fainting slings

[Gillian]

Hi all,
Well, half the t's I was to place are in their new home. I must say, they'll be spoiled like they deserve to be. I have a question;

Some of the t's are TEENSY, TINY pzb slings. When they were with me, I noticed "fainting spells". If I'd dig them out, or minutely handle them, they'd curl up, and for all intents and purposes, looked dead. Give then a few minutes, they uncurl, and are fine. They do the same if you touch them.

Has anyone else noticed this with their t's?
Peace,
Gillian

 

[Godzilla2000]

From what it sounds like to me, they're playing possum. Chances are they view you as a predator. By playing dead, they're hoping you'll just leave them alone because they're scared out of their wits.

 

[conipto]

My quarter inch PZB sling does this too, when disturbed. You can flip the little sucker over and everything, but five minutes after leaving it alone, it'll upright and walk around again.

Bill

 

[Mendi]

Isn't nature amazing by "wiring" some animals to play dead like this? I know that a common farm animal does this throughout its life. All you have to get a chicken to play dead is turn one over and lay it on its back. They go as far as to go into an almost comatose state with heart and breathing rate dropped, they might stay like this several minutes after the threat has lost interests... It is very amazing to hear of little slings doing this though. I might have to try it with a real tiny one and see if mine do this too

 

[Henry Kane]

Hi Gillian!

That behavior is characteristic of PZB's. They even do it as adults. You may have seen pics here or there of someone holding an adult PZB cupped in their hand laying upside down. LOL You can even stroke their belly when they do this.

Off the point a little bit but many Latrodectus (widow) sp. play dead as well. Pretty neat.

See ya.

Atrax

 

[RugbyDave]

one of my older PZBs did that a few times...
kind of wierd, but once i realised what they were doing, i put em back in the tank..

kinda cool though
peace
dave

 

[D-Man]

Many true spiders do that when I pick them up. I see it mostly in garden spiders. House spiders and jumping spiders are better at trying to get out of my grasp.

 

[Gillian]

Hey Gary!

Thanks everyone. First time it happened, I was like, "Man!" Awfully cute, though.
Peace,
Gillian

 

[Code Monkey]

Originally posted by Atrax
Off the point a little bit but many Latrodectus (widow) sp. play dead as well. Pretty neat.

Heh, also off the point, but that's how mine almost wound up dead for real. I'm not sure what spooked it, but when I unscrewed the top of its jar one day to water it, it was 'dead' on the bottom of the jar.
"Oh well," I thought, "win some, lose some," and tossed it in among the 'cages and jars to be cleaned' in my closet. Almost two months later I happened to move the jar for some reason and noticed that it was actually still alive.

 

[Henry Kane]

LOL! The Latrodectus who cried wolf. :}

Atrax