Selenocosmia crassipes i read on net its very poisonous

[Nicola Dolby]

Pokie on the run?! do the "large pot and cardboard" trick I suppose, but the best one is that like all arborials they hate wind. So you can actually guide them by playing "blow football" with them back into their tanks. I did this once with my P. miranda male and it worked superbly. However they might just hunker down and screw themselves up into a ball, then its back to the container and card again. I know what you mean about out of character spiders, I have a H lividium which is supposed to be psychotic and is a complete softy and a P. muinus which is totally docile! and a Heteroscodra which tries to kill me on sight!

[scotttaylor]

my chile has never even looked at me rong lol i think mine is to docile i have had a criket in his tank for 3 days carnt get it tryed 2 times dont wont to strees him out to bad he sits nexts to the heat mate i have it on the side even when its nearly 30 oC

[James Box]

yeah Scott my two chile's are really calm. they can move when they want to, and usually love their food, but really chilled otherwise.

[Kain Prestwood]

My P pederseni is daft, I mean really daft! I can put my hand in to change his water or whatever and all he does is have a nose what I'm up too. He has even walked onto my arm while I was doing maintance! That was abit of a rush thats for sure, and hes got spikey little toes!!

Yet my G rosea (Big Momma) is very unpredictable, one times shes as friendly and docile as they come, nexy time she lunges at you and shows you her fangs!

Wouldn't swap her though. It just goes to show they all have there own little characters.

Kain

[Ray Hale]

I have kept many Selenocosmia over the years and indeed still do. There are a couple of things worth mentioning. Firstly many of the "Selenocosmia" floating around the hobby are probably misnamed. For years the genus held no interest to the hobbyist for they are in the main a dull brown spider with attititude! Over the last few years they have become popular and more and more hobbyists are venturing into keeping Far East tarantulas and rightly so. They are fascinating creatures with interesting characteristics.
Secondly the debate on their venom toxicity rages on. Angela was bitten in 1998 by a Selenocosmia sp. whilst we were mating them. The bite itself was not painful but the after effects were. Her arm was inflamed for two days and she described it has " pushing your arm into a nettle bush".She has had no long term lasting effects and we both know that the fault lay with us and not the spider. We were careless. The point is that we are all aware that tarantulas can bite ( so can dogs) but we are still on a learning curve on the toxicity of certain species. I have researched this genus for years and I havnt found any evidence, accept anecdotal, that anyone has died from a bite of any tarantula.

Ray Hale
BTS Committee

[Colin D Wilson]

I can sympathise with your good lady, it was S. lanipes if i remember reading correctly.
Same here, late 80's, single puncture to right index finger, too slow whilst feeding with a front opening enclosure.
As Ray said, these were not really fancied by the serious hobbyist, in general, due to dull colouration and when i had mine they were as cheap to buy as rosea's are now by comparison.

[scotttaylor]

just a thort but do all TS worn you befor they go to bite you as in raze up on back legs. my mantis dose not it just attacks me when i have to hold it to move for tank cleaning (more of a shock than pain) they move so fast. it not like fear of being bit it more like i dont wont to hurt him as i think at the mow i would pull my arm back as fast as i could if it worked near me throw lack of knowledge about hander-ling him. got the day to day thing right now as hes happy and i use the brush method to move him in to a container to clean the tank

[James Box]

i think in general even more defensive T's do the threat posture...however, it's a wild animal, and you can't always predict behaviour. chances are it'll warn you, but if it doesn't feel it has time and has to react fast to the perceived threat, it may just strike!
i wish new world species warned before kicking hairs

[Ron Waters]

Phlogius crassipes - bites

The sample size for bites by Australian theraphosids is very small and this, combined with a lack of knowledge about the true diversity of the group in Australia, would make me very careful about getting bitten, despite the fact the paper concludes that "Bites by these spiders are unlikely to cause major problems in humans", although it is slightly reassuring given that no major systemic effects had been recorded from Australian tarantula bites.

A further complication is the unknown geographical variation in toxicity that may relate to dietary differences. In snakes there are often major variations in toxicity between populations (eg Tiger Snakes) that relate to differences in prey type and perhaps genetic drift factors. The following is an abstract from one of very few authoritative papers on bites by Theraphosids in Australia. The reference is:

Bites by spiders of the family Theraphosidae in humans and canines Geoffrey K. Isbister, Jamie E. Seymour, Michael R. Gray and Robert J. Raven, Toxicon, 41, (4) 2003 pp 519-524.


Abstract

Spiders of the family Theraphosidae occur throughout most tropical regions of the world. There have only been three case reports of bites by these spiders in Australia. The aim of this study was to describe the clinical effects of bites by Australian theraphosid spiders in both humans and canines. Cases of spider bite were collected by the authors over the period January 1978–April 2002, either prospectively in a large study of Australian spider bites, or retrospectively from cases reported to the authors. Subjects were included if they had a definite bite and had collected the spider. The spiders were identified by an expert arachnologist to genus and species level where possible. There were nine confirmed bites by spiders of the family Theraphosidae in humans and seven in canines. These included bites by two Selenocosmia spp. and by two Phlogiellus spp. The nine spider bites in humans did not cause major effects. Local pain was the commonest effect, with severe pain in four of seven cases where severity of pain was recorded. Puncture marks or bleeding were the next most common effect. In one case the spider had bitten through the patient's fingernail. Mild systemic effects occurred in one of nine cases. There were seven bites in dogs (Phlogellius spp. and Selenocosmia spp.), and in two of these the owner was bitten after the dog. In all seven cases the dog died, and as rapidly as 0.5–2 h after the bite. This small series of bites by Australian theraphosid spiders gives an indication of the spectrum of toxicity of these spiders in humans. Bites by these spiders are unlikely to cause major problems in humans. The study also demonstrates that the venom is far more toxic to canines.



Cheers RON (my first post on the BTS forum

[Mark Pennell]

Ron
Welcome to the BTS forum and thank you for an informative post!

Cheers
Mark

[Ron Waters]

Phlogius crassipes bites

Thanks Mark...I'll log in from time to time to see what's happening on the other side of the globe! Cheers RON

[Colin D Wilson]

Hi Ron and welcome,

I agree, a very informative first post.

Thanks

Colin

[jason holland]

yeah nice post. nice and interesting

[James Box]

welcome Ron! great post

[Nicola Dolby]

Hi Ron,
Good to hear you've joined! You'll have fun with us lot here, never a dull moment (mind you talking of Aussie tarantulas, there's never a dull moment over there these days)!.