Recapturing escaped Ts

ahicks51

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 24, 2007
Messages
28
A fine first post, I know- but I think I saw it on here first: how to recapture an escaped tarantula. Can't seem to find it no matter how I search. Any help, please? I have a rogue aphonopelma that I can't seem to locate.

D'OH!
 

Tyrannosaur

Arachnosquire
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May 9, 2007
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Haha! Oh no! It's been years since I've had an escapee! First time I found it in the LAST place i looked in my room. I tore the whole place apart. 2nd time it was my brothers, and it escaped his room and we didn't find it until a few days later. It was walking across the game room.

I think you just got to start in one area, then go to the next, looking in every spot it could fit. Get some brave help too.
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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Feb 13, 2006
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Well I have tinkered with a few methods...... but they are different depending on what you lost.

For a ground dweller you can place shallow dishes of water around the base boards and raise the temps in the house and keep the lights off. Make it as dark as you can. Arm yourself with a flashlight and keep an eye out. The heat will make them more active and the darkness will bring them out.
I also one time tied crickets to pieces of dental floss and tacked it into the base board. I caught one escape munching on a cricket.

Now for the tree Ts that like to climb same deal slightly modified. I have taped pieces of cardboard ever so often where the wall meets the ceiling. This provides hides for the run away. Then ever so often stop by and check the hides for someone living there. :D

Oh one more, with both ground and tree Ts you take a heat pack, just like the ones you would use for shipping and open it up. Tape it to the wall or leave it on the floor and drop the temp in the house. That wandering T will find the heat source. I have caught one escape with that method to.

I am sure there are more methods those just are ones I have used.
 

P. Novak

ArachnoGod
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Sep 12, 2005
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I have never had an escapee, but this is what I would do. I would make sure that the rest of the house was blocked off from this room via towel or board under door and stuff like that. Then I would look in the obvious spots without going around and trashing the room. If I don't find it then I would turn off the lights, or try to make it as dark as possible and sit in one spot with a flashlight and have a red lenses covering it, so the color would appear red and then do a scan of the room every couple of minutes. Ts can't see red light so they wouldn't be disturbed if you shined on them. If I don't find it after 3-5 hours of doing that, I'd use one of Ryans methods.

Good luck and I hope you find your T. What species of Aphonpelma is it?
 
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kyrga

Arachnobaron
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Mar 24, 2007
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2 days after I got my avic sling, she slipped out. It really makes you realize all the teeny tiny places in your house ;) I searched everywhere in the room she escaped, I figured if she got out of the room, she had already become a snack for my cats or dogs :( The next day, I found her a few feet away from her tank, on a PS2 controller.

Start at the area around her cage, then spread out. Look in dark places. If it's an aboreal T, look up!

Good luck!
 

maxident213

Arachnolord
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Nov 5, 2005
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Now for the tree Ts that like to climb same deal slightly modified. I have taped pieces of cardboard ever so often where the wall meets the ceiling. This provides hides for the run away. Then ever so often stop by and check the hides for someone living there. :D
Wow dude, that's a really good idea, I'm gonna remember that one.... :clap:
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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Its just like setting a live trap for a mouse or something. It's worked two times for me.
 

Varden

Arachnodemon
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May 22, 2005
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Where did you lose it, and how long ago. If you're still in day one, narrow your search to the immediate area (like within three feet) of where the T was. Look down for burrowers, and up for climbers. Look in cracks around molding, behind books or in shelving. Nothing is too small for a sling, you'd be surprised what they can squeeze into. Bring in a box or a garbage back and start removing things from the room if you have to. I usually only have to dismantle a few feet out before I find my runaway, but the quicker you get started after it disappears, the better your chances.

And then, once you find him, don't make the same mistake twice. Fix however it got out. :)

Good luck!
 

phil jones

Arachnoprince
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Dec 17, 2006
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i was lucky a big female B / SMITHI got out but i found her sitting on top a leopard gecko tank eyeing it up :eek: so i quickly got her back to her tank :embarrassed: :embarrassed: on her {D %%% phil
 

Merfolk

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My P rufilata went into a speaker in my sound system. Got to rip the thing apart!!!
 

lunixweb

Arachnobaron
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My first sling ran away for a couple of days but I found it in one of my tshirts, when I saw it, I felt really happy :razz: that was 2 years ago, but now I haven't had more run aways.
 

Gesticulator

Arachnoangel
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Don't know if any particular "trapping method" works at all. Any of my houdini slings would tend to go behind nearby drawers or moldings, as Varden said.
One of my big P cambridgeis managed to pop a lid open and escape once. About two weeks later, my son screamed, "I found the spider", as it was peacefully nestled in the creases of his jeans a floor above where she escaped from.
 

Nitibus

Arachnodemon
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Feb 7, 2007
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Years ago I had a buddy find one in a suit jacket pocket 8 months after he lost it ! Too bad the jacket wasn't his. His dad wasn't impressed finding a T in his suit at work.
 

spid142

Arachnobaron
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work surprise

Haha, that must of been an interesting day at work. Reach in the pocket, and......er....how'd she get in there?
 

ahicks51

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 24, 2007
Messages
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Found!

To answer some questions, it's an Aphonopelma. sp. "Big Bend Gold." The local pet store had them for $5; I'm more of a pamphobeteus kind of guy, but- I couldn't beat the price. Of all the spiders that I could lose, he would be at the top of the list- inexpensive, noninjurious, nonaggressive, and able to survive here in our home in the extremely dry Sonoran Desert- perhaps indefinitely.

Anyway- about 36 hours after I think he got loose, one of our greyhounds cornered him on a dog toy. She was lunging at him, trying to figure out how to eat him. Amazingly, he was recaptured without injury on his part or either of our greyhounds. I thought for sure one of them would find and eat the spider while we were out.

He was found about 8' horizontally from his cage, which was on a wire rack shelf about 4' off the ground. So, he must have taken a tumble, but is apparently uninjured.

He was in one of those plastic reptile cages, the sort where the lid clicks shut. Unfortunately, because it rattles the whole cage to snap it shut, I usually just rest the lid on the top. Every now and again, the lid is off center somehow, and it stays open about 1/2". I must have been distracted, as I have invariably checked to make sure they're closed in the past.

This was my first escape in >2 years of keeping spiders. Hopefully it'll be my last. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.
 

neanyoe

Arachnosquire
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May 17, 2007
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Years ago I had a buddy find one in a suit jacket pocket 8 months after he lost it ! Too bad the jacket wasn't his. His dad wasn't impressed finding a T in his suit at work.
oh man. my dad wouldve thrown the biggest 'b****h' runabout his coworkers wouldve ever seen hahaha. he hates my Ts :[
 

SpiderZone2

Arachnoknight
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Oct 23, 2005
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Had this happen with a sling.........it had gotten out while I was feeding it. This was on a card table......It went into the crack around the table. Man you find out how many gaps those table have when looking for a sling. I had to move everything out of the way and lay the table on it side. I just misted around the table and it flug itself to the floor. I had gotten it then! And they are fast when they want to be.
 

mrsd

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 10, 2007
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14
1st escape

I had my first escape Fri. lol my own fault I changed the enclosure and did not make sure the lid was tight. My G Rosea got out and climbed into my husbands shoe. he found him/her hiding in there. No damage to the T. Thank goodness.
 
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