Hysterocrates gigas bite

[SpaceMonkey]

Can anybody help quieten my obsessive mind?!
I recently bought an H. gigas off a friend, and she warned me that the bite of a gigas is particularly potent. I live on a rather backward island in England and our hospital is rubbish... my friend was talking about anti-venom and I was sat there thinking she must ACTUALLY be crazy to think I would ever drag myself up the hospital for a bite from a T... because in my mind, they are non-lethal so I would feel like I was being a drama-queen.
However, I did a bit of reading over the net and there seemed to be some sites saying that, yes, the Cameroon Red Baboon has strong venom... and other sites suggesting that the bite was somewhere between a new worlder and a pokie in toxicity, and that it just hurts a lot.
I have never been bitten by a T though, so I cannot identify with that theory.
So, here is my question... "Has anybody here been bitten by an H. gigas before? And if you have could you tell me if it resulted in hospitalisation, or was more severe than other T bites??" I ask the last question because I have never been worried of New Worlders biting me because of the low toxicity (although I did have an incident with a seven inch L. parahybana that freaked me out a bit at the time, but that was more to do with the size of the fangs!)
It's frustrating me because I have coaxed her out of her burrows and she just runs away and dives into her "pond"... she has tried to bite the fork once but generally runs away. She has a leg span of approx 4 inches which means she could easily bite me if she chose to. The most aggressive T I have encountered so far is a Cobalt Blue, and although it was feisty, for some reason the gigas "scares" me more!?!?! I am keen to understand her a bit more, and have looked at quite a few vids on Youtube (one of them was a keeper handling the gigas) as well as doing some quite deep searching of care sheets etc.
Thanks!

 

[Shell]

Bite report for H.gigas

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=255

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Ok, thanks... Just read the posts in that thread. Still not sure though as to whether the spider is one I should be wary of (in terms of toxicity/pain) because both those people are allergic to insect venom and both reported opposite reactions... although if both of those people got bitten by small ones then I'd assume it would be fair to say that mine would have a go at me if I provoked her! Am thinking though, that based on that it would be sensible of me to use a bit of caution when dealing with her.
Thankyou.

 

[Shell]

Ok, thanks... Just read the posts in that thread. Still not sure though as to whether the spider is one I should be wary of (in terms of toxicity/pain) because both those people are allergic to insect venom and both reported opposite reactions... although if both of those people got bitten by small ones then I'd assume it would be fair to say that mine would have a go at me if I provoked her! Am thinking though, that based on that it would be sensible of me to use a bit of caution when dealing with her.
Thankyou.

In my opinion, you need to use caution with every Tarantula, be it new world or old world. When you know you are dealing with something with more potent venom then even more so. Be careful and use your brain when dealing with them, if you do get bit and you are at all concerned go to the hospital, better safe than sorry.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Yep, fair enough. It's just the element of curiosity in my mind, and needing to know what to expect if I ever did get bitten by her. With my earlier T's, I became so used to handling them that I guess I became almost complacent and knew when was the best time to handle them, and if they were in a mood where they wanted to be left alone. But those were spiders like Red Knees, Curly-Hairs and Salmon Pinks... with her (she is my first of two Baboon spiders) I am not sure what to expect yet. I have had her for about a fortnight and just want to know as much as I can about her so that i can be prepared for any eventuality. She's a lot faster than my other T's have been, and she "feels" a bit more volatile if you know what I mean (I don't know if that's in my head or if I'm sensing her vibes).
I've been very careful so far... always making sure i have all the entrances to her network covered in my mind, and that I know EXACTLY where she is in the tank if I have the lid off. You're right, definitely, caution should be used, and will be.

 

[Shell]

Yep, fair enough. It's just the element of curiosity in my mind, and needing to know what to expect if I ever did get bitten by her. With my earlier T's, I became so used to handling them that I guess I became almost complacent and knew when was the best time to handle them, and if they were in a mood where they wanted to be left alone. But those were spiders like Red Knees, Curly-Hairs and Salmon Pinks... with her (she is my first of two Baboon spiders) I am not sure what to expect yet. I have had her for about a fortnight and just want to know as much as I can about her so that i can be prepared for any eventuality. She's a lot faster than my other T's have been, and she "feels" a bit more volatile if you know what I mean (I don't know if that's in my head or if I'm sensing her vibes).
I've been very careful so far... always making sure i have all the entrances to her network covered in my mind, and that I know EXACTLY where she is in the tank if I have the lid off. You're right, definitely, caution should be used, and will be.

Continue to take those precautions and be extra careful. Yes, she is faster and more defensive than your B.smithi and the others. She does have a more potent venom, so should you get bit, yes you will be in more pain than if one of the others you listed had bit you. It sounds like you are being smart about everything, just continue to do so, and search around here and ask questions if you aren't sure

 

[jbm150]

Why are you messing with her to begin with? Unless you're rehousing or there is some sort of problem, that is. Or I suppose for photos or what have you. If you question whether you can handle her or not, you probably shouldn't. A bite would probably be unpleasant. If you're ok with getting bit and know you wouldn't hurt her if she does bite you, then by all means.


By the way, I love the image of her running out and diving into her pond :}

 

[jbm150]

Oh, and I don't think you'd need hospitalization for a bite. Yeah, it would suck but I don't think there's much they could do except minimize the pain. And to that I say, man up and enjoy the fireworks

 

[Xian]

I'm pretty sure you'll be out of luck if you are thinking that any hospital has anti-venom for tarantulas.

 

[Shell]

I agree the hospital couldn't really do anthing for the bite itself (like Xian said, no anti venom for Tarantula bites lol.)

However, if you have underlying health issues that the bite seems to have set off etc, and you're concerned then it would probably be safe to go. That's just my thinking though

 

[PrimalTaunt]

While a hospital wouldn't have anti-venom, they would be able to help you control the symptoms if you're having a sever reaction to it (sever swelling, dizziness, nausea, difficulty breathing, heartrate irregularitiest, etc). This includes steroids/antihistamines to reduce the swelling and even powerful pain meds. IF you experience any of those symptoms, you should get yourself to a hospital ASAP but make sure that you do not drive. Get a friend/spouse/significant other to drive you or call a taxi.

Also, pick up a copy of The Tarantula Keepers Guide as that is basically the only book that deals fairly extensively with getting bit.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Thanks for all your messages, kinda put my mind at rest a bit about her. She is beautiful, in a funny sort of way. I have decided to call her Sita. When I've figured out how to, I'll put some photos up of her if anyone's interested.
JBM150, I was messing with her because I wanted to get a good look at her after I'd bought her, and yes... I'd love to be able to take some photos of her because I'm kinda proud to have her, and I am naturally quite curious about her where she is my first "Old Worlder", I think she's amazing. Generally I leave her to her own devices but I also worry about feeding her because she tends not to burst out of any burrows after food like my other T's, and where she has a network of burrows I worry that food is gonna die and go manky down there, or sometimes I just get paranoid that she's died in one of the burrows. Don't worry, I don't harrass her, and I wouldn't stress her - or at least if I was stressing her I'd stop because I respect her. She really is quickly becoming my favourite. The dash for water by the way, was amazing. The air clings to her body and legs and looks awesome, and it's crazy watching her sitting underwater, or even darting around under the surface.
Will be a bit more calm when dealing with her in future now I know her bite isn't necessarily as bad as I might have been led to believe. I did wonder about anti-venom, because T's aren't like widows or wanderers etc in terms of their potency. Especially on the Isle of Wight in England, I found it a bit bizarre that they would keep any sort of anti-venom here. We had a problem with false widows (Steatoda sp) for a while and there were reports of people being bitten and reacting badly, but I think that's just sensationalism to sell newspapers. I heard that Steatoda envenomation can be treated with Latrodectus anti-venom because the two families of spiders are closely related, but again, that's got pretty much nothing to do with tarantulas!!!
I think I will pick up a copy of that book, I'm under the impression that I borrowed it from the library a couple of years ago... It was good. If it's the same book, it even said about how to deal with "hernias" on injured tarantulas if they ever fall off something and rupture themselves.
Thanks again for all your messages too.

 

[jbm150]

Thanks for all your messages, kinda put my mind at rest a bit about her. She is beautiful, in a funny sort of way. I have decided to call her Sita. When I've figured out how to, I'll put some photos up of her if anyone's interested.
JBM150, I was messing with her because I wanted to get a good look at her after I'd bought her, and yes... I'd love to be able to take some photos of her because I'm kinda proud to have her, and I am naturally quite curious about her where she is my first "Old Worlder", I think she's amazing. Generally I leave her to her own devices but I also worry about feeding her because she tends not to burst out of any burrows after food like my other T's, and where she has a network of burrows I worry that food is gonna die and go manky down there, or sometimes I just get paranoid that she's died in one of the burrows. Don't worry, I don't harrass her, and I wouldn't stress her - or at least if I was stressing her I'd stop because I respect her. She really is quickly becoming my favourite. The dash for water by the way, was amazing. The air clings to her body and legs and looks awesome, and it's crazy watching her sitting underwater, or even darting around under the surface.

For the love of God, yes, post pics! Especially of the enclosure. An H. gigas with an aquatic set up is one of my long term goals, once I have a big enough place.

H. gigas is indeed a beautiful T. But also know that you'll probably go looong periods of time without seeing it. But yeah, always be cautious going in there, she might come erupting out of a burrow when you least expect it. Comes with owning OW burrowing Ts. But if that element of danger wasn't there, they wouldn't be half as interesting

 

[PrimalTaunt]

I think I will pick up a copy of that book, I'm under the impression that I borrowed it from the library a couple of years ago... It was good. If it's the same book, it even said about how to deal with "hernias" on injured tarantulas if they ever fall off something and rupture themselves.

Pics are a must when posting on this board.

If you read it a couple years ago, you should know that it is now in it's third edition which was released in 2009 (correct me if I'm wrong - I'm going off of the copyright date). I'm not sure if the first edition deals as much with bites as the second(?) or third edition does so you may want to make sure that you get a current one.