why would she bite me........?

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insane247

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so today i went to pick up my rosea. i usually guide her into my hand. the first touch or two usually startles her, but she calms down and realizes it's just me and walks into my hand. today she flinched, then the second time i touched her she kicked a hair off on me. she did that three times and then i decided to leave her alone, but she was in the way of where i put the hide so i tried to move her so i would not crush her leg or something and she bit me!

the reason why this is so wierd is because i have had her since october and she has never shown any agression to me before. sometimes she is scared but once she knows it's me she calms down. she has never so much as kicked a hair off on me let alone bite me! and she is not molting because she just ate 3 crickets yesterday. (i gave her more than usual because i could not get to the pet store last week and she went almost a week without food)

can anyone tell me reasons why a dostile breed like this and a member of it that is dostile compared to others would bite when i did nothing that i dont normally do? i am so gob-smacked about this whole thing
 

Spiderman24

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Because she is a tarantula... docile or not they can and will bite.... she gave you fair warning like you said three time kicking hairs at you saying "hey leave me alone stop touching me" then the last time she felt cornered and resorted to her last known defense a bite. Every tarantula has moods and the labled docile tarantulas is only there to say it will tolerate more then others. like I can say my p.miranda is docile because she let's me hold her for ages and never threat displays. but that doesn't mean she won't bite me if I don't take to her warnings. Whether you want to believe it or not a rose hair is still a tarantula and still a wild animal. I can honestly say most of my pokies are "docile" because they let me hold them, but I never think for even a second oh they won't bite me never. because in fact they can and if they want to they will. so take into consideration and give it a lesson learned if she kicks hairs at you that's your one warning take it and leave her alone.

But to answer your rudimentary question she could be hungry in premolt pissy cause you didn't leave her alone numerous things

---------- Post added at 01:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:23 AM ----------

I'm sorry if I came off rude but I found your question pretty ridiculous. I mean come on you answered it yourself she kicked at you three times. that's why she bit
 

Mojo Jojo

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01. You tried to pick her up.
02. She flinched.
03. You tried to pick her up.
04. She kicked hairs.
05. You tried to pick her up.
06. She kicked hairs
07. You tried to pick her up.
08. She kicked hairs.
09. You tried to pick her up.
10. She bit you.

If this was a highly defensive tarantula, then it may have gone down like this:

1. You tried to pick her up.
2. She bit you.

I think the lesson here should be that you should have put her hide somewhere else.
 

insane247

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i guess i understand that i bothered her too much. but she has never even so much as given me warnings. and i do handle her a lot
 

RyTheTGuy

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Dragonfly pretty much said everything that needed to be said.
 

Spiderman24

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Tarantulas have there days man. like just an hour ago my p.ornata threw me a threat display and she's usually calm as a Hindu cow
 

insane247

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thanks spiderman. my question isnt really why she bit me, is why is she out of character. i know every being has a day with a bad mood. the reason why i found this so wierd is because in 6 months this is her first moody day
 

Spiderman24

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Hmmm has the temperature dropped in your house? Rehousing cleaning? Anything that might cause a bit of stress that's out of the ordinary maybe loud noises in the room she's kept in?
 

Lolita

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typically if any of mine threat display in any way (hair kicking posturing ect) i leave them alone and move onto another T to play with if i feel like messing with them cause they do have their moods docile or not
 

xhexdx

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Tarantulas don't have 'character' and they don't have 'moods'. They're spiders.
 

Upjohn252

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Its very welll known that Rose hairs are moody, and are prone to very rapid, sharp mood swings .
 

Spiderman24

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I disagree with that xhexdx how does it not have moods? They are a lifeform right I mean a cat is only a cat but it can be a bit moody aye? I dog is a dog but it can them around and bite at any point because of a mood. I mean if a dog has a broken leg it is in pain right? Obviously. and you can have owned it for years so it knows you right? Right. then one day you while its limping around. you pet it. it growls at you. is that not a mood? It is only a dog after all? That's like saying a spider can feel pain. and how do you explain the whole spiders on drugs ordeal? I mean they used caffeine and caffeine is a mood altering substance through endorphines. causing you to be hyper and such. changing your mood. and spiders do have endorphines do they not?

---------- Post added at 02:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:08 AM ----------

Yes all spiders have "character" and moods
 

insane247

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ok so (i dont remember who) said that a change in environment could be the cause. usually when i buy crickets they are all quiet. but this batch has had one chirper in it. could hearing the chirping cause her to act like that? i haven't touched her since i got this batch of crickets so it is possible right?

---------- Post added at 12:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:21 AM ----------

and upjohn i have heard the opposite, that they are one of the most tolerant breeds of tarantulas

---------- Post added at 12:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:22 AM ----------

xhexdx r u nuts? r u one of those people that think humans r the only beings to have feelings? god anyone who thinks that has never owned a pet and has never seen an animal demonstrate love, sadness, anger, etc. insects and arachnids have all the same feelings, moods, and behaviours of mammals and humans. anything with a brain has feelings. the brain is not just for directing the body. this is so for all living things with brains. even living things without brains have behaviour

---------- Post added at 12:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:31 AM ----------

another question? what is posturing? is that when she has her front legs up? because that's what she did but i have seen her do that when she is just trying to feel what is there. (like if im pouring her water or if she is crawling up the branch thingy but sizing it up first). jeeze when i bought her i thought i knew a lot about animals, especially spiders.
 

Mojo Jojo

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Three things that might be helpful to google here:

1. The fight or flight response
2. The story of the scorpion and the frog
3. Anthropomorphism

You will see the wiki links in my new signature.
 
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insane247

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Big Dragonfly i get u but i am really just trying to narrow down the cause of her moodiness. because, like i said, this is way out of character for her. like the flight or flight response makes sense because she was scared. but the tale of the scorpion and the frog doesnt exactly match up. i know, she is a spider. but dont you think typical behaviour provides somewhat of an exception to that story. a scorpion stings a. because it can b. because that is scorpion behaviour. but the story would likely have a different outcome if the spider does not behave agressively in general and has never done so in my ownership of her. it's just like saying a person will get mad if you poke him repeatedly. but say one particular person is practically gandhi. because he is a person, poking him is likely to get him mad. but this person has an extremely good temperment and the poking does not bother him. but one day he knocks a person out for poking him just once. the behaviour would seem out of character and the question would not be what caused him to get mad and knock the person out. because he was poked. but the question would be is why did he get mad this time when the other times he did not. get my drift. that is really what i am trying to find out. what is the cause of her out of character mood that made her react this way when she never reacts this way
 

Lolita

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i seriously love that one off the hand comment about the word choice mood turned into this i didn't mean mood in the sense of peoples moods more like temperment changes due to several factors from a day to day basis their just spiders yeah they don't have moods but i figured the word mood would make people get the gist of what i was saying but apparently not haha i guess when it comes to being around here choosing your words wisely is a bit of an understatement. next time try reading between the lines a little to the point i was trying to make which was in short spiders aren't docile some have naturally better temperments than others but still can be easily freaked out into biting kicking hairs posturing ect because they're a spider and guess what they don't like to snuggle they don't like to pal around like a dog they can sometimes tolerate handling but if your gonna handle at some point you'll get bit understanding that is simple. she warned you you didn't listen the consequences of your actions happened and to answer your question posturing is when they rear up at you in a threatening way its a threat posture basically i'm warning you from them and it's referred to as posturing for short.

sorry if this came off as me being grumpy i just felt like assumptions were made about what i said based on one word out of a sentence which basically boiled down to their spiders sometimes their pissed off, also i have spent the last hour on the phone with my sister because her dog had to be put down and i hate phones and death.
 

Mojo Jojo

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It bit you because it felt threatened. Why did it feel threatened when it normally doesn't feel threatened? I'd have to guess because of something environmental or physiological.

Environmental: Have there been any changes to the enclosure like substrate, humidity, or temperature? Have you moved the enclosure? If it is an place where there is more foot traffic, all the vibrations might be bothering it.

Physiological: Is it hungry/full? When was the last time your tarantula molted? Is it captive bred or wild caught? I ask because it is possible that some male made sweet love to her before she got caught and if she hasn't molted yet in your presence, maybe the little ones are just coming along more.
 

insane247

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she was bred in captivity, and nothing else has changed like temperature, humidity etc. but i did ask perhaps no one saw, i said there has been a chirping cricket in this new batch. could the sound of the cricket make her agressive. because i see it all the time in reptiles where when they know there is food around (smell, sound etc) or they know it is time to eat they behave agressively and will often bite, and it is not a mistake of thinking the hand is food or whatever. they just act agressive when they want to eat. so can the sound of the cricket cause her to be agressive like how reptiles do?

and she has never molted since i bought her. but i dont think that is the cause because she is not refusing food or drinking extra and she moves around the cage a lot.

---------- Post added at 01:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:32 AM ----------

you asked if she is hungry or full. i fed her yesterday more than normal because i could not get any crickets for almost a week so i gave her two and then one was chirping so i fed that to her as well because it was annoying me. but there still is one chirping and i have kept the container of crickets in the bathroom so i cant hear it at night but you can still hear it enough to know it is there. so there could be the fact that she is both full and can hear the cricket
 

hennioso

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typically if any of mine threat display in any way (hair kicking posturing ect) i leave them alone and move onto another T to play with if i feel like messing with them cause they do have their moods docile or not
Well put Spiderman... I don't care how calm you thnk they are they will do whatever it takes to keep out of what they think is harms way... You better learn to read their body language a little more..
 
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