The "Santa Hat" Techinique (pattent pending)

[SkyeSpider]

I was hanging out with Todd Gearheart the other day, and he taught me the coolest trick.

How many times have you had to move your testy Asian or African tarantulas and been afraid of how fast and agressive they are? NO MORE, I say!

I was buying my first Asian tarantula from Todd, yesterday, and he needed to move it to a new deli-cup for me to take home. He bet me that he could move it into the new cup without seeing a threat posture, or having it charge away at full speed. This I had to see.

Todd grabbed a Santa hat that he had sitting on the kitchen counter, nearby. He then used the puff ball on the end to gently rub the abdomen of the tarantula. It slowly walked right into the new cup and sat right now. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that it was a rosehair or something!

So after seeing my new Haplopelma species totally worked over by the gentle massage of the Santa hat, I had to understand how this works. From what Todd says, the spider doesn't feel threatened by the soft touch of the puff. As long as there's no pressure against it, the spider will stay calm and only move away from it.

I had to try this when I got it home. I took a new sock that was very soft and cut part of it off. I then placed it into my 12" clamps and closed them tightly, the fabric hanging loosely from the end. I opened the lid on my new Haplopelma, set the cup SLOWLY into the new cage. I then rubbed its abdomen lightly. To my surprise, it walked right out, just like it was a Brachypelma or something equally docile!

To those of you thinking this was just a sluggish tarantula, you're dead wrong. When I put the lid on the cage, the vibration must have spooked her. She gave me a very lovely threat posture that didn't end for quite a while!

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So anyway, there you have it. Todd Gearheart's Santa Hat Technique (patent pending). Use it with caution, and may it serve you well

-Bryan

ps~ This should be a sticky!

 

[MrFeexit]

I get rearings with a paintbrush but the puffball does make sense. MAybe a larger softer paint brush instead of one dried out with varnish on it might help....I'M KIDDING!!!!

 

[SkyeSpider]

Originally posted by monantony
Anyone ever hear of a paintbrush................
T

Don't take the fun out of this ;P It's just better with a Santa hat, okay?

-Bryan

 

[Phillip]

Not to take the fun out as you put it but it works with anything that covers them. For example when putting a quick moving feisty one into a deli cup they dont attack the paper towel going over them but instead they kinda curl up and shut down. It seems as if their response mechanism doesn't have any way of dealing with things that completely cover them and they simply shut down.

Phil

 

[metzgerzoo]

Well, I like all of them! When we're in a Devincci mood, grab the paintbrush...when we're in the Mr. Clean mood, grab the paper towl but what the heck, it's the holdiay season...tis the season for Santa's Puff balls! I think it's another good idea for getting a fiesty T to do what we need it to do and hey, if it lessens the stress...EXCELLENT!

 

[PapaSmurf]

only trick you need is this one....... Dont be scared, i move all my nasty ones armed with only a 10 gallon the old container and the new container i mess with it till it moves out then i slowly work it into the new contianer, when moveing my T's i only worry about one thing, them getting hurt. dont really care about getting bit myself.plus when they come in a delicup, i just put the delicup into the container lift the lid off and they go in on there own. i dont like paintbrushes very much my T's are always stupid an bite the handle when i use one so i gave up useing a paintbrush. the T normally moves out on there own.

Josh

 

[pronty]

Santa hats with T's, eh? Heh...

So when you're coming back from a Xmas party wearing a Santa hat, it's okay to stick your head in the African/Asian T tank?

Okie dokie....

 

[phormingochilus]

Not to take the fun out as you put it but it works with anything that covers them.

Yep - even a bare hand works well in some cases. I have surprised Ray Gabriel when using hands to calm down a minax (sensu Thorell - 18 cm legspan) running up my chest towards my face while doing a bit of haphazard transfers LOL And Volker on another occasion when one of his larger Ornithoctonids did a jump into mid air towards the floor and I instinctively catched it with my hands and - well - pelvic region LOL. The spider survived and I think Volker got his ideas about the crazy danes confirmed LOL.

Usually you can calm down just about any species of theraphosid if you cup it with two hands slowly closing over and around the spider in one smooth motion - apparently it perceives the hands as a hide away and cuddles up instead of going into threat mode. With a little practise you can then slide your hands gently under the T and move it in this way.

It takes immense experience and a talent of "sensing" situations and behaviours mood etc with the T's but it can be done though I would not encourage anyone to just jump straight in and wrangle usually aggressive species - but it can be done ;-) But before jumping into this much accursed twilight zone of the T-hobby you should at least ask your self 2 questions which should both be answered 100% honest:

Why would I do this?

Is it worth getting bitten by doing this?

Think about it ;-)

Best regards
Søren

 

[metzgerzoo]

Makes sence to me...and people think I'm nuts for putting my hand down on top of my T's and "turning" them into my palm....HAH, now I know I'm not the only "loon" in tarantula world!!! Soren has a good point...they view it more as a hide and don't kick, they get cozy.;P

 

[DnKslr]

Anyone ever hear of a paintbrush................

Ummm, the paintbrush thing REALLY didn't work for my cobalt. She pulled it into the tank and "Killed" it. She doesn't mind the straw though..., weird!:?

 

[Lopez]

Originally posted by phormingochilus
Yep - even a bare hand works well in some cases. I have surprised Ray Gabriel when using hands to calm down a minax (sensu Thorell - 18 cm legspan) running up my chest towards my face while doing a bit of haphazard transfers LOL And Volker on another occasion when one of his larger Ornithoctonids did a jump into mid air towards the floor and I instinctively catched it with my hands and - well - pelvic region LOL. The spider survived and I think Volker got his ideas about the crazy danes confirmed LOL.

Usually you can calm down just about any species of theraphosid if you cup it with two hands slowly closing over and around the spider in one smooth motion - apparently it perceives the hands as a hide away and cuddles up instead of going into threat mode. With a little practise you can then slide your hands gently under the T and move it in this way.

It takes immense experience and a talent of "sensing" situations and behaviours mood etc with the T's but it can be done though I would not encourage anyone to just jump straight in and wrangle usually aggressive species - but it can be done ;-) But before jumping into this much accursed twilight zone of the T-hobby you should at least ask your self 2 questions which should both be answered 100% honest:

Why would I do this?

Is it worth getting bitten by doing this?

Think about it ;-)

Best regards
Søren

LOL, Søren, I was at Ray's house last weekend moving lots of Poecilotheria into small tanks for selling, and he used his hands to shield them when they got a bit agitated. Seems he has learned a thing or two from you

Far better than my "technique" of trying to shut them in a cricket tub - I hadn't noticed the enormous hole cut in the lid, I thought I had found a magical escapologist regalis :8o
Ray found that most amusing as you can probably guess.