View Full Version : I held a tarantula
Daryl B very kindly invited me & Anne and John & Paula to his 50th birthday party on Saturday. Beverley (Daryl's wife) had arranged a show - of reptiles. So Simon the reptile man produced about 50 creatures ranging from a chinchilla to lizards, ****roaches and scorpions:-P Now Anne HATES spiders and fled into the kitchen while this tarantula sat on my hand, its big sister climbed up John's arm. Then the snakes appeared, a python crawled down Daryl's shirt and a king snake decided that John was really a tree and crawled up his neck and over his head.
The ham and the beef that Beverley did for dinner seemed a bit tame after all that:D
Didn't have a camera with but Daryl took quite a few pix and no doubt he'll post 'em up.
Had a great time - thanks Daryl:D
Cool.
Fings wot I have owened in the past include a Western Hognosed snake, Rainbow Python, a Chileian Rose Tarantula and an Iguana (who used to chase the dog up onto the sofa and loved curry).
The tarantula died only a few years ago at the ripe old age of 10ish, though I've still got my Royal Python, who I've had from a teeny little baby and is now 11 years old.
Filipe M.
02-04-07, 10:47 AM
:pale: :pale: :pale:
Beverley (Daryl's wife) had arranged a show - of reptiles........ chinchilla.............
Nice to see he brought some snake-food :lol:
rictus01
02-04-07, 11:18 AM
Never had a problem with "creepy crawlies" of any type, in Belize you had to knock out either a scorpian or large spder thing from your boots each morning, had a pet snake there as well (hut pet) 14' long :cool:
Eatten both as well funnily enough, giant Iguana is best though, best chicken you've ever had ;)
Cheers Mark.
Spiderman
02-04-07, 01:39 PM
Funnily i cant stand big Spiders! Tarantulas crawling one me? i think i'd just freeze and die or something but snakes dont worry me one bit.
Funnily i cant stand big Spiders! Tarantulas crawling one me? i think i'd just freeze and die or something but snakes dont worry me one bit.
But you're a big spider yourself:confused:
Alpinestarhero
02-04-07, 03:25 PM
I cack myself at the smallest of spiders. Not bothered about snakes, although I would be careful around one. I'd be quite happy to hold one though.
Not a spider. I'd freeze and die, I think. It's scarier than a dog running towards me :oops:
Matt
thedonal
02-04-07, 04:08 PM
I love spiders- they both fascinate and creep me out. Tarantulas are beautiful- never held one though.
I've also become fascinated by snakes recently- I'd love to handle a snake at some point. The reptile type- I'm fairly aquainted with my own serpent, thankyouverymuch.
Did you know that a rattlesnake's bite reflex continues working, even if it's beheaded?
Blimey! You guys sure know how to party!!! ;)
philipMac
02-04-07, 04:24 PM
I found a tarantula in the rain forest we were coming through on the way down a mountain. At first he tried to leg it off somewhere, but then he just stopped dead.
So, I pulled out the camera and put it into macro mode, and bent right down on my knees to take a picture of him. And then the guy I was with suddenly said "oh sh!t, thats a jumping tarantula, we learned about them in officer training" (Israeli military).
I am not that scared of spiders, but, at that point in time the idea of having that yoke in my face was very unattractive. Huge fangs on them and things.
Anyway, fair play Ed. I might think I could pick one up, but when it actually comes down to it... who knows.
(When I came back and processed the photos I was wondering why I had taken a picture of leaves for about 2 months... until I remembered the tarantula incident... good camo.)
Guy I use to work with went to Australia to live/work for a year. Gets a job and rents a house with his mates. The house is set back from the road. There is a longish path up to the house which is flanked by a couple of trees. To get some light onto the path the landlord has rigged up some neon tube lights on the underside of a couple of the branches. Well they were old lights and not working very well and my mate was convinced there was venomous beasties lurking in every shadow. So he complains to the landlord. The landlord says they work perfectly well, but if my mates not satisfied he is welcome to remove the diffuser and wash it out. So my mate goes out to do just this. He climbs up on step ladder and starts to wiggle the plastic cover/diffuser off. As he’s doing this he thinks to himself this looks filthy should make a difference. Anyway, it suddenly snaps off as he pulls it down towards him. Then all this lose dirt falls onto him as its all hitting him in the face and upper body he just sees this huge great spider roll out and feels it hit him smack in the mouth. He screams and jumps to the floor. He sees the big spider on the floor and steps away from it shaking. But it doesn't end there. He looks at himself to check no other sneaky fecking spider fell onto him. It is at his point that he discovers all the dirt that fell onto him, isn’t dirt at al. Its thousands of baby spiders! http://www.visordown.com/forums/images/smilies/eek.gif http://www.visordown.com/forums/images/smilies/eek.gif http://www.visordown.com/forums/images/smilies/eek.gif He then screams some more http://www.visordown.com/forums/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif and proceeds to rip all his clothes off whilst beating the living crap out of himself trying to get them all off. The next day he had no spider bites at all, but he did have multiple self inflicted bruises! http://www.visordown.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://www.visordown.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://www.visordown.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif True story
That's a strange and amusing way to celebrate a birthday party. :cool:
I have a bizarre and unexplainable fobia about any creature that has more than 4 legs.
My mother decided once that it would be a good idea to get me to hold a tarantula in my hand as a way of trying to cure my phobia. This things body was the size of my whole palm alone. The legs curled round my hand and I swear claws dug into my hand.
The owner seeing that I was petrified reminded me not to throw the spider down as I would probably damage it and it may die of shock. It would die of shock :?: What the hell did she think I was doing.
I stood there trembling with fear, eyes squeezed tightly shut begging for it to be over. I remember it as if it were only a couple of years ago.
Cause it was... :lol:
Well as this threads here Ill add some pics:
My houseguest in Canberra: The white dots above the fangs were the rows of eyes :D
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/lynw/scan0058.jpg
Harmless huntsman. Found a lot of those about the place. Funnily enough these being around a lot I found I lost any fear of spiders whatsoever. It was the white tips and red backs that you needed to worry about ie the non-hairy ones that were about the place since they were more likely to be a threat to your health than the huntsman.
Snakes are cool too:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/lynw/Australia/snakes.jpg
But the best pic Ive ever seen of a spider.... and lifted from Visordown thread on spiders but its great... unless you dislike spiders in which case I should warn you that the pic is probably going to give you nightmares... :smt077
WARNING!!!! IF YOU SERIOUSLY DONT LIKE SPIDERS YOU MAY NOT LIKE THESE PICS :smt077
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/lynw/Stuff/clock_legs.jpg
Remove the clock and:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/lynw/Stuff/bigspidercloseup.jpg
:mrgreen:
Oh man, that just sent a shiver right down my spine. :sad:
Oh man, that just sent a shiver right down my spine. :sad:
Sorry, should I have made the warning bigger? ;) :twisted:
Ahh, look at his cute little face (http://img303.imageshack.us/img303/779/wolfqg5.jpg)! Plate of fear (http://www.extremescience.com/images/goliath-plate.gif) anyone!:D
Ahh, look at his cute little face (http://img303.imageshack.us/img303/779/wolfqg5.jpg)! Plate of fear (http://www.extremescience.com/images/goliath-plate.gif) anyone!:D
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Theres a few people who are going to regret clicking on those links :smt077
Though Im sure they would be hoping thats a saucer and not a plate :D
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Theres a few people who are going to regret clicking on those links :smt077
Though Im sure they would be hoping thats a saucer and not a plate :D
Nope deffo a plate, that thar is a Goliath spider!:mrgreen:
Nope deffo a plate, that thar is a Goliath spider!:mrgreen:
wow!! thats amazing how big those spiders get.
This Link (http://www.gedcasserley.saddleworth.net/assets/images/Ged-spider02.jpg) has a great pic. I keep looking at its leg span in comparison to his face and its bigger :mrgreen:
thedonal
02-04-07, 07:47 PM
That's a classic pic, the goliath on the plate- a seriously HUGE spider!!
How about the Brown Recluse- here's links to pictures of what it's bite does (DEFINITELY NOT for the faint-hearted)- it causes necrosis of the skin tissue that can be very, very serious-
http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/brownrecluse.asp
http://www.brownrecluses.com/bitephotos.html
I once caught a huge spider in a house share I was living in- it's legspan filled the box for my mobile phone- even curled up, the legspan was longer than my thumb (front to back) and the body was huge-it gripped in and tried to bite as I was about to chuck it out the front door (and it's suitcases! The bugger didn't even pay any rent!)- the fangs were huge! Must have just been a big garden spider- they're very poisonous, but their fangs can't penetrate our skin. It was bloody quick too. The first spider I had to pick up by the legs, rather than cup it in the hands...
Quiff Wichard
02-04-07, 07:49 PM
ED
when the tarantula was on you..
was it scared >? :smt045 :-D
You know what :?: This thread just isn't even funny any more.
That's a classic pic, the goliath on the plate- a seriously HUGE spider!!
How about the Brown Recluse- here's links to pictures of what it's bite does (DEFINITELY NOT for the faint-hearted)- it causes necrosis of the skin tissue that can be very, very serious-
http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/brownrecluse.asp
http://www.brownrecluses.com/bitephotos.html (http://www.brownrecluses.com/bitephotos.html)
Interesting. And apparently the brown recluse only has 6 eyes instead of 8.
:mrgreen:
You know what :?: This thread just isn't even funny any more.
Who said educational had to be funny? ;) :mrgreen:
Seriously, I had a huge phobia about spiders. Living in Australia changed that not least in part because I had to actually look closely at it to identify what the spider was to determine its lethalness. And once you stop being scared and start looking closely they become hugely fascinating creatures.
In the hallway in my flat there was a hole in the brickwork in the window where there was a redback living. None of the other residents batted an eyelid and just left it. I drew the line at the thousands of baby redbacks I spotted one day and sprayed them. Wasnt going to have hundreds of the buggers heading for my flat.
But then again, none of this will make any difference to you. Firstly, cos you know Im totally nuts [I think it was wanting to go cage diving to see great whites that gave that one away finally wasnt it? :p :D ]. Secondly, cos you dont have to recognise the spider cos your life doesnt depend on it takes away the urgency and necessity to actually step out your phobia. I guess you wont get to the stage I have and shrug off UK spiders now cos they just arent dangerous. ;) :p :mrgreen:
Well I have had to do spider spotting to determine the danger levels to me. Both the jungle and the desert contain some nasty sons of bitches. Didn't make it any damn easier though and it has done nothing to make my phobia any easier to cope with.
The annoying this about the phobia is that it's so stupid. I mean anything with more than four legs and I cringe. How bizarre is that. :roll:
*shudders*. 'There was this one time, at bandcamp.....'
Anyways, when I was in Panama City :smt045 :-D , I was sat in a taxi with a mate going over the 'Bridge of Americas' - the bridge that spans the canaly thing...and it was night time - consequently it was dark out. The bridge is not brightly illuminated but has 'sufficient' lighting. As we passed over you could see clouds of ****roaches jumping off this bridge...............heebeegeeebees? :shaking: Cripes! Pass me another one of them fancy panamananananinian drinks please mister!!
AND a mile either side of the length of the canal is regularly sprayed with bug killer stuff! :smt066
EEeeeuuuuuuuch!
thedonal
02-04-07, 08:37 PM
That's the thing with phobias, though- they tend to be fairly irrational!
I have nightmares about spiders- sometimes (especially when I'm going through particularly stressful times- not so often since I became single!) if I go to sleep on my back, I have these odd lucid dreams- I'm kind of awake but aslepp and the dreams seem VERY real. I've woken up thinking a HUGE spider has shot across the bed to the light switch. I've even woken up at the light switch or on the way out of the bedroom while having one of those dreams. Very, very odd.
Anyway- yeah- spiders. Spooky, but beautiful and intensely fascinating. Apparently they only have muscles for pulling their legs backwards- they go forward with hydraulics. The walking movement is such a beautiful complex dance.
Sorry Big Ape!
thedonal
02-04-07, 08:39 PM
Here's something to take your mind off it-
http://204.13.166.60/content/pic/olddorks/Spider-Dog.jpg
I have nightmares about spiders- sometimes (especially when I'm going through particularly stressful times- not so often since I became single!) if I go to sleep on my back, I have these odd lucid dreams- I'm kind of awake but aslepp and the dreams seem VERY real. I've woken up thinking a HUGE spider has shot across the bed to the light switch. I've even woken up at the light switch or on the way out of the bedroom while having one of those dreams. Very, very odd.
I woke one night put on light to see a spider directly above start gently descending from the ceiling towards my face :smt106 whats the stats on this? apparently you eat at least 8 spiders in your sleep during your lifetime? ;) :p:mrgreen:
Sorry BigApe.... feel for you, Australia worked for me. Guess I just had a mere dislike and not a proper phobia so could get past it.
Anyway- yeah- spiders. Spooky, but beautiful and intensely fascinating. Apparently they only have muscles for pulling their legs backwards- they go forward with hydraulics. The walking movement is such a beautiful complex dance. Sorry Big Ape!
One evening I sat and watched two spiders chase each other round my living room. Figured they were same sex and fighting over territory. Was kind of interesting having never seen two spiders attack each other. But it is as you say intensely fascinating watching spiders walk.
Here's something to take your mind off it-
http://204.13.166.60/content/pic/olddorks/Spider-Dog.jpg
bwahahaha love it :smt077
kwak zzr
02-04-07, 09:42 PM
not my thing spiders, small ones maybe but big ones are a no no.
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