T's on Youtube?

[Glen Feasey]

Ok i was browsing Youtube last night to see if there are any T's on there and was amazed at the content! I even found some dude who was handlig a T.blondi and another who was holding an adult Pokie! BONKERS!!!

I dont agree with handling, but the other content was quite good. I dont like to see live mice fed to pets tho!

[Daniel Carpenter]

I was about to start a new topic on this....It is horrible the amount of vids that say something like this.....'my BIG tarantula vs small mouse' it is horrible! now i have not yet feed my tarantulas mice but i am sure when i do it does not have to be live ?? Not only this but most of the tarantulas in these vids suffer alot of hits from the mouse and so cant be at all gd for them. If i am wrong and people on here do feed there T's live mice well i am sry but i am sure i have read in more than one place that you should not feed live mice to tarantulas....
Dan.

[Richard Goram]

I also often look at videos of tarantulas on YouTube. There is some very interesting stuff on there. Unfortunately though there is, as you said, alot of videos of people feeding live mice to their Ts. It's pretty sick if you ask me and not at all nice to see.

[Daniel Carpenter]

Agreed i think that this could be classed as animal crulty? ...dead o.k ....but live is wrong ( not only like i said in my last post in many cases the T often gets hurt as well... ) When the time comes to feed your T's mice to boost them up for feeding ...them put them ( the mice ) into a microwave for a few min or two this warms them up makes the T moe willing to take it.
Dan.

[mike halewood]

And besides it is illegal to find live mice anyway in the Uk, even if it wasnt I would do it. Theres a vid on myspace of a girl handling a P. murinus, and getting it into a threat pose both on her back and shoulder and when she has it on her hand!!!!

I must admit I have a couple of vids on youtube of my T's, one handling my B. smithi and one handling my G. rosea in both cases I was changing enclosures so took the opportunity.

The first thing I do when thinking of buying a new species is go on youtube to see if I can find any vids.

MIke

[Colin D Wilson]

As Mike says, it's illegal to feed live vertebrates as food in the uk.
there must be a certain amount of distress to the live food ( i know in the wild it happens all the time..but...the animal has a chance to get away) morally it's wrong.
More to the point, all it takes is one lucky bite from the live food and you're one T blondi (for instance) down in your collection.
on conservation trips i've seen instances of vipera berus (adder) dead with rodent puncture wounds through the head. something you don't expect eh?

[Robert Farmer]

As Mike says, it's illegal to feed live vertebrates as food in the uk.
there must be a certain amount of distress to the live food ( i know in the wild it happens all the time..but...the animal has a chance to get away) morally it's wrong.
More to the point, all it takes is one lucky bite from the live food and you're one T blondi (for instance) down in your collection.
on conservation trips i've seen instances of vipera berus (adder) dead with rodent puncture wounds through the head. something you don't expect eh?

The mouse takes the adder? Wouldn't expect that no!

I do love the P Murinus vids tho, they make me sweat with the thought of what I've got to contend with in a year or so's time...

I'm also amazed at the amount of comments like "Man I'd kill that nasty bug, can they not KILL you if they bite you and then live in your brain and control you and make you be nice to your mother in law and stuff?!?" etc etc

[Johanna Turner]

I'm also amazed at the amount of comments like "Man I'd kill that nasty bug, can they not KILL you if they bite you and then live in your brain and control you and make you be nice to your mother in law and stuff?!?" etc etc

Made me LAFF!

And going back to the comment about rodents harming reps - I used to work as a vet nurse and I was flicking through some of the reptile text books available in the surgery (The non-reptile specialists use these to work from if you take your reps/exotics there!) and saw some of the horrific injuries that that can get from live food that fought back. If the reptile is not hungry they get backed into a corner and the rodent will attack! They can take flesh right down to the bone with hose little chisel teeth they have!

Just remember what it was like when you were bitten by your hamster as a child (Surely that has happened to everyone?? Or just me!? lol!)

[mike halewood]

Just remember what it was like when you were bitten by your hamster as a child (Surely that has happened to everyone?? Or just me!? lol!)

Not just you, that happened to me as well.

[Robert Farmer]

Made me LAFF!

And going back to the comment about rodents harming reps - I used to work as a vet nurse and I was flicking through some of the reptile text books available in the surgery (The non-reptile specialists use these to work from if you take your reps/exotics there!) and saw some of the horrific injuries that that can get from live food that fought back. If the reptile is not hungry they get backed into a corner and the rodent will attack! They can take flesh right down to the bone with hose little chisel teeth they have!

Just remember what it was like when you were bitten by your hamster as a child (Surely that has happened to everyone?? Or just me!? lol!)

On the subject of reptiles and live prey, someone I know had a 5 foot Iguana and was handing it to the RSPCA as it was becoming too much for him to handle, he used to walk it like a dog.

On the way to hand it in the Ig was attacked by a rotweiller *sp* and after the ensuing battle the dog had to be put down due to injuries and blood loss. Apparantly you don't mess with big lizards...

[Johanna Turner]

Apparantly you don't mess with big lizards...

My Ig is only about 2ft in total and he's a tink of pure evil at the best of times! Not sure I'd want to mess with one any bigger! lol!

[rhys brigida]

P. ornata video

Hi everyone,
Ok, here's a clip from 2002 that I uploaded to photobucket.com. I, too became somewhat concerned about youtube.com and its lack of good tarantula material. This clip captured a few important elements about mating and courtship rituals. First, the male begins building a sperm web, then as the structure forms, he climbs underneath, deposits his sperm, then climbs out and charges his palps. At one point during the process, he multitasks, depositing sperm and cleaning his emboli at the same time! Very efficient, and perhaps a hint regarding the depth of a tarantula's ability to do a lot more than we give them credit for. Seeing is believing.

The second half of the clip shows an extremely edited-down portion of the courtship dance. It starts out subtle and slow, but picks up the pace rather fast. Note how the male signals, and the female responds repeatedly. They use a complex array of leg movements, tapping, body vibrations, "push-ups", and such. There's quite a conversation going on between these spiders, and I recall it lasted for over an hour!

This particular courtship session did not end with a successful mating. The female, although appearing very interested and chatty, did not allow the male to mate with her.

Hope you enjoy it. I wish it was clearer (video compression for web streaming takes away much of the detail), but you'll get the general idea of what's happening.

woot! Get out the popcorn. Comments welcome.

[Colin D Wilson]

Very good

The body language "communication" segment was almost mesmorising, and what a shame she refused him.

If youtube and similar were full of informative vids like this, instead of the trash you get now, it would be far better.

[Daniel Carpenter]

Like Colin said the body language was amazing and amazing to watch thank you very much for sharing the video...Cheers,
Dan.

[Robin Johannessen]

I have to vids on youtube.
My first movie, it`s about my Mesobuthus martensii scorpion feeding. (baaad quality)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9jOl3AkAOY"]YouTube - Mesobuthus martensii feeding[/ame]
And my Aviculria avicularia mating with a borrowed male
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd4EQRUypS8[/ame]
It was my first mating attempt ever, and I was pretty nervous :P

I also have this video on my photobucket. It`s a mating attempt with my Lasiodora parahybana`s. I think the male is infertile maybe, he matured 14 months ago. Anyway, I had to rescue him, he`s so cool