The Ultimate Urticating Hair Horror Stories thread.

[StampFan]

I've been a member here for a couple of years, got my first T in 1988, and don't see a lot of threads on urticating hairs.

I thought I'd start a master thread of urticating hair horror stories so members can share, and can use as a reference for new keepers, etc.

Two weeks ago I rehoused my Plesiopelma sp. Bolivia into its nice, permanent display enclosure. They (likely) have Type III and IV urticating hairs (please correct me if I'm wrong).

This individual has never kicked a hair, and is quite docile. After a smooth, easy rehouse, without thinking, I carelessly picked up the old substrate to dispose of it with my bare hands, and two weeks later I still have extremely itchy hands especially in the morning, numerous blisters, dead dry skin, and some bleeding right on the finger tips two weeks later. Not pleasant in any way. A real cautionary tale to not make that mistake again. Itch creams didn't help at all, with extremely hot water providing the only relief. My own fault, my nitrile gloves were sitting right beside me.

A cautionary tale. Please share your own urticating hair horror stories. I think this would be a fun and educational exercise.

 

[Dorifto]

You can use some vinegar, it helped me a bit when I changed the substrate of my pulchra. I did it without a t-shirt... you can imagine my body hahahahahaha xD NEVER AGAIN, lesson learned.

If you have some dyshidrotic eczema in your hands or fingers because of the urticating hairs, you can use a sterilized needle to puncture the little blisters or dots under the skin, they heal faster, like two days instead of weeks, also, they don´t itch as much.

 

[spideyspinneret78]

Not really a horror story, necessarily, but I once got haired by my T. stirmi. I was having a mold problem under the surface of the substrate and decided to change it all out because it was unsightly. I had to catch her and put her in a separate container so that I could work on the enclosure. She obviously wasn't too thrilled and was kicking hairs furiously. I was wearing long sleeves, safety goggles, a mask, and gloves, but some of the hairs landed on my neck. I had reddish hives and itchy skin there for a few days and would say that it was mildly unpleasant. I have asthma and am also prone to eczema and allergies in general, but for some odd reason the hairs have never really bothered me that much. I always wear protective gear, though, because I don't want to become sensitive. That would be miserable.

I also personally know someone who make a stupid choice and was trying to get a close up photo of a T. blondi. This person put their face very close to the tarantula and got haired directly in his face. A few urticating hairs became lodged in his eye. Thankfully he never experienced blindness, but says he wouldn't be surprised if there's a hair or two still lodged in his cornea. Apparently they couldn't remove all of them....I don't know the whole story. Needless to say, I never plan on making the same stupid mistake.

 

[ChaosSphere]

One of my close friends pulled out a molt of his A. geniculata and then went for a shower. Came back, put on his boxers after having dried himself.
Que the molt falling out of them.
He said it was unpleasant

 

[Ungoliant]

When my first tarantula, an elderly Avicularia avicularia, passed away, I foolishly pulled out all of her old webbing with my bare hands. The following day, my fingers swelled up like sausages, and even when the swelling subsided a few days later, I had a relentlessly itchy rash up to my forearms for over two weeks.

Wear gloves when cleaning out enclosures!

 

[Transrights]

As somebody who has not had a serious run in with urticating hairs yet, thank you all for the reminder to stay on top of gloving up before doing cage maintenance

 

[EtienneN]

I agree that really hot water really helps calm the itch from urticating hairs. Sometimes I don't wear gloves when I clean out a water dish of my A. chalcodes or G. pulchripes and I get some on my hands. Steroid cream also helps; Now I generally wear gloves when I scrub out the biofilm from water dishes unless of course its from an old world species.

 

[Vanessa]

I have done a couple of the things already mentioned - using the back of my fingers to tamp down substrate when it was recycled from a Brachypelma and tearing webbing off cork bark with my bare fingers.
However, the worst thing ever was the time that I put the exuvia from my Lasiodora difficilis on a piece of paper towel during feeding. I was careful to use the tongs to take it out and I used the tongs to put it away. What I didn't do was throw away the paper towel immediately. Fast forward to me feeding more spiders and cleaning out more cages, taking a drink of water, and absentmindedly wiping my mouth with that same paper towel.
I am just lucky that I didn't get any hairs in my eyes.

 

[FrmDaLeftCoast]

I've been a member here for a couple of years, got my first T in 1988, and don't see a lot of threads on urticating hairs.

I thought I'd start a master thread of urticating hair horror stories so members can share, and can use as a reference for new keepers, etc.

Two weeks ago I rehoused my Plesiopelma sp. Bolivia into its nice, permanent display enclosure. They (likely) have Type III and IV urticating hairs (please correct me if I'm wrong).

This individual has never kicked a hair, and is quite docile. After a smooth, easy rehouse, without thinking, I carelessly picked up the old substrate to dispose of it with my bare hands, and two weeks later I still have extremely itchy hands especially in the morning, numerous blisters, dead dry skin, and some bleeding right on the finger tips two weeks later. Not pleasant in any way. A real cautionary tale to not make that mistake again. Itch creams didn't help at all, with extremely hot water providing the only relief. My own fault, my nitrile gloves were sitting right beside me.

A cautionary tale. Please share your own urticating hair horror stories. I think this would be a fun and educational exercise.

I did the same thing for about a year, but for the most part I would wear my cut resistant gloves from work. So everytime my hands developed a rash, I'd blame the gloves and "something I must have touched at work". I would get new gloves and the rash would eventually go away. Not until just a few months ago while listening to a Tom Moran's podcast. He mentioned something about urticating hairs and substrates...BINGO...that's when I realized what was truly the problem: Me, myself and I.

 

[fried rice]

Not really a horror story, necessarily, but I once got haired by my T. stirmi. I was having a mold problem under the surface of the substrate and decided to change it all out because it was unsightly. I had to catch her and put her in a separate container so that I could work on the enclosure. She obviously wasn't too thrilled and was kicking hairs furiously. I was wearing long sleeves, safety goggles, a mask, and gloves, but some of the hairs landed on my neck. I had reddish hives and itchy skin there for a few days and would say that it was mildly unpleasant. I have asthma and am also prone to eczema and allergies in general, but for some odd reason the hairs have never really bothered me that much. I always wear protective gear, though, because I don't want to become sensitive. That would be miserable.

I also personally know someone who make a stupid choice and was trying to get a close up photo of a T. blondi. This person put their face very close to the tarantula and got haired directly in his face. A few urticating hairs became lodged in his eye. Thankfully he never experienced blindness, but says he wouldn't be surprised if there's a hair or two still lodged in his cornea. Apparently they couldn't remove all of them....I don't know the whole story. Needless to say, I never plan on making the same stupid mistake.

How long ago did the person get urticating hairs in his eyes?

 

[spideyspinneret78]

If I remember correctly, they mentioned that it was several years ago.

 

[StampFan]

I posted the original article for this one a few years ago; the original newspaper article has disappeared, but there's still this one:

Toronto boy gets nasty surprise from tarantula brought in as birthday treat

When you think of animals brought to entertain kids at a birthday party you're probably thinking a pony, a goat or maybe a little monkey. But Matthew and Allison Litzinger wanted their three-year-old son's third birthday to be special, so … <a...

ca.news.yahoo.com

 

[RezonantVoid]

Smh this is why beginners should always start with OW's to get experience before transitioning into NW's with hairs!

 

[Tarantula155]

Honestly, I've been haired by A. geniculata, T. stirmi, L. parahynana and I dunno if my skin is pretty resistant but I never had anything worse than itching for a couple of days.

Now, I know a guy I've sold a lot of Ts to who's been haired by his old stirmi.. he had blisters and rash-like skin all over his hands and arm. It looked BAD. I've also heard a story from a lady I sold a T to off craigslist. She said she developed an allergic reaction to the hairs and went to the hospital (while I was selling her an 7 inch LP, she knew about their hairs too... ) I dunno what's wrong with people lol

 

[Ungoliant]

Honestly, I've been haired by A. geniculata, T. stirmi, L. parahynana and I dunno if my skin is pretty resistant but I never had anything worse than itching for a couple of days.

Be careful; many keepers have limited reactions at first, but with repeated exposures, they become sensitized.

 

[Paul1126]

3 years keeping Ts never experienced anything bad from hairs yet

 

[mack1855]

Be careful; many keepers have limited reactions at first, but with repeated exposures, they become sensitized.

I think if I ever got haired,whether it was staring a T.blondi in the face,or pulling substrate from an enclosure cleaning,one time would be lesson learned for me.
I trust I would know better.Being haired by multiple NW T,s ,IMO,is a headscratcher.
BTW,if your working with your hairkickers,turn off the ceiling fans in you work area.Or any air circulation fan if you use one.

 

[Swagg]

When my first tarantula, an elderly Avicularia avicularia, passed away, I foolishly pulled out all of her old webbing with my bare hands. The following day, my fingers swelled up like sausages, and even when the swelling subsided a few days later, I had a relentlessly itchy rash up to my forearms for over two weeks.

Wear gloves when cleaning out enclosures!

That’s crazy. I didn’t know they could lay hairs down like that.
Good to know.

 

[Ungoliant]

That’s crazy. I didn’t know they could lay hairs down like that.
Good to know.

Avic webbing is often embedded with urticating hairs.

 

[StampFan]

Three week update:

My finger tips and hands are completely shedding skin, almost like the peeling after a bad sunburn. My finger tips are really, really flaky, and still bleed once in a while. And there is still itching, especially in the morning. I wouldn't call this a "reaction" per se, I obviously have barbed hairs that went into the skin, and the body is trying to figure out how to deal with that.

Wear nitrile gloves.