Scary situations with T's! (but it was fine at the end)

Omgkevplayz

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 28, 2023
Messages
12
I want you guys to tell us about scary situations with your Tarantulas but it ended up being fine in the end. I am a new tarantula person. I got a pink-Toe (still don't know its gender lol) on my b-day a few months ago. I molted for the first time in late February but the molting was not so good... My spider molted on the glass of the enclosure and I disturbed it...
To learn more, visit

your post (or) First time I see her molting


BUT TELL US YOURS!
 

Introvertebrate

Arachnoprince
Arachnosupporter
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
1,199
Note to self: Don't drop your plastic tongs on a mature genic when she mistakes them for a roach. No harm done though. She's alive and well.
 

Venom1080

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Sep 24, 2015
Messages
4,611
Woke up twice to 2nd instar slings walking on me. P irminia X cambrigei and P regalia respectively. Mommas cage ventilation was too big.

Shook a M robustum off my hand when it grabbed me. Never poke with fingers. Spider was fine.

Threw a 1.5" H mac across the room when it jumped on my hand. I didn't know they could jump.

I've had many Poecilotheria end up on my face or back or in my shirt over the years. Started rehousing larger quantities shirtless to keep them out.

Found an irminia sling outside once.

Jerked my tongs back after a strike and launched a C marshalli out of its tub.

Lots more memories. :)
 

Omgkevplayz

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 28, 2023
Messages
12
Don't feed your amazingly hungry tarantula too close to the door of the enclosure:embarrassed:

Lol same thing happened to me lol. But instead it happened when it was puting humidity in it. But it just climbed right out lol! 😅. But I got it right back in 🙂.
 

spideyspinneret78

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jul 19, 2019
Messages
1,253
I had my extremely food motivated P cambridgei run up a pair of tongs during feeding and almost bite me. Never tong fed again after that!
 

TJ 68

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 10, 2021
Messages
41
Kept a 9" T. stirmi in my Bedroom on a dresser... Was doing a late night Feeding, I think I had about a dozen Ts at the time. I was Tired so I fed them all quickly and went to Bed. Just as I was falling asleep I Heard it , Anybody with a Good Size stirmi knows it....It was Loud and on the wrong side of the room. Normally I wouldnt be Frightened at all but,I guess because It was pitch dark and I was in my underwear I was a little nervous getting to the Light . She made it clear across the room and on top of another dresser. Everything ended up Fine But, Now I make sure to check all the doors after feeding..Especially the Pokies
 

thedragonslapper

Arachnosquire
Joined
Feb 1, 2018
Messages
72
I was handling an adult Avic metallica years ago when I was a noob. She climbed up my arm, then to my shoulder, then onto my shoulder blade before settling in the middle o my upper back where I couldn’t reach her. Fortunately I had help at home, and spidey was fine.
 

F1tarantula

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 6, 2023
Messages
9
Kept a 9" T. stirmi in my Bedroom on a dresser... Was doing a late night Feeding, I think I had about a dozen Ts at the time. I was Tired so I fed them all quickly and went to Bed. Just as I was falling asleep I Heard it , Anybody with a Good Size stirmi knows it....It was Loud and on the wrong side of the room. Normally I wouldnt be Frightened at all but,I guess because It was pitch dark and I was in my underwear I was a little nervous getting to the Light . She made it clear across the room and on top of another dresser. Everything ended up Fine But, Now I make sure to check all the doors after feeding..Especially the Pokies
What sound do T stirmi make? Do the blondis and aphoysis make it too?
 

TJ 68

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 10, 2021
Messages
41
What sound do T stirmi make? Do the blondis and aphoysis make it too?
Its called a Stridulating sound (the Setae on the legs rub together) They make it when threatened but, Mine (and im sure others) also made it when it ran. The blondi does it also. I have an apophysis that I have never heard do it but its just a juvinile im not sure. Everyone says its a "hissing sound" but it sounds more to me like a Rustling. This particualar stirmi was heavy enough you could also hear the legs "thump " on the ground when it ran.
 

caedus511

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 11, 2022
Messages
13
Scariest thing that I've had happen really isn't that bad, but in the moment it was crazy stressful.

My first T, an A. Avicularia had just finished hardening after the first molt in my care. I had just fed him and when I closed the enclosure I missed one of the latching points on the door without noticing. I guess the opening was just big enough for the T to escape. All of this happening in the middle of the day in my basement "office" where I was working from home during the height of the pandemic.

So the T escaped without me knowing. About an hour or two after the feeding I went to check and saw the open enclosure, with absolutely no T in it at all. I only had a few minutes to look before I had to hop into another meeting on my computer. Couldn't find the T at all. This meeting was a 1 hour long call with a few VIP's so I couldn't reschedule or post-pone at all.

Halfway through the hour long meeting I see my Avic moseying along the ceiling, and I panic! There were 2 ceiling tiles missing and the Avic was making a B-line right for that gap. If he had made it in there I don't know if I would have ever found him again. I hopped up from my desk, luckily my catch cup was already handy, and I was able to secure the T with little hassle. Sat back down to my meeting (again with some VIP's from the company all on this video call with me) and it's obvious that something happened to everyone that was paying attention. I had to explain to the COO and director of my apartment that I just had to step away for a quick second to grab my tarantula and the meeting may resume now. Fun times.

*Edit* - I still haven't mentioned this to my wife, as far as she knows none of my T's have ever escaped. She must never know.
 

aprilmayjunebugs

Fiery but Mostly Peaceful
Arachnosupporter
Joined
Nov 7, 2019
Messages
435
I noticed one night, after probably a little too much to drink, that my 2 psalmos were looking a little dry. I took them to the table to water them, deciding that it would be faster and easier to just crack the lid and pour than to dribble through the vent holes. The P. cam just hunkered down and stayed put so I assumed the pulcher would do the same. Before I knew it, it had it's feet through the opening so no way I could close it. In the time I could step back, gasp, and say "Spider out!" it jumped from from the top of the enclosure, to the table, to the chair, and then to the floor stopping in the corner. My husband, who had fallen asleep on the couch, calmly got up, grabbed the nearest cup and piece of paper, swiftly scooped it up getting it back into it's enclosure, and went right back to sleep, never saying a word about my stupid mistake! I'd like to think I could do this without him, but I have yet to prove it, lol.
 

CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 22, 2022
Messages
226
One from yesterday that got especially dicey:

I was feeding one of my three Cyriopagopus lividus slings (got some pinhead crickets shipped in yesterday). Normally, the way I feed slings is to use a tiny deli container as a catch cup to catch a pinhead (using a tong to scare it into the catch cup), open the deli, and drop the pinhead in.

The problem was that because of how many slings I have, I tend to leave the cricket bin open while I go around feeding the slings and putting their delis back in their original positions. Well, this particular lividus sling (a known bolter) bolted out of its deli the moment I opened it....and I was stupidly holding its deli above the open cricket bin! The end result was that the sling jumped right into the crate surrounded by 50+ pinheads (some around its own size, some smaller).

Fortunately, because the cricket bin is largely occupied by an egg crate and the sling landed on that, I was able to use my tongs to get it running towards and then up the bin wall, out of the bin, and onto the floor, where I bagged it with the catch cup.
 

8 legged

Arachnoprince
Joined
Nov 25, 2020
Messages
1,069
The stretching from a GBB after molting looks always like a death curl. I hate it!
 
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