Tarantula venom

[Tara Newman]

Hey everyone.

Just a few questions about tarantula venom. Would greatly appriciate some help with this.

What colour is their venom? - Our tarantula, Garrett, has a habit of trying to bite his way out of the tank, this evening he bite the door thing, but after he had wet stuff near his fangs. Since then he moved along the glass and it has dripped down the screen, its a clear liquid.

Can tarantula's poison themselves? - something i have always wanted to know anyway. But we are a tad worried over him incase he has, the naughty spider.

Do they store venom and have a need too get rid of it? So like storing up too much venom?

Thanks in advance guys.

Tara

[Peter Lacey]

Not sure about the colour of the venom as I've not read anything concerning colour.
It might help if you provide the species, size and the tank its in, perhaps even a pic.
I'd be asking myself why is it trying to bite its way out of its enclosure. What's the temperature and humidity? Do you have a very moist substrate or have the tank placed near a window? What's it biting through? I've read of large specimens biting holes in the wire mesh of exo-terras! Could it have caused an injury to itself? is the "venom" a pale blue as that's the colour of the hemolymph (blood).

[Tara Newman]

Sorry, new to posting thats all hehe My boyfriend usually posts about this stuff on here

He is a B.Smithi, not sure how old, he hasn't moulted with us yet but we have had him for coming up too 4months.

Garrett is about 3-4inches in size, and his tank is a 1ft x 1ft x 1ft.

The temp and humid is fine. He doesn't usually try and bite his way out, he did when we first got him but this is the first time in a while that he has. He is usually a happy spider who rarely climbs.

The fluid is clear. I wish I could provide a picture but our camera phone doesn't take great pictures

[Colin D Wilson]

Hi Tara.

The only time really i've had spiders trying to "eat" their way out of their tank is when they've been a mature male with the idea of escaping to find the nearest female, I don't know if others have similar experiences. (i do know of a couple of spiders that tried to eat their way out of the temperary travelling box on the way home when people have bought them)

As peter says, normally, the hemolymph is usually clear but blue/green tinted where as the venom is a fairly clear liquid with no discernable colouration to my eyes.

As far as poisoning himself then there's really no chance as when eating a prey item, after invenomating it, he will "drink" the body fluids of the prey item plus the venom he's pumped in as well. Just think of it as his extra extra strong digestive juices.

[Phil Rea]

As Colin says, the venom is clear. Have a look at this interesting site and all will be revealed

[Colin D Wilson]

Phil, i once read a Paper (? could have just been an article ?) by George Odell on toxicology / venom reactions that was very interesting and explanatory. Have you ever come across anything by him, it was a long time ago and there's cloudy memory issues this end.
Unfortunately Mr. Odell is no longer with us (2006 Nov 18, my B'day of all days) i'm sure you'll recall the obituary from Andrew in Vol 22 No 4.

[Tara Newman]

Ahh thankyou all for the replys. Interesting site there Phil, thankyou

Another question my boyfriend wanted too know is, why is he producing venom like that? He moved along the glass and produced more, there was about 3-4 drops of it sliding down the glass last night.

Today he is in his burrow looking cute and grumpy as always hehe

[KJ Vezino]

Are you sure it is coming from the fangs? Tarantulas have been known to drool, and leak fluid from their mouth. Both drool and venom are clear so may be hard to tell.

[Tara Newman]

That is so cute! They drool? Aww, Maybe it was drool, I am unsure as it only happened after he expanded his fangs.