question on scent

[Pepperhead124]

my brother used to have a python and i remember him telling me you shouldn't touch the food directly because it will get your scent on the foood and your python might get confused and bite you when it is handled. i was wondering if maybe this is the same for tarantulas? or do they not pay attention to that?

 

[NightCrawler]

Well I don't know alot about t's compared to many other here on the board but I don't think t's smell their pray. I think they go for the movement since some t's attack waterbeams when filling their waterdishes...But I might be mistaking

 

[MizM]

No, not mistaken! Ts don't "smell" per se. They DO detect their prey by movement.

 

[Pepperhead124]

ok thanks

 

[dennis]

Bet you haven't seen "Eight legged freaks" then uh! MAn, that bigass spider got crazy when that dude sprayed some perfume info the spiders ... face. So eerm, this probably doesn't have to do anything with food and handling, but just don't spray perfume on your hands before you handle your spiders, maybe there is some truth in that movie....


Dennis

 

[Telson]

The only information I've read regarding T's and scent has been in regard to having olfactory sensory capability that assists them in finding females in breeding season durring the "migration" as a lot of people call it. How much of this is scientificly proven to be true, and how much is less than scientific assumption, I couldn't say for sure, but I've never heard or read anything regarding T's using scent in regard to their prey.

 

[phoenixxavierre]

From what I understand tarantulas DO have a type of scent recognition in the pads of their feet and pedipalps. They can detect, perhaps, chemicals and such through a form of "smell." In my own experience hand feeding tarantulas, they definitely take a moment to "smell" my fingers before plucking the crickets out of them. That's in the case of them being very eager. They thrust their front feet out of the vial in expectation of food, sometimes landing their foot pads on my fingers instead. They hesitate and then either withdraw their feet, or move their feet down to where the cricket is, then immediately pull the cricket and bite down! Based on these experiences and others, and from other information I've read, I personally believe they recognize prey through other means aside from movement. Some ts will recognize something edible even when it's dead, such as ts that feed on carrion.

 

[MizM]

And isn't there some pheremone (sp) action going on during mating? I thought they had a "sense of smell" of sorts, though not in the conventional sense.

 

[Malhavoc's]

One very good reason NOT to believe eight legged freaks-movie
[skipping that its a movie]
The so called habernatus orbeus [spelling] is a terrestrial spider in that movie where as An actual habernatus Is an orb web weaving spider
Ps mizm check your pms would ya lol

 

[phoenixxavierre]

I imagine there is some pheremone action going on or something to that effect. I'm fairly sure their feet sense temperature changes. Being that they can locate dead prey and know that it is something edible also tells us that they can sense something akin to smell with their feet.

My second tarantula was a male Big Bend Aphonopelma. Gorgeous fellow. Strangely enough he was crawling on my arm one day and started vibrating and tapping his forelegs on my arm! I thought this was the "threat stance." I called Todd Gearheart when he worked for Glades and asked him about it. I described the behavior and he told me that was really weird, that the male must have thought I was a female tarantula! lol! Must be my Apache blood, tarantula totem or something, lol! So that makes me wonder if some scent I had on me was similar to a female of that species, or if the male was just so old and senile that he couldn't tell the difference! I hadn't handled any other tarantulas that day either (I only had one other at the time, a G. rosea female). One of those strange mysteries which we may some day understand! At present, though, information is lacking!

 

[MizM]

That made me think.... when transferring from me to my husband, Ts always stop short. I'm smooth and he's hairy! So they tap him a little to make sure he's safe (I GUESS!) and then proceed!=D

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Originally posted by MizM
That made me think.... when transferring from me to my husband, Ts always stop short. I'm smooth and he's hairy! So they tap him a little to make sure he's safe (I GUESS!) and then proceed!=D

yes, same here with my wife and I. I wonder if they can detect chemical differences in the skin?

 

[MizM]

I don't know, but they SURE feel the "fur!'=D

 

[Malhavoc's]

Scarleet [chilean rose]=nice and calm normaly for me when I go to pick her up for my wife she turns into a cobalt blue [thats without her even getting to touch her ponder that! lmao

 

[Pajak]

I dont think any scent is important to spiders. Snakes - of course, they smell with their tongues Spiders donm't.
I've never noticed any confusion - I put food by hands without problems

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Originally posted by MizM
I don't know, but they SURE feel the "fur!'=D

lol! yes. I've also noticed this behavior when going from person to person on the palms.

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Originally posted by Pajak
I dont think any scent is important to spiders. Snakes - of course, they smell with their tongues Spiders donm't.
I've never noticed any confusion - I put food by hands without problems

That's because spiders don't have tongues.

Spiders do have some form of "scent" recognition. They must have or they wouldn't be able to determine edible matter from non-edible matter.