The most FAIL EVER. EVVVEERRRRR. (Escapee)

[Teal]

Thanks yall!

Steven... if it was just me in the house, I wouldn't bomb it... but I just couldn't risk my dogs or child. Which, to me, still sounds bad because I am choosing some of my loved ones over another, and that sucks. I am just SOOO glad I didn't have to make that decision!

LOL azgbb! I was glad that it was a terrestrial that escaped, at first.. until I realized something arboreal would be easier to find in the long run!

I don't remember who asked about it being a straight line to where she ended up... but no, it's not! She would have had to go around three dog crates that are flush against the wall (with dogs in them ), around the bar with all sorts of stuff piled at the base (newspaper stack, boots, etc.) into the bedroom, and then around a bed that is flush against the wall and floor, into the bathroom on the other side of the room! Definitely not the easiest place to get to... especially considering just outside my bedroom is a bathroom directly to the left that she could have gone into! lol

 

[Ariel]

Oh, wow. Thats crazy, glad you found her! I don't know what I'd do if one of my OW got out, we've got to many animals to move out and bomb the place.

 

[burmish101]

She just wanted to go on her version of a safari, check out the giant dogs and such.

 

[DamoK21]

well to be fair as easy as it is but bombing and killing inocent tarantula's for me just doesnt go no way

if an OW escaped on me id search high and low for it but because of there being kids in the house ill be sure to make sure i check every enclosure is tightly closed and sealed especially on OBT's they seem to be smart little gits lol

but yea for me no way would i ever bomb the house id rather stick to the explination and get it back safe and sound or just do what i do now make sure all enclosures are securly sealed shut

simple as that really

good find but be sure to ya no check then check again that way your safe ;P

 

[ZergFront]

I am the luckiest person sometimes.

Guess who I have in a deli cup, safe and sound?

She was definitely NOT in the room she escaped from.

I was alerted by "JAIRIIII!! JAAAAIIIRRRIII GET IN HERE NOOOOOOOOOOWWW!!!" to find her on the other side of the house next to a toilet. I immediately starting bawling with relief - she's safe, she's found, and she wasn't killed when I wasn't the one to find her. And if I leave now I'll even make it to work on time!

Damn it, I hate this hobby lol.

My goodness does that bring back memories. Except it was a large Jerusalem cricket and my mom had picked it up thinking it was a candy wrapper :?
Then I could hear from the other side of the house "DANIELLE! GET IN HERE!!"
It's bad when you instantly are thinking, "Oh great. She found one of my 'pets.' "

 

[Rowdy Hotel]

This thread made me search youtube for videos of T's escaping and sure enough I found 2, both OBT's. I know an escaping OW T's shouldn't be funny at all but I found them very funny, probably because it wasn't happening to me. I also got a sense for how fast they are and why I don't want to keep any.

http://www.youtube.com/watch#playnext=1&playnext_from=TL&videos=ylh6dHsuGB0&v=HxXrHc9sflA

http://www.youtube.com/watch#playnext=1&playnext_from=TL&videos=ylh6dHsuGB0&v=z2IMc-k3nFQ

 

[DamoK21]

This thread made me search youtube for videos of T's escaping and sure enough I found 2, both OBT's. I know an escaping OW T's shouldn't be funny at all but I found them very funny, probably because it wasn't happening to me. I also got a sense for how fast they are and why I don't want to keep any.

http://www.youtube.com/watch#playnext=1&playnext_from=TL&videos=ylh6dHsuGB0&v=HxXrHc9sflA

http://www.youtube.com/watch#playnext=1&playnext_from=TL&videos=ylh6dHsuGB0&v=z2IMc-k3nFQ

haha and yet iv got 5 of those beasts comming wahoooo lol and a haplopelma longipes ooo how fun bitey hissy and very pissy with mega speed and a seriouse bite its guna be fun ;P

 

[joshuai]

Glad you found it teal i just discovered my minax is on the loose! and i have kids an infant and a 5 yr old, My T room is in the crawl space and there is a lock on the crawler lid, so im not going to bomb. there is no way to get into the up stairs thank god! Im almost nervous to go down there! that thing is mean it might eat me!lol

 

[The Spider Faery]

I spent hours vacuuming all I could find before she came home, hoping she wouldn't find out what happened. But, lo and behold, I missed some and it wasn't even 5 minutes after she came home that she started finding a bunch of slings I missed.

Hehe, they crawl out of the vacuum, you know? I discovered this when my mother tried to vacuum up a sac of baby true spiders which hatched all over a room in the house when I was a kid. It seemed like a good method at the time to her, understandably, but it wasn't the best for capturing them overall...Many of them crawled back out of the hose, lol.

Teal, glad to hear you found your T! I'm not surprised it was found in the bathroom by the toilet. I think they gravitate to where there's water. When my now deceased N. coloratovillosus sling escaped, it was found by the sink.

 

[Teal]

Thanks yall!

Damo - this is the first time I've ever forgot to close an enclosure, and I chalk it up to how sick I've been lately. My mind has not been with me! lol
Bombing the house would definitely not be something I was okay with doing, and I would definitely search as much as possible first and do all I could do to find her... but it would be a last resort if I had to. Though - I say that. I don't know how I'd react if it actually came down to it.

I'm not surprised she ended up in the bathroom either... just THAT bathroom, since there is literally a bathroom less than 12 inches from where her tank is lol.

Zerg - lol sounds about right! After I heard her screaming, the first thing I responded with was, "You found her!!" hehe

 

[Bill S]

Well, sometimes a good scare like that is good for you in the long term. I bet you'll be twice as careful from now on with closing and securing cages.

Someone speculated on how other people in your house will now react, and that's sometimes a bigger issue. But I'd also bet they are fully aware that you will now try harder to prevent escapes in the future.

I haven't had quite the same experience of losing a potentially "significant" animal - but I've been on the other side of the coin a few times. Many years ago I was sitting down to breakfast one morning when I heard a "thump" from behind a nearby bookshelf. My wife looked up with a startled expression and said "Oh no!!! I forgot to close the rattlesnake cage!" A quick glance confirmed this. One rattlesnake was halfway out of the cage, the other had fallen behind the bookshelf. The escapee was recaptured, though not very easily. And there was an interesting conversation over breakfast about this.

More recently she announced, while in the kitchen looking at her collection of cups and vials containing spiders she was planning to photograph, "Looks like the Loxosceles had babies - and they were smaller than the vent holes in the cup...". (Loxosceles is the genus of recluse spiders.) We have not recaptured them. She's also the one who recently told me "I released all the baby black widows - I hope they do all right." I asked her where she released them and she answered "In the greenhouse - it's too cold outdoors for them." And yet she's the one who freaks out when I suggest getting a pokie.

 

[jallen]

I have never had one escape from leaving the container open or too big of vents but i can tell you from first hand experience that a 1.5" P. ornata can disappear right in front of your eyes. I opened the container to feed him and he jumped and i didnt have the slightest clue where he went. It took 45 minutes of frantic searching to find him on a wal mart bag in one of the wrinkles i had already picked up and threw in my hot box as a possible place he went. Sure enough while im searching i look over and see him pokie stance in a crease on the bag i was very relieved to find him. even the most careful can have an escapee. I now only open there containers on my clear glass table and there is nothing around for them to hide in or on. Good luck glad you found it.
P.S Its only the old world or aggressive T's that i take so much care when opening. mostly arboreals. they are soooo fast

 

[Teal]

Bill - Loose rattlesnakes.. niice! hehe We have rattlers all over here... but have yet to have one in the house!

jallen - I know what you mean! Opening enclosures to feed used to be something I was alittle more lax with, but I've re-thought my processes as of late!

 

[BCscorp]

Well, sometimes a good scare like that is good for you in the long term. I bet you'll be twice as careful from now on with closing and securing cages.

Someone speculated on how other people in your house will now react, and that's sometimes a bigger issue. But I'd also bet they are fully aware that you will now try harder to prevent escapes in the future.

I haven't had quite the same experience of losing a potentially "significant" animal - but I've been on the other side of the coin a few times. Many years ago I was sitting down to breakfast one morning when I heard a "thump" from behind a nearby bookshelf. My wife looked up with a startled expression and said "Oh no!!! I forgot to close the rattlesnake cage!" A quick glance confirmed this. One rattlesnake was halfway out of the cage, the other had fallen behind the bookshelf. The escapee was recaptured, though not very easily. And there was an interesting conversation over breakfast about this.

More recently she announced, while in the kitchen looking at her collection of cups and vials containing spiders she was planning to photograph, "Looks like the Loxosceles had babies - and they were smaller than the vent holes in the cup...". (Loxosceles is the genus of recluse spiders.) We have not recaptured them. She's also the one who recently told me "I released all the baby black widows - I hope they do all right." I asked her where she released them and she answered "In the greenhouse - it's too cold outdoors for them." And yet she's the one who freaks out when I suggest getting a pokie.

I cant even begin.....

 

[GartenSpinnen]

I have mentally prepared myself for the exact same response in the event of an African Escapee ( or Asian ). Will I do the same if a G. rosea is on the loose? not likely. ( but then I'd let my wife decide that one)

Agreed. I am also in the same boat. All my T's that are OW are kept in either tightly secured screw top plastic containers, lock tight containers, or in the case of my large pokie, in a locked exo-terra. All are then inside a locked cabinet, which stays in the one room my kids are not allowed in... our room.

 

[jebbewocky]

The only thing I've ever had escape was my leopard gecko, Max (RIP)--I had a log she loved to climb on and left her cage just a little open. She ended up going from the top of the bookshelf, to the floor without injury. She also managed to evade the cat and find the warmest place in the house. We found her safe and sound, after some brief moments of panicking. Mostly me crying like a little girl while my fiance did something useful and looked.

I read a story on reptilerooms once where a guy lost his leo, and after hours of searching was unable to find it. He checked for an hour or two a day, for weeks. Eventually he gave up. A few months later, he opened a DVD case to watch a movie--and found his gecko inside the case. He provided pics of the gecko and the movie case, which was pooped in.

I'm not too worried about significant species. I don't have any kids, and I'm almost 100% positive my cat could take any spider in a fight.

 

[AudreyElizabeth]

She's also the one who recently told me "I released all the baby black widows - I hope they do all right." I asked her where she released them and she answered "In the greenhouse - it's too cold outdoors for them." And yet she's the one who freaks out when I suggest getting a pokie.

That one made me chuckle.

I'm glad you found her Teal! I have a two year old and a dog as well. I keep all the Ts out of reach, but I still worry on occasion about one getting out. Like Joe said, it is unlikely that a bite would cause death, but if she were to experience that kind of pain due to my negligence I would never forgive myself, and it would be the end of my keeping old worlds.
My only escapee was an Aphonopelma seemani, I didn't worry about it, but my husband sure was ticked off. She was found about thirty minutes after I discovered she was gone.