Sound sensitivity

[silver_sylvia]

Are tarantulas sensitive to loud sounds? Does it bother them very much?
The reason I ask is I need a "fog horn" to wake me up in the morning and my T is like four feet or so away from my alarm. So would blaring Sound Garden, or any other wake-me-up-with-a-slap-in-the-face music, almost at full volume in the morning bring stress to my spider?

 

[Lover of 8 legs]

IMO yes. Sound travels as waves which cause the air & solids to vibrate at differing frequencies. Ts pick up vibrations with the hairs that cover their bodies. That's their main sense organ for gathering info about their environment. At the very least, I think that it would confuse the T. At the worst case senario, it may totally freak the T with unpredictable consequences.

 

[Chel]

I play the bass guitar in my room, near my tarantulas, and it doesn't appear to bother them. My B. Albopilosum once walked "towards" where the amp was and situated herself there, but that's all.

 

[bonesmama]

I've only had one T react to music, but it is never in the T room. My G. rosea-who is a very curious girl- will walk to the side of her tank and put a leg or two on the glass....the only reason I could come up with was to better feel the vibrations.

 

[Tzitzimitl]

I've likewise never had any problem with sound bothering my t's, and I prefer heavy metal. I can vacuum next to their cages, my daughter can run and jump around the room, all with no visible reaction.

Now move the enclosures even slightly, and half of them will go scurrying for cover. That's what seems to really bother them, Kritter Keeper lids especially.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

I've once seen my genic climb the glass when I played loud music... but then again she didn't do it the next 20 times and hasn't done it since either.
I'm sure they can sense it but I doubt they are really bothered by it. Think of the rainforest - thunderstorms, large raindrops falling all arround a T (and those have a true physical impact on air movement), howler monkeys, birds screaming their lungs out... It isn't silent where T's naturaly come from either. Just a thought.

 

[silver_sylvia]

Thats a relief. I dont want to stress out my T. The alarm may wake the dead but wont upset her.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

I've only had my Ts since this morning, one's a sling in a burrow in a vial and the other dove into the dirt after molting, but the third (2.5" GBB gal) hasn't shown any particular reaction to noise, people walking by (her critter keeper is still on the floor off to one side), people leaning down to look at her, a couple camera flashes going off...

But then she seems pretty chill so far, unless something enters the keeper, then it's on. For a while it looked like she might have squished herself between her driftwood and the wall and gotten hurt, so we got a scrap of paper and slipped it through the ventilation in the lid. She would have yanked that sucker through and killed it if I'd let her. But then she's probably very hungry, I'm buying a few big crickets tomorrow.

Anyway, I do know my ball python likes some music. Things like Superstition or tribal music with a noticeable drum beat, he sometimes will stick his head out of his hide box and act very interested. If Ts sense vibrations like snakes do, then I guess a T that isn't very nervous probably wouldn't mind as long as you didn't do it 24/7 at max volume or anything.