Poll: What has been your experience with urticating setae?

[nicodimus22]

Obviously, everyone's experience with this is going to be different, because of several factors.

So, feel free to tell us what species you react the worst to, which you don't, which ones in your collection are prone to kick the most, etc.

 

[Grimmdreadly]

Obviously, everyone's experience with this is going to be different, because of several factors.

So, feel free to tell us what species you react the worst to, which you don't, which ones in your collection are prone to kick the most, etc.

I don't have a reaction to any, really. After working with a T.stirmi for months the most irritation I got was a light tingle on my hands. Not even enough to itch.

 

[user 666]

I would like to say I have had no reaction, but honestly I don't have enough experience to say one way or the other.

 

[MetalMan2004]

Its never really bothered me. The stirmi I had at one point got me just a little itchy when I packed her to be shipped off, but thats about it.

 

[SausageinaNet]

I don't have any extreme species but A. geniculata and N. chromatus are my worst ones I own. That being said it isn't really bad. For my B. hamorii which is kicking all the time I don't even notice it but she is still small. Rest of my Ts either don't have or don't use their hairs. All together so far I am having no problems and no allergic reactions.

 

[mack1855]

I take precautions to avoid hairs.Just like avoiding OW venom.I like my T,s,just don't
handle/put my face over their enclosues/if they want to kick hair,keep the enclosure lid
and or cover handy,so if they kick,i keep the cover between myself and them.

Not very hard to avoid,IMO.

 

[TyjTheMighty]

They don't seem to effect me really, but I do find myself sneezing quite often whenever I'm doing maintenance if they happen to kick hairs. Except for my Pamp. sp machala, I sneeze every single time I open her enclosure

 

[EulersK]

My hands are perpetually itchy. They literally never stop itching, I've just learned to live with it.

I'm not trying to be funny at all, I'm completely serious. Over half of my collection are NW terrestrial species, so even routine maintenance deals with setae. And given that my collection is approaching 100 adult/subadult specimens, that means I'm always dealing with a rehouse/pairing/heavy maintenance to some degree.

Now, I don't break out in welts like some people. So I don't have a severe reaction. But the itching never stops.

 

[cold blood]

Avics effect me worse by far....well, T. ockerti can be pretty bad, too. I break out like poison ivy with avics though....other species I don't really notice it at all.

 

[cold blood]

They don't seem to effect me really, but I do find myself sneezing quite often whenever I'm doing maintenance if they happen to kick hairs. Except for my Pamp. sp machala, I sneeze every single time I open her enclosure

I do get the sneezes at times as well...but I wouldn't have an idea as to which might be the cause.

 

[TyjTheMighty]

I do get the sneezes at times as well...but I wouldn't have an idea as to which might be the cause.

I only have 25 Ts, so it didn't take me long to realize which one it was, especially since I got my Pampho pretty recently. Totally worth it though cause I want another!

My hands are perpetually itchy. They literally never stop itching, I've just learned to live with it.

I'm not trying to be funny at all, I'm completely serious. Over half of my collection are NW terrestrial species, so even routine maintenance deals with setae. And given that my collection is approaching 100 adult/subadult specimens, that means I'm always dealing with a rehouse/pairing/heavy maintenance to some degree.

Now, I don't break out in welts like some people. So I don't have a severe reaction. But the itching never stops.

And it might just be me, but I feel like perpetual itchiness is a severe reaction in itself

 

[0311usmc]

At the moment I only own 3 new world tarantulas, the rest are old world. Out of the 3 my T.apophysis is the worst following the stirmi. Both make me itch whenever I do mantinence, but the apophysis is worse than my stirmi. My green bottle blue has never kicked hairs and I don't itch whenever I do mantinence inside the terrarium.

 

[Ungoliant]

So, feel free to tell us what species you react the worst to, which you don't, which ones in your collection are prone to kick the most, etc.

Fortunately, none of my tarantulas seems inclined to flick hairs. When I come in contact with hairs, it's those that have been shed in the enclosure. It looks like a mild version of poison ivy: tiny blisters that periodically itch like crazy. (Running hot water over my hands stops the itching for a while.)

My worst hair experience was when I cleaned out the enclosure of my mature female Avicularia avicularia, who died in March. I should have known better, but I was lazy and didn't feel like wearing gloves. I pulled out all of the webbing and furnishing with my bare hands and then washed the enclosure out. My hands itched for a couple of weeks.

Otherwise, I don't have a lot of exposure as long as I stick to my procedure of doing maintenance with tongs and not setting water dishes in my hand as I remove them from the enclosure for cleaning.

Still, I already seem to be sensitive to urticating hairs, so I am becoming more interested in species without them. It was really nice to be able to handle the exuviae of my Psalmopoeus cambridgei with my bare hands without getting itchy afterwards.

 

[CWilson1351]

So far only my GBB has kicked at me. It was when she was tiny, and her lid was still on. I didn't bother opening it until the next day.

 

[GreyPsyche]

So far only my GBB has kicked at me. It was when she was tiny, and her lid was still on. I didn't bother opening it until the next day.

Same for me.

 

[Andrea82]

When I started I didn't have a reaction to any of my spiders. 3+ years later and I'm packing my arms and hands with duct tape after maintenance to get rid of those darn hairs. B.hamorii and Avicularia/Caribena hairs are the worst, followed by my Gbb. No reaction to A.geniculata hairs even though they're considered one of the more severe hairs. It starts with itching, then to bumps, followed by tiny blisters. So I apply duct tape after contact with the enclosures of abovementioned species/genera. It helps, but my B.hamorii still drives me nuts with her kicking a cloud of hairs each time I need to open her enclosure.

 

[boina]

Like @Andrea82 I didn't have any reaction at all when I started, but now I get itchy hands from contact with hairs. Luckily I don't have any spider that kicks just for kicks, but cleaning, rehousing and anything that gets me in contact with the hairs results in itching. Still, I usually don't remember to put gloves on first, so it can't be that bad .

 

[gypsy cola]

I miss being a noob. Things didn't itch back then.

 

[MrTwister]

Thankfully I have yet to be haired. Have not noticed any effects from working in the enclosures either. Guess I'm lucky so far, or any hairs that I have come into contact with have went unnoticed.

 

[Leila]

I've been flicked at many times- by an albo and a porteri, of all Ts!!! However, I was never close enough to them while they were flicking, so I don't think the setae got on my skin. I don't suppose theirs are very severe hairs either....Boy, I can't wait for my Nhandu chromatus slings to grow up...