Beware the 'Orange Fringe'

[mary walters]

I know I have this on other forums but not everyone visits them.

I have recently had a call to rescue an 'orange fringe' and would I exchange it for another spider.. ok ..the fringe was not sold be me, but the person was put on to me to sort it out.
So... it transpires that the fringe bit him in November and put him in hospital for a week, it also transpires that she has dropped 2 legs from one side, how I do not know.
As to the bite I am waiting for him to email me with all the details, I know he had cramps in his arms and legs and cardiac problems, but what a fool, he was told not to handle it and didn't listen so he paid the price, now we know the venom of them the hard way.
Anyway, I swapped him a vagans for it from my collection as he practically demanded another spider and I didn't want to leave the fringe in his care even though the fringe was not mine in the first place, it is now and is going to a very experienced new keeper well known on the forums in the uk.
This a pic of her, poor lamb.

[Ray Hale]

Interesting Mary, got a name for this bloke? Apart from the obvious. PM me if you have.

Before we all get out of our prams on this one and plaster it on every site in the World ,which incidently are scanned by the powers of darkness, lets get some more info. I keep lots of Asian spids and my motto " If you dont play with them they dont bite you"

Get in touch Mary and let us look into it.

Ray Hale
wink.gif

[Michael Kingwell]

Mary, I saw your thread about this on other forums. I noticed that you came in to some stick from posters for supplying the person with another T. I do hope that the people here respect your opinions and actions with regards to this.
I realise myself why you have done this and I hope that the person will respect his T now more than most would.
I wish all the best for yourself and your new "project".

Also I hope the bloke listens to all advice given...... after all, The green cross code says you shouldn't play with traffic!?!?!!??

[mary walters]

Thanks for your support Micheal, everyone else thinks I was daft to give him another spider, I just hope he looks after it, but when people are intimidating you tend to go along with them, especially when they are half your age and twice as big.

Ray, I have pm'd you and will get all together that he said and pm you again.

[Daniel]

Many of the reports of bites I've read on the web seem to be from people being stupid such as putting their hand in the enclosure of an S. crassipes Australian tarantula to clean it out and lo and behold the spider jumps out of its burrow and bites them! Doh.

Some people reporting bites on the web even sound as if they've somehow been clever in getting bitten, as if it's some kind of a macho badge of honour. How Pathetic. Don't they realise the stress caused to the spider.

[Nicola Dolby]

typical problem

Daniel,
I think you'll find that people like that couldn't give a damn about the poor spider, or anything else other than the peanut they've got rattling around between their ears. Unfortunately there is no way of regulating who gets to keep tarantulas without licencing. We all know the problems with that! Anyway I hope the spid is going to be ok.

[joost]

what is the general opinion? Is this an exeptionally strong reaction in this individual, or is this species suspected to be venomous enough to cause this type of reaction normally ?

[Jon-Paul]

I would say one bite what ever the reaction is sufficiant to tell the venom potential of anything, at the end of the day one person may go into anaphylactic shock by a meer bee sting where another may just brush it off. It would need a series of tests done, usually done on rat's or mice i believe to give positive and conclusional data. It will only take one muppet to get bitten and go into anaphylactic shock and goe toes up to get the media sensationalists and roumour mongers into a frenzy.
All animals kept as Specimens or pets should be treated with the upmost care and respect and the keeper should "always" have the animals best interests at heart, Tarantulas are beautiful and delicate animals that take a good deal of care and attention, these folks who keep them for egotistical reasons and play handle them to show their mates how "cool" they are should give the spiders to someone else and buy a Play Station to amuse them selves.

[lee smith]

i agree totally JP. i have a nice P.murinus RCF sling that seems very docile and friendly, but i really respect him and would never handle him no-matter how friendly he is.

[joost]

i too agree that handling spiders (and the accidents that are bound to happen) can greatly endanger our hobby. I never handle my spiders, or schorpions.
However i cannnot help being interested in what happend.
was a anaphylactic shock ? or was it a true reaction to the venom?
I know from a practical point of view it makes no difference, just don't handle any species, you won't get bitten and you don't need to worry about the possible reaction

[Adam Smith]

Ive already given my thoughts on this guy and hes not worth worrying about its those type that very quickly fade away from the hobby. An accidental bite cant be helped if it was an accidental then fair enough but to pick up a well known aggressive species you will get bitten no matter who you are. These idiots seem to get a thrill of holding something that could or could not be more dangerous than scientifically known. Why not just pick up a cobra? Becuase everyone knowns the potential danger and ts should be treated the same. He is a twit and to try blame the seller is redicuolous. These type of people are not welcome and do not belong in our fraternity imo. He thinks its cool to get taranutlas and sounds like a band wagon jumper cos ts are the in thing now. Im more interested to know how 2 legs just "dropped off"
However the last thing we want is this to go all over the place and some journalists to get hold of it and make spider public enemy no 1 again in the news. It seems ts and t keepers are this generations witch hunting