Urticating hairs don't seem to bother me. curious if others experience that as well

YellowQueen

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 22, 2021
Messages
10
If this isnt the place please let me know. This has just had me curious for a while.

I keep mostly arboreal new worlds but I have a few hair kickers. namely my fire-leg. Anyway, Ive never used gloves to clean my terrestrials cages or any others, also had my Avics rub their butts on the back of my hand when I have to get it in there farther to get food bits out.

anyway, NEVER had an issue with the hairs and cannot honestly say i've ever felt them.

I would expect that my eyes and sinuses would still be sensitive so Im not dumb and would never get that close.

does anyone else have no reaction or irritation from urticating hairs? or extreme irritation?
 

DaveM

ArachnoOneCanReach
Old Timer
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Jul 12, 2011
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1,163
Some people are more affected than others. You're lucky, but don't abuse your good fortune, because you could easily become sensitized over time.
The species matters a lot too. There are different types of urticating setae. For me, Avics have never been a bother, Brachypelma somewhat, and Theraphosa are the worst.
Other people might react differently.
 

YellowQueen

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 22, 2021
Messages
10
Some people are more affected than others. You're lucky, but don't abuse your good fortune, because you could easily become sensitized over time.
The species matters a lot too. There are different types of urticating setae. For me, Avics have never been a bother, Brachypelma somewhat, and Theraphosa are the worst.
Other people might react differently.
I do try to avoid the hairs I would rather not be the cause of bald butt
 

quirinus

Arachnoknight
Joined
Dec 17, 2019
Messages
180
i think you just have not been exposed to them strong enough
i also felt no setae a long time, i keep a theraphosa, a LP, a Pampho, ..
but then i unintentionally touched the catchcup on the inside after rehousing the heavy kicking P. sp. machala, since then know i can feel it :)

just sit down on a theraphosa exuvia with your naked butt, then come back to this thread :)
 

Arachnid Addicted

Arachnoprince
Joined
Apr 16, 2019
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1,546
Field of dreams motto was "build it, and they will come".

You can say almost the same to allergies, "keep nw ts, and they will come".

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
 

DomGom TheFather

Arachnoprince
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Apr 26, 2020
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1,975
I react very mildly but still don't go looking for trouble. Some people get lucky with these things. I didn't react to poison ivy until i was twenty. A bunch of my family members don't get it. After i started reacting to the devil's vine, i can't even look at the stuff without getting water blisters. Play it by ear. There's always next time.
 

Jess S

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 10, 2019
Messages
572
Most of mine are hair kickers/rubbers or flickers. Some affect me more than others. I haven't had a bad reaction yet, but I try to mitigate exposure as much as reasonably possible. As DaveM says you can become more susceptible over time and get progressively worse reactions. Some people have stopped keeping new worlds due to how bad their reactions got .

The worst thing that's happened so far, was I accidentally inhaled some T stirmi hairs. It was my fault and I felt really daft after. It wasn't severe though, just very unpleasant, must have just been a few hairs rather than a full cloud.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
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17,851
If this isnt the place please let me know. This has just had me curious for a while.

I keep mostly arboreal new worlds but I have a few hair kickers. namely my fire-leg. Anyway, Ive never used gloves to clean my terrestrials cages or any others, also had my Avics rub their butts on the back of my hand when I have to get it in there farther to get food bits out.

anyway, NEVER had an issue with the hairs and cannot honestly say i've ever felt them.

I would expect that my eyes and sinuses would still be sensitive so Im not dumb and would never get that close.

does anyone else have no reaction or irritation from urticating hairs? or extreme irritation?

It's all over the board, everyone is different. Some yes, some no, some only keep OWs due to UrS.
 

Ungoliant

Malleus Aranearum
Staff member
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Messages
4,096
i think you just have not been exposed to them strong enough
i also felt no setae a long time, i keep a theraphosa, a LP, a Pampho, ..
but then i unintentionally touched the catchcup on the inside after rehousing the heavy kicking P. sp. machala, since then know i can feel it :)

just sit down on a theraphosa exuvia with your naked butt, then come back to this thread :)
It's not uncommon for new keepers. I wasn't sensitive -- until I was.

Repeated exposures can cause you to become more sensitive over time. Do yourself a favor and try to minimize contact.

Especially don't do what I once did: clean an old Avicularia enclosure with no gloves, ripping out hair-laced webbing with my bare hands. My hands swelled, and I itched like crazy for two weeks.

Learn from the mistakes of others; you won't live long enough to make them all yourself.
 

Tarantulafeets

Arachnobaron
Joined
Nov 8, 2020
Messages
336
When I started out about a year ago, I had my lp under a catch cup during rehousing, that was the only real time that she kicked at me but I didn't really feel anything. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I was watching my lp move around with the enclosure lid open taking photos, and she went over to the water dish to poop inside, and that made me itchy :rofl:
 

The Grym Reaper

Arachnoreaper
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Jul 19, 2016
Messages
4,835
Reactions can develop (and worsen) with repeated exposure. I never used to have reactions at all, I currently only have reactions to Acanthoscurria/Lasiodora/Nhandu/Phormictopus/Theraphosa hairs and Lasiodora are by far the worst out of those for me.
 

vancwa

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 3, 2011
Messages
405
I always wear disposable gloves. Use tongs to remove water dishes, take it to the sink and rinse well before washing. Mist down enclosures before emptying and cleaning.
 
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