Review of Brachypelma vagans

hcsk8ter

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Messages
43
So I went online and bought a 1/1/8" female Brachypelma vagans from Scott's Tarantulas. After her arrival, she immediately began to burrow and i literally dropped crickets into her burrow. She snatched them up and went to hide and I said to myself, boy she is fast and skittish.
I know they are labeled as "skittish" but, let me tell you, this one, she is a mush :clap: As soon as I took her out of her substrate she immediately went to hide back in it, but I allowed her to run around outside of her vial housing. She loved it and came over and climbed up on me! :razz:
As she was traversing my arm, I must've given her a jolt because out of her abdomen near her spinnerets came a white puddle. I got pooed on didn't I? No biggie. Anyway she is amazing. I love watching her move arouund, the way her legs move like clockwork.
I give her 4 stars and I see myself adding to my collection as well.
 

Mushroom Spore

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
4,588
As soon as I took her out of her substrate she immediately went to hide back in it, but I allowed her to run around outside of her vial housing. She loved it and came over and climbed up on me!
Woah! This is a no-no. You never dig up a T, you're stressing it and you could hurt/kill it. No tarantula "loves" being held, it was panicking and trying to find its safe place again because all it knew was that some big thing had dug it up and was probably going to eat it.

Don't do that anymore. Let it be in its burrow/substrate and leave it ALONE. :embarrassed:
 

cheetah13mo

Arachnoking
Old Timer
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Oct 10, 2006
Messages
2,151
Agree 100%. By all means enjoy your T but don't haras it. This is in no way like a dog or cat.
 

Ando55

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Messages
488
I agree with the two gentlemen who posted before this, a T in no way tolerates harassment. Slings are very very delicate and going so forth with that can be harmful or even fatal to your little one, let it be for what it is and what it does not what you want it to do.:D Good luck with it down the road! :clap:
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
oh good grief... come on folks...

have you ever actually thought about how rough spiders have it in the wild? when they are spiderlings just about everything is trying to eat them... when they are adults they still have to worry about birds, dogs, freakin tapirs, pigs, parasitoid wasps, etc.

not to mention getting flooded or not having ready access to food or water for long parts of the year, depending on species.

our pets have it so good... a little playing with them is NOT going to kill them. hell, there are good arguments that animals do better with some distress in their lives.

i play with everything from .25" spiderlings and 8mm scorplings up to 7" Poecilotheria and giant centipedes... and guess what... i've never hurt a single one, while handling it. further i have captive hatched something like 12+ species and captive bred 4-6. i play with most of my gravids up until the day before they drop sometimes.... guess what, i'm more successful than most ppl ;)

as long as you are careful and have even a modicum of common sense you are not going to hurt your bugs. anyone who says different needs to do something thinking.
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 13, 2006
Messages
8,656
I agree with the above..... I know that there are going to be two different groups here, the handlers and the non handlers..... But so long as you are not standing and walking around with them on your shoulders and taking an un needed risk your not going to do much harm.

I handle every now and then....... and have never seen a lasting effect from doing so.

I do agree however not to make it a habbit, I dont do it daily, and I dont do it even weekly or monthly. Its a rare thing. But still... to each his own. I think he was trying to get opinions of what people thought of their pet vagans... not an opinion of what everyone thought about his handling of his T.
~~~
 

cheetah13mo

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Messages
2,151
Oh, I'm all for handling, my pics prove that. I just want him to be careful with the little T crawling all over him. It's very easy to let them get away and if it's too small, they are hard to find and sometimes get lost. If they are too big and they have left your hand, you have 0 control and it could be dropped and injured. I was should have clarified to try to keep it on your hands.
 

pinkzebra

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 19, 2006
Messages
435
I am quite impressed with my B. vagans. She is a big beautiful girl and settled right down when I first got her. She likes to eat and is not at all skittish, as some of my other Brachys are. She's not a big wimp. Very cool Ts IMHO.

Congrats on your new T!
 

Mushroom Spore

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
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Oct 14, 2005
Messages
4,588
have you ever actually thought about how rough spiders have it in the wild?
Yup. And, what, 95% of spiderlings also die in wild conditions? ;) I figure there's a very good reason why just two spiders mating results in hundreds or thousands of babies: just so that MAYBE a handful will survive to make babies of their own.

Regardless, I stand by my statement that digging up a sling for one's own amusement is pretty wrong, and it is DEFINITELY incorrect to anthropomorphize a tarantula as "enjoying" the experience. And cacoseraph, you may be an expert with tons of experience, but not everyone out there is going to be as lucky as you. We've had multiple threads of people seriously injuring or killing slings from playing with them, haven't we? Though the only one I remember specifically is the guy who was supposed to be watching a metallica or something for a friend. Sure enough, he went to play with it, it zipped off his hand, and I don't remember if it survived or not.

I'm just saying. :(
 
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