Tarantula Escape Stories?

FASSETT

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
20
Fed my Cobalt Blue and she ate i was so excited about that I fell asleep to wake up to the cage left open. I was then shaking out the blankets gently because she is placed next to my bed. My wife woke up and was like what are you doing? I thought to my self about replacing the T before she noticed but decided i needed to find her lol. I almost called in but decided to go to work. Wife then found and caught her with no troubles on the other side of the bed. So she basically crawled on our pillows wear we were asleep to get behind the dresser were she was at. Lol and thats my first and hopefully my last escape storie.
 

Kymura

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 1, 2015
Messages
182
I'll share this here. Not an actual escape. More a rehousing adventure.
(Saying her here but unsure of gender)
So, acrylic cage came Sep 26, 2016.
First I assembled it. Next I fixed it up for Enigma my Psalmopoeus cambridgei somewhere between 3-4 inches.
Got everything ready. Carefully emptied her current enclosure of the bigger stuff and with paintbrush in hand proceeded to coax the somewhat shy T into the new enclosure. Just as I touched her, thunder literally shook the house, and...lights went out. Naturally I jumped. Well,.....So did Enigma. I felt those little legs and claws as she crawled up my shoulder to the back of my neck. So I froze and asked the T-gods to not let her tag me.
Please understand. NO one in my house even wants to look at my T's. Their idea of handling an escape is raid or a fly swatter.
Seriously
OK so, moving forward...
Lights came on and Enigma high tailed it down my body to my lower legs. (Had yoga pants on so felt every step.) We then played all around the mulberry bush with me being the monkey for several minutes. There was no way she was going to be anywhere near a catch cup. I even tried just standing by the desk and nudging her onto it. Nope, I was her tree and nothing was going to change that. This went on for quite some time with me sitting for several minutes at one point to allow her to calm down. Only to go back to the same scenario when trying to cup her.
Finally in sheer desperation I gave up and laid my hand down in front of her. Honestly more then half expecting a bite as she was spooked. But, wanting her safe, I took the responsibility for it, as I was the one who jumped and spooked her to begin with.
Enigma stopped and touched the afore mentioned hand, tapped me like I might be food... stepped up and flattened into a stress pose. I nearly fell over when she curled. Really thought she going to bite, but, no. She just curled up obviously stressed. I slowly brought new enclosure closer and nudged her into it.
and finally mission accomplished.
How or why this happened with not getting tagged is anyone's guess, but far be it from me to question the good things that sometimes happen.
Now, I swear I thought I was prepared, I was doing this in a deep tub in case she bolted . Two catchcups at the ready, yet she managed to leap a good two plus feet in the pitch dark onto my shoulder.
Don't mind admitting I was a little worried, (insert extremely here)
Never a dull moment in my house I guess.
My Enigma stress curled in the corner unsure of the new enclosure. By the next morning was already making the place her own. I think I may have been WAY more stressed than she was .
 
Last edited:

Python

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
631
I had a H. lividum that I kept in a 10 gallon tank with lots of substrate (she is my avatar). She had a burrow and I hardly ever saw her. One day while cleaning her tank I noticed she didn't come looking for food so I picked up the tank and looked up her burrow from the bottom and she wasn't in it. After a fairly thorough search I found her huddled in the corner behind a large snake enclosure. I pulled it out from the wall and scooped her up in a catch cup and soon she was back in her home. After this escape I put a couple heavy books on top of the screen top and thought no more about it until I found her behind the snake enclosure again a short time later! I was floored. I don't know how she did it but she got out again! There should have been no way for her to move that screen enough to get out with those books on top but she did it. This time books were simply not going to be enough for me. I made some clips to keep the lid down and kept the books as added security. This should have been the end of it but one day I noticed the lid was a bit askew. By this time I was familiar with her hiding place and sure enough she was there. At this point I considered leaving her there and calling that her new home but I put her back and she never escaped again.I still don'the know how she got out with all the weight and clips on the lid but lesson learned. When a T wants out bad enough, they will teleport through the walls if they have to.
 

babyjtwizt

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 12, 2014
Messages
0
I'll share this here. Not an actual escape. More a rehousing adventure.
(Saying her here but unsure of gender)
So, acrylic cage came Sep 26, 2016.
First I assembled it. Next I fixed it up for Enigma my Psalmopoeus cambridge somewhere between 3-4 inches.
Got everything ready. Carefully emptied her current enclosure of the bigger stuff and with paintbrush in hand proceeded to coax the somewhat shy T into the new enclosure. Just as I touched her, thunder literally shook the house, and...lights went out. Naturally I jumped. Well,.....So did Enigma. I felt those little legs and claws as she crawled up my shoulder to the back of my neck. So I froze and asked the T-gods to not let her tag me.
Please understand. NO one in my house even wants to look at my T's. Their idea of handling an escape is raid or a fly swatter.
Seriously
OK so, moving forward...
Lights came on and Enigma high tailed it down my body to my lower legs. (Had yoga pants on so felt every step.) We then played all around the mulberry bush with me being the monkey for several minutes. There was no way she was going to be anywhere near a catch cup. I even tried just standing by the desk and nudging her onto it. Nope, I was her tree and nothing was going to change that. This went on for quite some time with me sitting for several minutes at one point to allow her to calm down. Only to go back to the same scenario when trying to cup her.
Finally in sheer desperation I gave up and laid my hand down in front of her. Honestly more then half expecting a bite as she was spooked. But, wanting her safe, I took the responsibility for it, as I was the one who jumped and spooked her to begin with.
Enigma stopped and touched the afore mentioned hand, tapped me like I might be food... stepped up and flattened into a stress pose. I nearly fell over when she curled. Really thought she going to bite, but, no. She just curled up obviously stressed. I slowly brought new enclosure closer and nudged her into it.
and finally mission accomplished.
How or why this happened with not getting tagged is anyone's guess, but far be it from me to question the good things that sometimes happen.
Now, I swear I thought I was prepared, I was doing this in a deep tub in case she bolted . Two catchcups at the ready, yet she managed to leap a good two plus feet in the pitch dark onto my shoulder.
Don't mind admitting I was a little worried, (insert extremely here)
Never a dull moment in my house I guess.
My Enigma stress curled in the corner unsure of the new enclosure. By the next morning was already making the place her own. I think I may have been WAY more stressed than she was .
Ummmm... wow. I would have died. My husband would be burying me. The fear would have been the killer
 

babyjtwizt

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 12, 2014
Messages
0
I had a H. lividum that I kept in a 10 gallon tank with lots of substrate (she is my avatar). She had a burrow and I hardly ever saw her. One day while cleaning her tank I noticed she didn't come looking for food so I picked up the tank and looked up her burrow from the bottom and she wasn't in it. After a fairly thorough search I found her huddled in the corner behind a large snake enclosure. I pulled it out from the wall and scooped her up in a catch cup and soon she was back in her home. After this escape I put a couple heavy books on top of the screen top and thought no more about it until I found her behind the snake enclosure again a short time later! I was floored. I don't know how she did it but she got out again! There should have been no way for her to move that screen enough to get out with those books on top but she did it. This time books were simply not going to be enough for me. I made some clips to keep the lid down and kept the books as added security. This should have been the end of it but one day I noticed the lid was a bit askew. By this time I was familiar with her hiding place and sure enough she was there. At this point I considered leaving her there and calling that her new home but I put her back and she never escaped again.I still don'the know how she got out with all the weight and clips on the lid but lesson learned. When a T wants out bad enough, they will teleport through the walls if they have to.
That would have scared the crap outta me. I wouldn't sleep
 

Kymura

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 1, 2015
Messages
182
Ummmm... wow. I would have died. My husband would be burying me. The fear would have been the killer
Naw, I couldn't let her get hurt. She came to me as a replacement, super tiny, dehydrated and very nearly dead. The first ones shipped were dead! I adore this baby. But I dang sure do NOT want to get tagged. Lol
Enigma pouncing a big dubia the next day in her new enclosure
IMG_2639.JPG
Ignore the water droplets I had just sprayed a bit into her dish while she was busy and splashed.
 

Python

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
631
That would have scared the crap outta me. I wouldn't sleep
It didn'the bother me once I realized she had a vacation home. The snake that was in the enclosure escaped a couple times and that did concern me. The first time it was still a baby and somehow it managed to reach the top of it's cage and push the lid off. The cage was taller than it was long so I'may not sure how it managed that. The plexiglass on the front of the big enclosure cracked and it pushed it's way through the second time. Both times a remedy was quickly enacted
 

darkness975

Latrodectus
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Aug 31, 2012
Messages
5,610
I had a H. lividum that I kept in a 10 gallon tank with lots of substrate (she is my avatar). She had a burrow and I hardly ever saw her. One day while cleaning her tank I noticed she didn't come looking for food so I picked up the tank and looked up her burrow from the bottom and she wasn't in it. After a fairly thorough search I found her huddled in the corner behind a large snake enclosure. I pulled it out from the wall and scooped her up in a catch cup and soon she was back in her home. After this escape I put a couple heavy books on top of the screen top and thought no more about it until I found her behind the snake enclosure again a short time later! I was floored. I don't know how she did it but she got out again! There should have been no way for her to move that screen enough to get out with those books on top but she did it. This time books were simply not going to be enough for me. I made some clips to keep the lid down and kept the books as added security. This should have been the end of it but one day I noticed the lid was a bit askew. By this time I was familiar with her hiding place and sure enough she was there. At this point I considered leaving her there and calling that her new home but I put her back and she never escaped again.I still don'the know how she got out with all the weight and clips on the lid but lesson learned. When a T wants out bad enough, they will teleport through the walls if they have to.
That does not make me feel very good.
 

Bread

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 11, 2016
Messages
26
I had a little 1inch ornata teleport up the wall once during feeding, he flew after a locust straight up the side and out of the enclosure and up said wall, he sat there on the ceiling blowing raspberries at me.
My house was built in the early 1700's so it was hard to capture him! (picture 6-7foot fireplaces and the worst bit, 14-15foot high ceilings, not easy to catch him)
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
Ah ah, Moakmeister's Fsjal avatar and Peanut memento cracked me up :)

--

Anyway I've never had escapes involving T's since '92. Escaped a couple of S.subspinipes pedelings (mine was gravid and I wasn't aware) but I managed to pinpoint and catch those: packed, and shipped a week ago, btw :-s
 

EulersK

Arachnonomicon
Staff member
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
3,292
I bought three or four N. incei at an expo, all sac mates, all slings. They lived happily together for a few weeks. I went away for a weekend business trip and came back to one fat sling. Three days later, she escaped. She ate her siblings and escaped from prison, so I named her Hannibal.

True story.
 

CyclingSam

Arachnoknight
Joined
May 22, 2016
Messages
214
STORY TIME!

What's the funniest or most scary escape story you've had with a tarantula?
I left the lid off my G. pulchripes's enclosure and left the room without thinking. I came back to see the little guy crawling down the outside of the enclosure. I decided to see what it would do. It got down to the carpet. It reached down to keep going, but when it touched the carpet, it stopped. In a tiny little voice it said, "Ah, Heck NO!" and then spun around and bolted back into its enclosure.
 

Najakeeper

Arachnoprince
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Messages
1,050
Let me go for a least favorite as it scared me quite a bit. I had a sub-adult male Theraphosa blondi living in an Exo Terra enclosure. It looks like I couldn't latch on that stupid door Exo Terras have after one feeding and this is what I came to find in my animal room one night:



That spider is about the size of your palm so a fall would probably end up with his abdomen exploding. Luckily, I managed to get him in a catch cup and back to his enclosure and now he is doing breeding runs all over Germany. But this also shows people really underestimate the climbing abilities of Theraphosa sp.
 

johnny quango

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
May 17, 2013
Messages
260
My 1 and only escape ended in tragedy for a Dolichothele diamantinensis sling that escaped through a vent (i think) still not sure. Anyway it got out of it's enclosure and climbed in through a larger vent on the enclosure next to it which just so happened to house a larger G iheringi sling as in twice the size and i ended up with a fatter iheringi and the remains of a D diamantinensis
 
Top