Well...here's a novel experience to compare notes on; anyone ever had one of their tarantulas *playing dead*??
Yesterday, one of mine did exactly that. As I had lost a number of arachnid buddies during the quake, and some over the days following, when I saw yet another spider laying in a deathcurl and fangs extended, I sighed in resignation and went about checking the specimen over.
So...off with the tub lid, roll the spidey over onto its back using forceps...no response. Roll the spidey back to right way up...no response, no movement at all. At this point I thought well it's either given up and died of shock some days after the *main event*...or it had an injury that I hadn't noticed. I then peered closely to try and find any sign of leaking haemolymph....at which point...
*BANG*...spider is back on it's feet, on my face and bit me just above the left eye twice!
My eye has been swollen shut since, antihistamines taken, painrelief taken, and a check over with my doctor. So far, other than the burning pain across my left eye and brow, I've just been shivery with occasional nausea, and the area surrounding the bite is now quite icy to the touch despite being a hot looking, purplish-red shade!
And the spider involved in this whole episode...one Brachypelma Klassi!! lol This particular specimen has been unpleasant since it was a large sling/small juve (it's now 4.5" approx)...readily tries to attack everytime I clean out, refill the water etc...yet my others, they're no problem at all...with only 2 ganglia it would be hard to imagine that spiders could suffer with mental health issues...but there again, I'd never have believed that a spider could play dead!
Yesterday, one of mine did exactly that. As I had lost a number of arachnid buddies during the quake, and some over the days following, when I saw yet another spider laying in a deathcurl and fangs extended, I sighed in resignation and went about checking the specimen over.
So...off with the tub lid, roll the spidey over onto its back using forceps...no response. Roll the spidey back to right way up...no response, no movement at all. At this point I thought well it's either given up and died of shock some days after the *main event*...or it had an injury that I hadn't noticed. I then peered closely to try and find any sign of leaking haemolymph....at which point...
*BANG*...spider is back on it's feet, on my face and bit me just above the left eye twice!
My eye has been swollen shut since, antihistamines taken, painrelief taken, and a check over with my doctor. So far, other than the burning pain across my left eye and brow, I've just been shivery with occasional nausea, and the area surrounding the bite is now quite icy to the touch despite being a hot looking, purplish-red shade!
And the spider involved in this whole episode...one Brachypelma Klassi!! lol This particular specimen has been unpleasant since it was a large sling/small juve (it's now 4.5" approx)...readily tries to attack everytime I clean out, refill the water etc...yet my others, they're no problem at all...with only 2 ganglia it would be hard to imagine that spiders could suffer with mental health issues...but there again, I'd never have believed that a spider could play dead!
![Confused](https://thebts.co.uk/forums/core/images/smilies/confused.png)
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