Which OW Tarantulas Have Medically Significant Bites?

[Envoirment]

So recently I bought my first OW tarantula, a beautiful Ceratogyrus darlingi. I looked up a lot of info on the forum about it and looked up a lot of bite records and it seems to have a painful bite, but nothing too serious.

That got me thinking, it would be good to have a thread with a list of OWs with medically significant bites - as it would prove useful to see which species to avoid for some (including myself).

From reading the forum, the ones I've read having significant venom are species of Poecilotheria, Chilobrachys and Pterinochilus. Although I'm sure many other old world species/genus' do as well.

It would be great if some of the many experienced members here and those who have been bitten by certain species (and subsequently needed medical attention) could post their experiences.

 

[EulersK]

The list is massive, so I'll leave that to someone else. What I want to bring up is that everyone has different reactions to these venoms. What might be mild New World venom to one person could literally kill another due to allergies. That being said, your answers are going to vary quite a bit.

 

[Oroborus]

There is a heading for bite reports; although, a pinned list of "avoid species unless you have your act together" for a quick reference may be beneficial. You are right, there many more genus that have medically significant venom, and/or fast and highly defensive.

 

[Toxoderidae]

All OW have medically significant venom. That's the simplest you can get, and all you need to know. Treat every OW and NW with the same respect.

 

[TheInv4sion]

All OW have medically significant venom. That's the simplest you can get, and all you need to know. Treat every OW and NW with the same respect.

this^
Moral of the story: Don't get bit
Be careful always take proper precautions

 

[Flexzone]

In general pretty much all OW venom contain pretty potent proteins. Even though I didn't go to the hospital One time when feeding a 1 inch P. Regalis it ran up my arm and gave me a good bite, couple hours later the site of the bite was raised and about 4 inches around It was a burning~stinging sensation that lasted about 4 hours.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

You don't want a full grow 0.1 P.ornata bite, just for example. C.fimbriatus venom is one of the underestimated ones.

The Asian (somewhat "near" to Aussie-Landia) T's one, such genus Selenocosmia.
Stromatopelma calceatum. Harpactirella lightfooti. And so on.

What Toxoderidae said. And the different reaction/s someone could have, involving a different age, health etc like EulersK suggested.

With that, just for saying crap, now... if forced 'gun at the head', i will take a C.marshalli or C.darlingi bite in a finger anytime, rather than a Pterinochilus murinus one.

Not that i know, uh... never been tagged by a Theraphosidae. I assume that based on what i know about.

 

[Envoirment]

I understand that people will have different reactions, but at the same time you could still categorise in a general aspect. As I don't think it matters who you are, a bite from an adult P.ornata is going to be significant. And we know that a P.ornata has much more potent venom compared to a common bee, yet some will die from a bee sting (allergic reaction) and not from a P.ornata bite.

Not all OW tarantulas have medically signicant venom either - otherwise I would have never bought a Ceratogryus darlingi. But in saying that a lot of them do, so perhaps I should have phrased the question the other way around - which OW species do not have medically significant bites? As I assume the list will be quite small and easier to compile.

In regards to determining which do and do not have a medically significant bite, I would assume the species in question is an adult. Whilst a bite from a Poecilotheria sling or juvenile may not send you to the hospital, once they become an adult and capable of injecting more venom per bite, then it gets a lot more serious.

I just like to be able to categorise things and would happily give it a shot reading through the bite report forum in the future - I just don't have too much free time over the next couple months to do so. Which is why I started this thread as I thought I could get a quicker response given all the experienced keepers here who keep OW tarantulas.

 

[cold blood]

I understand that people will have different reactions, but at the same time you could still categorise in a general aspect. As I don't think it matters who you are, a bite from an adult P.ornata is going to be significant. And we know that a P.ornata has much more potent venom compared to a common bee, yet some will die from a bee sting (allergic reaction) and not from a P.ornata bite.

Not all OW tarantulas have medically signicant venom either - otherwise I would have never bought a Ceratogryus darlingi. But in saying that a lot of them do, so perhaps I should have phrased the question the other way around - which OW species do not have medically significant bites? As I assume the list will be quite small and easier to compile.

In regards to determining which do and do not have a medically significant bite, I would assume the species in question is an adult. Whilst a bite from a Poecilotheria sling or juvenile may not send you to the hospital, once they become an adult and capable of injecting more venom per bite, then it gets a lot more serious.

I just like to be able to categorise things and would happily give it a shot reading through the bite report forum in the future - I just don't have too much free time over the next couple months to do so. Which is why I started this thread as I thought I could get a quicker response given all the experienced keepers here who keep OW tarantulas.

There is a small handful of ow's that are less potent (while still being potent), Ceratogryus and Augecaphelous are the 2 that come to mind....not to say they can't be quite nasty themselves though. I don't believe there are any ow arboreals that aren't medically significant.

Also its my understanding that with the way t venom works, allergic reactions are not an issue...although different people may have different reactions, its not like an allergic reaction to a bee sting...the medical significance doesn't come from an allergic reaction, it comes from the venom's effects.

0823150020

• cold blood
• Jan 28, 2016
• 3
• ceratogyrus darlingi

darlingi

C. darlingi can have quite the attitude, my AF sure does

 

[Toxoderidae]

And a Ceratogyrus bite will still cause immense pain dude.

 

[louise f]

Treat every OW and NW with the same respect

Wise words from someone who is 13 years old, you got my respect there "son".

 

[viper69]

This question is asked all the time over the years. The bite reports section is the place to look as mentioned earlier.

If you don't find info, just ask as you did, people will respond.

Typically Asian species have quite powerful venom and many African species are equally as bad generally speaking. Seems the closer one moves to Australia (the land with some of the most venomous animals on the planet in BOTH land and sea!!) the stronger the venom.

 

[Toxoderidae]

So really don't say you'll get a different reaction with OW bites. You'll still be hospitalised regardless if an adult bites you, and with OW arboreals and asians you'll go to the hospital regardless of size.

 

[Andrea82]

I'm not entirely sure, but medically significant does not relate to the venom only, from what I've gathered. Some species are prone to inflict multiple bites in one go, thus making them medically (or even more) significant. I believe I've read something like that about the H. maculata. Can someone verify this?

 

[darkness975]

I treat all of my invertebrates as if they were able to kill me. This helps to prevent the feeling of "complacency" that can creep in when you are not thinking about it. You do not want to be using your hands to clean a bunch of NW and then without thinking shove it into a P. murinus enclosure.

Long handled tongs for bolus/waste removal, disposable water dishes (salad dressing cups you can buy in bulk) that can be grabbed and replaced with the tongs, and powderless vinyl gloves (for urticating hair prevention) combined with alertness and common sense will all work together to do wonders and ensure that the chance of a bite are virtually non existent.

 

[viper69]

I'm not entirely sure, but medically significant does not relate to the venom only, from what I've gathered. Some species are prone to inflict multiple bites in one go, thus making them medically (or even more) significant. I believe I've read something like that about the H. maculata. Can someone verify this?

Some species do bite multiple times. I've always been under the impression from the literature that medically significant is about the venom toxicity, not the frequency of bites.

 

[Andrea82]

Some species do bite multiple times. I've always been under the impression from the literature that medically significant is about the venom toxicity, not the frequency of bites.

Thanks for clearing that up. Guess I remembered it wrong. Maybe it's more like medically significant bite AND prone to multiple bites, instead of more medically significant bite BECAUSE of prone to multiple bites.

 

[viper69]

Thanks for clearing that up. Guess I remembered it wrong. Maybe it's more like medically significant bite AND prone to multiple bites, instead of more medically significant bite BECAUSE of prone to multiple bites.

The articles I've read don't discuss frequency of bite as parameter for the term.

 

[mistertim]

I'm not entirely sure, but medically significant does not relate to the venom only, from what I've gathered. Some species are prone to inflict multiple bites in one go, thus making them medically (or even more) significant. I believe I've read something like that about the H. maculata. Can someone verify this?

I've read the same thing about S. calceatum. Those things are fierce, man.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

And a Ceratogyrus bite will still cause immense pain dude.

Eh eh, no doubts about, man