The T that no one handled

[Moltar]

Yowch. I'm not sure if that's incredibly daring, incredibly stupid or both.


Yeah... my money's on both.

 

[Brian S]

Probably more stupid

 

[Psych0]

Sorry for the lame question, but what is a recuse?

 

[Pulk]

My question is, what's the point? Why handle a T, or a spider, or whatever, unless it's in trouble or needs help? It's not like they need affection, or desire to be near thier owners.....we're not talking about dogs and cats here. As far as handling goes from the T's point of view, we are little more than a moving obstical for them to crawl on. Why risk getting bit, or hurting the animal? IMO this is unnecissary and only gratifying to the owner, so why do it?

Because it's gratifying to the owner.

also you can look up recluse spider on the google... it's a small brown spider, Loxosceles reclusa, that has a pretty bad bite...

 

[bliss]

i have a 1.5" Selenocosmia arndsti that is VERY defensive, though i have handled it (not by choice) it sorta just ran onto my hand and stayed there.
i've handled obt's and P lugardi's before, some people think they are horrible but the truth is once they get out on your hand, they aren't really that bad. Just don't make any sudden movements and you should be cool. (my friends call me stupid, but hey, i'd rather be stupid than a wuss).
i've been bitten by a few t's before, but it doesn't stop me. L.q's i've handled, again not by choice. trying to pack it for a trade, little bugger just ran straight between my index finger and my middle finger on my left hand. i FROZE, but then he sorta just slowly walked around and i watched him for a couple minutes, then i let him back down into the paper towel.
~personally i just think the after feeling is the best, you know, the whole "oh my gosh i can't believe i just did that, but hey it was sorta cool" feeling. but that's just IMO.

 

[Twistedrayne]

My question is, what's the point? Why handle a T, or a spider, or whatever, unless it's in trouble or needs help? It's not like they need affection, or desire to be near thier owners.....we're not talking about dogs and cats here. As far as handling goes from the T's point of view, we are little more than a moving obstical for them to crawl on. Why risk getting bit, or hurting the animal? IMO this is unnecissary and only gratifying to the owner, so why do it?

Because you can't very well hold your pet fish now can ya? If I were interested in something I could JUST look at then I wouldn't bother paying a lot of money for it like I'm willing to do for a T. I can hold a T after all. You don't see people walking around with a pretty fish clinging to their shirt.

 

[Twistedrayne]

On a serious note. I think there are two main reasons people handle. One is to make the pet less boring to them and two is to simply show off that they can handle it.

 

[xhexdx]

This thread is two years old...

Widowman10 holds his widows, btw.

 

[Julia]

Aw, come on now. Resurrecting old threads is fun sometimes!

Another reason for handling Ts......

I find handling my Ts to be very calming. I'm generally a nervous, anxiety-prone person, but as soon as I try to handle a T, I'm very calm....hands don't shake anymore....breathing slows. It's very therapeutic.

(I believe there is/was someone on here who handles centipedes for the therapeutic value also?)

 

[BrynWilliams]

Like, brown recluse? Anyone know anyone who has handled one? I know it's a true spider, not a t, but still...why take the risk of hurting your self or the spider?

A response in one of the recent threads had a poster say that he'd handled his brazilian wandering spider because we wanted to be able to say he'd handled every invert he owned

 

[rustym3talh3ad]

i was going to say, i have handled widows before, i handle small unidentifiable house spiders all the time, and i have even handled my Cupiennius salei (central american wondering spider) i dont know if i would go as far as holding the Brazilian, but who knows ;-).

and as far as people who complain that handling T's or inverts is silly wrong or stupid i say for sake of saying so IMHO these are our dogs....cats....or rats...to me inverts are a pet not just something u keep in a cage, so why not interact with them? people hand feed Avics all the time, THATS silly, but then again so is takin a piece of food between ur teeth and letting ur dog take it from you...at least with a T bite its gonna hurt for a bit then go away...dog bite to the face isnt so harmless.

 

[cacoseraph]

i free handle "crazy" stuff for a variety of reasons. it seems like most of the public (and most of the forums, for that matter) sort of assumes that a lot of species are gnarly and out to bite everything

i think pics or vids of free handling combined with explanation of the species helps to give the public (lol, and forumites) a more unbiased opinion of certain species and bugs in general


to date i have held at least one Loxosceles species, a couple few Latrodectus species, ~15-20 giant centipede species, a lot of the crazy tarantula species (though i don't hold stuff like Haplopelma... i just don't jive with the angry fossorials for some reason), and i have petted Sicarius. All of this was done to prove to myself and others that bugs are not the monsters ppl seem to like to think of them as. i have never had to go to the hospital from playing with animals (except when a DOG bit me when i was a little kid at a park)... and aside from a few centipede species have never even been made very uncomfortable from playing with animals


plus... it's fun

one thing i do not think is a particularly good idea is to free handle known killers. the risk versus reward is too high for my tastes. the infinity of death multiplied by even a tiny percentage of likelihood is still infinite =P

 

[blix]

A response in one of the recent threads had a poster say that he'd handled his brazilian wandering spider because we wanted to be able to say he'd handled every invert he owned

People talk a lot. But I seriously doubt that he handled P. nigriventer, any sane person wouldn't do it - unless he is into taking chances.

Anyone handled Sicarius hahni?

 

[Moltar]

one thing i do not think is a particularly good idea is to free handle known killers...

LOL! Yeah... I'd call that one a no-brainer. And yet, some people do. :wall:

I guess different people handle their bugs for different reasons. I occasionally handle when I'm feeling a connection with this specimen or that. If my MM A genic wants to come out when I open the lid, i'll let him. Also i'll sometimes handle a bug for the benefit of a fascinated visitor to my bug room. I don't look at it as a challenge though, I don't feel the need to lay my hands on everything in my collection for example.

I really have no problem with people handling their stuff except for when somebody wants to grab something highly dangerous like a Sicarius or an LQ. One single highly publicised death could do untold damage to our hobby.

 

[Sathane]

Humans have a tendency to want to touch anything they can see just to prove that they can so I doubt there are any known species that haven't been handled.

 

[xhexdx]

LOL! Yeah... I'd call that one a no-brainer. And yet, some people do. :wall:

Silly Ethan, that's because those people have no brains!

 

[jbm150]

Pardon my ignorance but what is an LQ?

 

[xhexdx]

Pardon my ignorance but what is an LQ?

Leiurus quinquestriatus

Deadly species of scorpion, known as the Death Stalker.

 

[jbm150]

Ahhh i see. They have one of those at the pet store I frequent. The owner sometimes takes it out on his finger. He's diabetic and he exasperates his wife every time he does it. I don't know much about their toxicity but i've heard its pretty potent. Its impressive he holds it, brass cojones and all, but probably not very smart.

 

[xhexdx]

No, not smart at all. He's in for it if he gets stung.

Here's the wiki entry for them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathstalker

It should be under lock and key, btw. I believe it's considered a species of concern.