Only in America

[Rhys]

Or are you suggesting that its responding to its name being called?

No, not suggesting that at all. It seems that repeating this action with the same spider every day over a long period of time results in the spider emerging upon sensing a voice, then showing no defensive action because it has been through this scenario before, and may sense there is no danger.

I, too have lots of Old World tarantulas that simply don't like being disturbed. No matter how many times I try or how gentle I am, I can't seem to get them to cooperate......so I leave them alone. Maybe if I spent hundreds of hours per month interacting with them, I'd notice a change in behavior.....but that's not what I'm doing.

Rhys

[Kristine]

When I was considering buying a pet T I read many books to find out as much information as I could about them.. Every single one of them advocated handling your spider. Now I have tried this a few times with my Chile Rose and she is quite happy with it. It makes it a hell of a lot easier to put her into a container while cleaning out her tank, and I think a lot less stressful than using a pint glass or some other object as you might with a house spider. I have to mention that ALL the books did stress NOT to handle African or Asian T's as they are extremely aggressive and have a nasty bite.

So why does the BTS have a non handling policy when the authors of said books (some who have been keeping T's for decades) say that it is a perfectly safe thing to do?

I bought my spider because I have always wanted one as a pet and also to help my young daughter overcome her phobia (not introduced by myself I might add but by her childminders). Now I would not be so stupid as to let my daughter handle the spider yet.. she's far too young but I do handle her when my daughter is around so that she can see that they are not at all the monsters people make them out to be.

I guess it's a personal choice, handle or not to handle, but I do accept that if and when I get bitten by my T it will be as a response to something I have done that she hasn't likes therefore my responsibility.

[Mark Pennell]

The BTS has a non handling policy and this more to protect the tarantula than the person wishing to juggle it.

There will always be someone who wants to handle there spider. I use to regularly purposely handle, in the past. All be it 18 years or so back. There are and still times when you have too (see below). I did recently during a talk at a local primary school.

This is what I posted earlier on in this thread. The BTS non handling policy is as stated above mainly to protect the fragile tarantulas we keep. Also on this thread is a rather graphic account of a bite from an African species so those books you read are not wrong!

Also the less aggressive species can bite if they want and presence of urticating hairs is worth noting too. These can cause severe reactions on some people especially if accidentally rubbed into the eyes and can cause serious eye damage and blindness.

The Chile Rose is no exception and has rather potent itchy hairs. It’s up to you as an individual to decide if you want to handle. The BTS policy is just a guideline something we decided on many years back and are happy to promote for the safety of the tarantula and the owner.

All your attempts to educate your Daughter are admirable, and should be encouraged Myself coming from a family of arachnophobics I had to educate myself on the missed placed fears of spiders.
Regards
Mark

[Ray Hale]

Mark makes the point well about our non-handling policy. At the end of the day its your spider. Your attempts to cure a phobia are aplauded but having kept tarantulas for many years I am well aware of the bite capability of even some of the more docile critters.

It is not our intention to criticise those who wish to handlle their pets and indeed if you enjoy the interaction then go ahead but from the point of view of a society that has spent many hours in meetings behind the scenes trying to protect your hobby from interference I can tell you the bite of the "politically correct" is far worse than any Tarantula bite.

Please enjoy your pet but be aware when you make that visit to the hospital with that swollen finger that it is the BTS that gets the call from the Press office screaming "man bitten by deadly spider". It may be rubbish but that doesnt stop them printing.

[Rhys]

When I was considering buying a pet T I read many books to find out as much information as I could about them.. Every single one of them advocated handling your spider. ....
So why does the BTS have a non handling policy when the authors of said books (some who have been keeping T's for decades) say that it is a perfectly safe thing to do? ......

I guess it's a personal choice, handle or not to handle, but I do accept that if and when I get bitten by my T it will be as a response to something I have done that she hasn't likes therefore my responsibility.

Just a couple of comments. Many of the "pet" books published over the years show pictures of people handling tarantulas, with a contradictory photo caption saying "don't do this..." or something similar. See TFH pubs for examples. Draw your own conclusions about that, but for for me these old books are nothing more than collectors items with little or no substance.

Opinions and policies on handling differ across the globe mainly because of cultural / political influence. Viva la difference. If I attended a BTS event I would respect all their rules and policies, not for fear of being bitten (by a tarantula, of course), or being escorted out (by a committee member). They seem to have a sincere worry of being shutdown. As Ray mentioned.....the bite of the media can cause serious problems for the BTS.

In America, people handle and people don't handle. The ATS doesn't have a policy. Many people think we should have one, but the answer remains "not today, thanks". Can tarantulas be handled? Sure. Should they be handled? Not an organizational choice......whatever you do is none of our business. However, if you can figure out a way to calm down a Pterinochilus sp. , allow a pair of them to mate on your forearm or construct a web in the palm of your hand, we'd like to hear about it. If you receive a bite, tell us about the effects. It's crucial to get that information out as well. We won't call you crazy, and we won't tell everyone else to try it.
Rhys

[Graeme Wright]

IMO I dont handle my T's anymore unless I have to. and I especially dont handle the asian or african ones. and even though I said I dont handle them I still manage to get bitten when one flys out of it's breeding tank onto my hand.

As said before no can tel you what to do but as Ray said when people get bit the medi love it and it gives our hobby a bad name. so none hadeling policy are there for a reason and in my opinion it's best to follow them cus a T bite is not very nice despit if they are not deadly they still hurt like hell.

and at the end of the day when you do get bit it's just a care of I told you so.

as for urticating ahirs I dont have a problem with them but some people do and they can me very irritating.

as said before the no hadleing policy is mainly for the safty of the T that the keeper.

If you have done reshearch you should know that with most terrestrial T's a small fall is enough to kill it and all it takes is for the T to get stressed when being handled and then it may lunge out of you hand onto the floor then splat.

I'd rather not handle mine at all then lose one if I can help it.

Well I'll just apologie too incase this offends anyone but just wanted to say my piece

[DBaines]

Hi just to point out the fact that Mark made about new world Tarantulas and Urticating hairs, this somthing that happend to me not so long ago i consider myself lucky the hairs did not enter my eye's.
I posted this article on another forum.

The effects of urticating hairs

On the 18/8/04 I was doing the regular clean up of the spider tanks after feeding the day before, got to my Acanthoscurria geniculata, feisty as always she chased the long tweezers around the tank as I removed the debris from the night before and removed the water bowl replaced the lid went and cleaned it out came back replaced the water bowl and she attacked it in the normal way started to fill the water dish and she kicked of a cloud of urticating hairs right at me. Now I have never been affected by any sort of urticating hairs before but this time it was different.!!!!!!!!

I sneezed and as sneezing I took a gulp of air the pain was almost instantaneous in the back of my throat so I knew what had happened. After 1 hour my body started to react to the hairs by producing copious amounts of mucous and regular coughing to try and resolve the irritation. I put up with this for the rest of the day.

19/8/04 no change so I took 2 nurofen and 2 paracetamol at regular intervals through the day but did not make any difference to the problem.

20/8/04 still no change the pain was getting worse so time to try the next thing in my, arsenal antihistamines that I take for hay fever so I took 2 of these and carried on with the nurofen and paracetamol but still no effects. Towards the evening I started to loose my voice (which I think the wife and kids were happy about).

21/8/04 voice nearly gone completely so the wife phoned the doctors made a Saturday emergency appointment 10am got to see the doctor armed with a few books explaining about urticating hairs told him what I had tried he said it’s the order of things he would have suggested to try so he said we will try anti-inflammatory lozenges that will coat the area directly. So off I go to the chemist and get my lozenges quite hopeful that they will work.

22/8/04 no real change again body still producing copious amounts of mucous pain still there the lozenges had helped with the voice though which had started to come back slightly.

23/8/04 no further change in the condition so decided to go back to the doctors again armed with books to try and resolve the problem. So the doc and me thumbed through the books and came to an article on urticating hairs in the book the tarantula keeper’s guide by Schultz and Schultz it stated that you can treat external irritation by using a 2 or 2 ½ hydrocortisone cream this gave the doc something to go on. He told me to carry on with the lozenges and prescribed some steroids in tablet form this time I was hopeful. Straight to the chemist picked them up and started the 5 day course of tablets.

24/8/04 great it was improving the pain had reduced by half and my voice was almost back to normal.

25/8/04 by the end of the day my voice was totally back to normal and very little throat pain.

26/8/04 almost back to normal still a slight discomfort in the throat.

27/8/04 every thing back to normal.

28/8/04 still every thing ok today finally cured.


And just to point out a fact with G rosea i have 3, one male who is very placid, one female who is very skitty and runs around like a headless chicken every time you go into her enclosure and another female who would sooner bite you than do anything else so for a species thats meant to be placid they are not it boils, down to the individual spider as to how they react not the whole species or even if they come from new world or old world every spider is individual and should be treated as such.

So a no handling policy is a good one.

If people do handle and it goes wrong then it's the handelers fault and only the handlers fault and blame cannot be past on to a person who wrote a book saying its ok or because they saw it done in pictures on the web.
So think hard and long before you make a decsion to handle.

[Ray Hale]

In response to Rhys's mail I would add the following.

Thanks for your comments regarding respecting our rules. This is appreciatted.

One of the biggest problems the exotic pet hobby has in this country (UK) is the moral majority. It may be something about being British but other European countries seem to be fairly immune to it. So many Shows have been closed down in the UK that you are right we are concious of this.This is why we as a Society work so hard to ensure we abide by every rule laid down by the Local authorities.

Sad I know but never the less true.