said you give the tarantula the choice if it wants to go on your hand or not. I have handled my chilean rose 6 or 7 times now with gloves. I really want to try it without the gloves. So if it decides to go on my hand I guess that it should not bite right?

you think gloves will help if it wants to bite you? thats really funny. haha.
Really if the gloves are thick enough to help in case of a bite you prob cant move a finger in them so its dangerous to pick up the bug.