my singapore blue extremely docile?

[Zade08]

Hello all. Been a member for a while but havent posted in years. After quite a few years of searching i finally got my hands on a female singapore blue aka cyriopagopus sp blue aka lampropelma violaceopes. Iv had her since she was a sling about a 3/4" big and shes now molted 3 times in a year and finally has some nice coloring showing. Aside from introducing myself and showing her off a bit i had a question.

Could i have the most doscile sing blue out there? From what iv read being arborial and an OW species they are supose to be very defensive and temprimental. Iv handled mine since she was a sling on a daily basis and she is so docile that she lets me pick her up and free hand her when ever i want. She has never gotten in a defensive stance with me much less struck at me and she has 0 bald spots on her backside. Although she does from time to time spray webbing in a fast solid stream when she seams to getba bit nervous around loud noises or peering guests. (not sure what that is a sighn of. She is still in a juvenile state but seems to be reaching adult hood from her coloration coming in. She now sits at about 4" with another molt around the corner.

Just curious if any one else has had any similar experiences with this species. thanks for the read and responces. Now on to some pics.

also going to be rehousing her in the next couple days as seems to have outgrown her old 8x8x8 exotera.

 

[lalberts9310]

Why are you handling your spider? These are not to be handled, she gets nervous because she's scared, and when you pic her up she gets stressed out even more. The only one benefiting from handling is you, the spider gets negatively impacted with stress being out of its comfort zone. Not even this, it's a potent OW ABOREAL. What if it panics and bolts and gets away from you and you can't recapture it? What if you have guests over with a child or elderly and the escaped T bites them? Even with children and toddlers who likes to poke their fingers into tight places? That toddler gets sent to hospital, this leads to bad press and a bad reputation for the hobby, a front page of a newspaper stating "deadly spider bites child", and the species you so love gets banned? And who suffers from it? The ones on the receiving end, the ones who does everything in their power to keep this hobby going, the hobbyists, your T, and the innocent one who got bit. If you want to cuddle something, get a cat, tarantulas are not that type of pet.

 

[Zade08]

Just an example of how docile she is.

 

[lalberts9310]

Aside from you handling it, you do this every day, and what I know is this is a very secretive specie, so this makes me think that you poke it out of its hide everyday to hold it? They see you as an intruder/predator.. nothing more, nothing less.. the only reason they get picked up in the wild is to be eaten by a predator..

Regarding the new enclosure, I hope it doesn't have a mesh top, mesh tops are bad, they prevent a micro climate from forming, and the Ts gets they fangs and claws stuck in it.. so if it has a mesh top, you need to change that ASAP, they also need some form of cross-ventilation (vents on the sides, no vents in the top).. and looking at your previous enclosure for her, when you rehouse, add some fake plants etc.. make sure it has a water dish with water at all times

---------- Post added 03-18-2015 at 06:50 AM ----------

I would,nt do that.. seriously THAT is looking for trouble.. they are very unpredictable, especially OW, I would never ever put that on my child's hand, ever, that is very very irresponsible.. the majority of people being bitten is because of handling and because of them thinking their Ts are "docile"

 

[Zade08]

I didnt ask about your opinion on the ownership of my T nor to input on the safety of others with my T. I have been handling and owning Ts for about 7 years now from rose hairs and pink toes all the way to green bottle blues and king baboons with not a single bite incident. aside form the occasional "ooh let me see her" from company she is no where near stressed. please by all means compare the abdomen of any of my owned spiders to the abdomens of others. None and I meen none have ever had any sort of bald spots from Hair flicking or irritation. All I simply asked was about the docileness of old world Ts and my certain situation.

 

[lalberts9310]

I have a 4" P. Irminia which I used to handle (before I learned it was a bad thing obviously), she now throws me threat posture everytime I just walk by her enclosure.. and it's not something that came gradually, she just started throwing threats poses.. just shows how unpredictable they are

 

[Zade08]

Her old enclosure only had a simple log with water dish because of her size with 4" of peat moss. She is sprayed every other day with only purified drinking water and kept at a very comfy 75-80 degrees. I havent purchased any plants yet for the new setup as I am still trying to decide which direction to go with it. But horticulture is definitely a green light in my book. I appreciate all of your housing tips and will definitely be incorporating them into it.

 

[lalberts9310]

I didnt ask about your opinion on the ownership of my T nor to input on the safety of others with my T. I have been handling and owning Ts for about 7 years now from rose hairs and pink toes all the way to green bottle blues and king baboons with not a single bite incident. aside form the occasional "ooh let me see her" from company she is no where near stressed. please by all means compare the abdomen of any of my owned spiders to the abdomens of others. None and I meen none have ever had any sort of bald spots from Hair flicking or irritation. All I simply asked was about the docileness of old world Ts and my certain situation.

You know some NW aboreals have no urticating bristles, such as psalmopoeus? Thus no bald spots, and you know ALL OW ts have no urticating bristles, thus no bald spot? Well I'm glad I adviced you a bit on the care as I have seen people on here with years "experience" and still didn't know a mesh top is a bad thing.. do you know, NW Ts that does have urticating bristles, will somewhere in their lifetime have a bald spot? Not because they stressed or whatever, but they flick these around their burrows/hides to protect them from predators.. this is WHY those without urticating bristles are defensive, they don't have urticating bristles for a defense mechanism so if they can't flee they resort to biting..

---------- Post added 03-18-2015 at 06:59 AM ----------

Her old enclosure only had a simple log with water dish because of her size with 4" of peat moss. She is sprayed every other day with only purified drinking water and kept at a very comfy 75-80 degrees. I havent purchased any plants yet for the new setup as I am still trying to decide which direction to go with it. But horticulture is definitely a green light in my book. I appreciate all of your housing tips and will definitely be incorporating them into it.

. You should never mist, keep the sub moist and add a water dish. (no gel or sponges, just water, they can't drown, water dishes also helps to keep the humidity in check)

 

[Zade08]

I definatley agree with what you are saying. They are Predators with nothing but predatory instinct. The fact of her turning on me is almost a guaranteed possibility. But in the meantime when she is handled she is gently corralled towards my hand palm open until she feels safe to climb on to it. That is done usually sitting on the floor or my sofa. I have no small children in my house and the pic taken is of my niece a few days before molt. I have taken every safety precaution of handling my T for her and others. The fact is that any one that holds a T chances getting bitten. I understand that and am prepared for a bite if it happens.

---------- Post added 03-18-2015 at 01:05 AM ----------

let me step back and apologize for being arrogant. That is new to me and Im actually glad to have learned that. I learned mesh tops where bad with my first rose hair getting a leg caught in one right after a molt and losing a toe until it coming back a few molts later. Her first exotera was not tall enough for her to reach the top when i first got her so i never had to worry about it until now which is why shes getting a new home. Iv already planned on removing the top of the new one (couldnt pass it up as I picked the new exotera up for 38 bucks out the door new.) But the cross ventilation i did not know about.

 

[lalberts9310]

I definatley agree with what you are saying. They are Predators with nothing but predatory instinct. The fact of her turning on me is almost a guaranteed possibility. But in the meantime when she is handled she is gently corralled towards my hand palm open until she feels safe to climb on to it. That is done usually sitting on the floor or my sofa. I have no small children in my house and the pic taken is of my niece a few days before molt. I have taken every safety precaution of handling my T for her and others. The fact is that any one that holds a T chances getting bitten. I understand that and am prepared for a bite if it happens.

You also shouldn't disturb a T in pre-molt, I would really advice you to not put her on or near children, children suffer more severe symptoms than adults when bitten, and is not fair since they think the T won't hurt them, especially by OW.. but regarding you handling her, either leave her be or suffer in silence..

 

[Misty Day]

When the spider that has a reputation of being very fast and aggressive bites you, don't you dare start posting threads saying 'I don't know what happened!?!'. People like you really frustrate me, You come here saying you have a docile OW then cry when you get bit. Get a docile species if you want to handle. That Violaceopes is still a baby at this stage, will you be handling her when she's 10-12 inches? I don't say this often but if you continue to handle or let A CHILD HANDLE HER, I seriously hope you get bit. It's bad enough putting the spiders life in danger, but a child's?!?

She's not "docile", she knows she's still small so she knows her best defense is to stay put and not move and hope that the predator leaves her alone. (Spiders aren't smart enough to get used to handling, so your handling every day is not only extremely stupid, but putting major stress on her for no reason).

You're interpreting this as "docile", because humans believe even a wild and dangerous animal can be cute and cuddly. (Example lions and tigers in zoos) Lets just hope the spiders actually a male so it doesn't have to spend any more time in your poor care as it has to.

 

[WindedFatnNasty]

When the spider that has a reputation of being very fast and aggressive bites you, don't you dare start posting threads saying 'I don't know what happened!?!'. People like you really frustrate me, You come here saying you have a docile OW then cry when you get bit. Get a docile species if you want to handle. That Violaceopes is still a baby at this stage, will you be handling her when she's 10-12 inches? I don't say this often but if you continue to handle or let A CHILD HANDLE HER, I seriously hope you get bit. It's bad enough putting the spiders life in danger, but a child's?!?

She's not "docile", she knows she's still small so she knows her best defense is to stay put and not move and hope that the predator leaves her alone. (Spiders aren't smart enough to get used to handling, so your handling every day is not only extremely stupid, but putting major stress on her for no reason).

You're interpreting this as "docile", because humans believe even a wild and dangerous animal can be cute and cuddly. (Example lions and tigers in zoos) Lets just hope the spiders actually a male so it doesn't have to spend any more time in your poor care as it has to.

Whew that's harsh

 

[lalberts9310]

Yep, she'll definitely develop a bad attitude when she gets bigger..

 

[Blueandbluer]

Sorry, Zade, I hate to make this a pile-on, but I gotta throw my hat in with the others. This is not a cat or dog. At the end of the day, these are still wild animals, and wild animals are unpredictable at their core. Even if you are willing to take the risk of a bite yourself or with a child in your care, what you're not considering is the risk to the animal. If that spider gets spooked and dashes while in your hand, they could die. And the simple fact is that the older that spider gets, the less "docile" it's going to be. It may be perfectly "docile"... until that day it very suddenly isn't. Eventually, tragedy WILL occur. If you're lucky, it'll be a lot of pain for you. If you're less lucky, pain for a child that you should have protected. And in the worst case, the animal's death, at your own hands.

It's a gorgeous creature. Please, for its sake, leave it in the tank and admire it doing what it does best -- being a spider.

 

[Misty Day]

Whew that's harsh

I'm not going to beat around the bullet of a dangerous situation just because it's harsh.

 

[lalberts9310]

Sorry, Zade, I hate to make this a pile-on, but I gotta throw my hat in with the others. This is not a cat or dog. At the end of the day, these are still wild animals, and wild animals are unpredictable at their core. Even if you are willing to take the risk of a bite yourself or with a child in your care, what you're not considering is the risk to the animal. If that spider gets spooked and dashes while in your hand, they could die. And the simple fact is that the older that spider gets, the less "docile" it's going to be. It may be perfectly "docile"... until that day it very suddenly isn't. Eventually, tragedy WILL occur. If you're lucky, it'll be a lot of pain for you. If you're less lucky, pain for a child that you should have protected. And in the worst case, the animal's death, at your own hands.

It's a gorgeous creature. Please, for its sake, leave it in the tank and admire it doing what it does best -- being a spider.

Very, VERY well said.

 

[BobGrill]

This is one of the stupidest things I have ever witnessed. Letting a child handle an OW species. I don't care if you didn't ask for anyone's opinions, you posted on a public forum, so you're gonna get them. Ask yourself if this is really worth the risk. This is how animals get banned from the pet trade, when people do reckless things like this.

 

[Hydrazine]

People, just leave him alone. He clearly is convinced of his own truth and no amount of talking or verbal bashing will convince him otherwise.

He needs to learn the hard way, like sitting helplessly beside the kid's hospital bed.

 

[BobGrill]

He needs to learn the hard way, like sitting helplessly beside the kid's hospital bed.

This. I really hope that it's not the kid who ends up having to suffer the physical consequences. Either way it'll be a harsh lesson for both of them.

 

[cgrinter]

As docile as your animal may now be - one day she will decide not to be. It's one thing if you get bit, but having other people (especially young children) hold a spider with known potent venom is inviting a world of civil and/or criminal problems. Had a child been bitten the doctor at the hospital would be required by law to report this incident. Worst case you would face child endangerment charges. Things like this are exactly why spiders get banned, so please always err on the side of caution!
http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/102/12/851
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24215987