#tarantula handling

[aro-mackerel]

People are always like “why do you have a tarantula and say you wanna hold them but you never touch it? You’re scared aren’t you?”

It’s not that I don’t trust her, it’s that I don’t trust myself enough to handle her without a professional helping

[poikilomatters]

[1] I recently came across your blog (I really appreciate your logical approach to husbandry and looking at previous posts I'm very happy to see you're open to corrections to boot), and I'll be honest, I never once considered spiders/arthropods as

[2] pets. I think it’s REALLY NEAT that you have them, and I find a lot of your posts about their husbandry very interesting, but after reading your ‘why you shouldn’t handle spiders post’ can you tell me first hand…if you can’t touch them, [3] why do you keep them? And I’m asking out of honest curiousity, not ‘eww why keep them’ or out of spite/haughtiness…I just really want to know :)

Thank you for your time!

[also I really hope I didn’t cut out a portion of my question…I had to break it up because of the character limit. And I hope I’m not being a bother…I just find it really interesting, I never really considered that people care for them before]

Hey! First off, thank you very much. It’s nice to see another person who finds arthropods interesting. :)

To answer your question, I keep them because I love how different arthropods are compared to vertebrates - they have totally fascinating behaviors, plus some bizarre anatomical features. I am content without having to handle them since it’s just nice to sit back and watch them do their own arthropod-ish ways of life. Handling is stressful for many arthropods, so even though handling would be nice for me I’d much rather do without because I put my animals’ welfare before my needs.

Some people may not like arthropods since they want to have a pet they can be physically interact with, and that’s totally okay! Whatever makes someone content is fine by me, just as long as people don’t bash each other (e.g. dogs vs. cats, reptiles vs. mammals vs. arthropods). It’s cruel to hate someone just for liking different kinds of animals, and I don’t like that mindset. We should be able to appreciate other people’s interests.

Also, I forgot to say it earlier, but please never think you are a bother! I really enjoy answering questions. :)

[poikilomatters]

Can we please stop reblogging or posting photos/videos of people handling Old World tarantulas? Fine if you want to do it, but don't show off so publicly. It's not giving the arachnid community a positive outlook, and we should all know better than to do so.

[poikilomatters]

It’s this topic again.

I’m going to try to be civil about this, but this itself is a touchy topic in the arachnid community - handling tarantulas, to do it or not?

Fine, it’s a relatively docile tarantula like Grammostola pulchripes or Brachypelma albopisolum, and you’ve had it for years and you’ve made sure your spider is having a good day (aka not showing any defensive or threatening postures). You can handle that if you want to. I know some people would argue for no handling whatsoever, but as always individual spiders will have different personalities.

But there is a damn fine line between handling a New World tarantula (not including Psalmopoeus or Tapinauchenius species) versus an Old World tarantula.

I’ve already written my case HERE and HERE. I’d highly advise reading before adding any further comments.

(For those unfamiliar, New World = Western hemisphere, Old World = Eastern hemisphere)

I’ve been seeing a lot of videos and posts of people handling Old World tarantulas, or tarantulas of the Psalmopoeus and Tapinauchenius genera. Most have captions saying, “Do not try this! My own spider I can trust because I know their personality very well, etc. etc.” or “They just wandered out onto me when I opened the cage door, this doesn’t happen on an everyday basis”. That is somewhat better because these people are explaining what is going on, and are not 'actively’ endorsing this sort of behavior. HOWEVER, there are places where these captions cannot be viewed OR the OP neglected to write one.

And this is bad - very bad for the arachnid community.

What’s even worse is that soon, if not already, some naive person might attempt to handle these tarantulas because “Hey, other people are doing it too!” and GET BITTEN. Or people will try it anyways for the ‘cool’ factor and get bitten (rightfully so).

People unfamiliar or afraid of spiders are going to use this against the community. And by all means we are PROVIDING them with more evidence of irresponsible behavior.

What happens when you finally get bitten by an Old World tarantula (or by a Psalmopoeus)?

You stay at home and self-medicate, as the venom isn’t lethal but bad enough to make you feel really ill.

You call the hospital (some people do this) because 1) IT HURTS and you’re scared (understandably) and/or 2) you’re having a bad reaction.

The news may get out, and I can already hear the local news stations going NUTS over this.

Once the media gets a hold of YOUR careless mistake, they’re going to blow it out of proportions. YOU know this is what they’ll do, and no matter how much you’ll try to correct them or educate the masses on what really happened, they’re not going to give a shit. You know why? Because face it, a lot of people fear spiders. They don’t care if it was an accident - all they know is that SOMEONE got bit by a SPIDER, and one venomous enough to make you sick. THEY ARE GOING TO BE AFRAID. 

There are already regulations and restrictions in the United States. Some cities, like NYC, have banned keeping tarantulas entirely. Hawaii prohibits keeping tarantulas, and considers importation of tarantulas illegal. Other states, but not all, require permits in order to possess tarantulas.

I’m not going to be surprised if some day in the future the tarantula industry is gonna get SLAMMED. Careless handlers, keepers, and breeders will be the downfall of the industry, and if we aren’t going to be more careful about it lemme tell you this - we’ll be joining the reptile industry pretty damn soon if people can’t get their act together and be more responsible.

This isn’t the only thing that has been bothering me (e.g. illegal smuggling, release of captive tarantulas into the wild, profit over welfare, selling ‘advanced’ tarantulas to newbies WITHOUT EVEN TELLING THEM WHAT THEY ARE GETTING INTO, shitty husbandry, etc.), but it’s high on my list.

Luckily, most of my tarantulas will live 20+ years because - HAHA! - who knows what will happen in the future.

[counttarantula]

OMG! What a big baby!

[counttarantula]

pleas stop handling spiders., bad

To handle or not to handle; that is the age old debate.

It is not ‘bad’ so much as it is risky. You risk dropping the spider or losing the spider if they get away from you. I have discussed this topic before, and given my personal opinion. The tarantula owner has to review both sides of the argument, and make up their own mind. I have never advocated that people absolutely should handle their tarantulas, and I have been very firm in telling people there is no good reason to hold a tarantula. It all comes down to personal preference.Either way, whether or not I handle my tarantulas is my own business. That’s all I’m going to say on the matter.

[counttarantula]

Dakota, my B. albopilosum before his/her molt.

[counttarantula]

Jessica (Euathlus sp. "red") has gone back to climbing out whenever I open her enclosure, so I've started handling her again. She's absolutely stunning after her molt, sometimes it's hard to believe she's the same tarantula.