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Every once in a while when I'm appraising a house I walk into the kid's room and there's a terrarium with a Tarantula in it. I HATE spiders and can't imagine having one as a pet.
Wifey called me to the basement because she found a big spider in the sink.Grabbed the shop vac to suck him up but it was so strong that it clung to the mouth of the vac and wouldn't go down.
Not poisonous.....just a big water spider but they're hairy and fast but a little unnerving.
I've been sort of reviewing the defensive reactions I've seen from various spiders. Tarantulas rear back and raise up their front legs, garden spiders just run, and curl up in a ball when they hit a dead end, (I've NEVER killed a garden spider or a tarantula) Black Widows will attack when disturbed. I LOATHE them and have and will continue to kill them wherever I run across them. The big wolf spiders just run and run quite well, the little jumpers crack me up, for no bigger than they are they can clear some distance.
I suppose the abilities of spiders is what makes a character like Spiderman so appealing. If humans had the abilities of spiders we would be a formidable species indeed. In North America, most of our spiders are harmless, Widows and Fiddlebacks being the big exceptions. Unlike Australia where everything with 8 legs or that slithers will have you lighting your last smoke. uggg. Down Under can keep its spiders.
Like poisonous snakes, spider don't always (most often don't) inject venom with defensive type bites.
Rattlers don't often invenomate with defensive bites either.
You are correct that pitvipers sometimes voluntarily try to conserve venom when biting defensively, as it is metabolically taxing for them to produce venom. That being said, only about 20-30% of rattler bites are dry (including defensive bites), and the number is even lower for juveniles because of their undeveloped ability to control the musculature that discharges the venom glands. If the snake has not eaten in some time or is thoroughly provoked, the chance of receiving a venom load increases.
If you are bitten by a pitviper (rattler/copperhead/cottonmouth), your chances of being envenomated are approximately 75% or greater.
We have tarantulas here. They're pretty harmless. You can pick them up and pet them if you're gentle. They won't generally bite unless someone has seriously pizzed them off, and they have a long fuse. I've heard people claim that Black Widows are shy, not aggressive and won't bit unless monkeyed with. I say that is a flat out falsehood. They are aggressive and will ambush you. I've seen it far to often and I've been bitten before. Hazard of the trade.
Now, this spider here? Obviously not a native son, far to large to take chances with and in the house. In the baby's room no less. Terminate on sight, look for team mates. Extreme prejudice. I wasn't kidding when I said a 22 rifle would have been an option considered were I have come across such a spider.
Yes. My first ftf encounter with a tarantula was years ago teaching summer school. The kids found one after a rain and backed me into a corner and insisted that I let it crawl on my arm. It's fur felt like baby duckling down. It didn't bite, so I was convinced. Another teacher had one as a class pet for years. 'Lady', it was named. It didn't seem to do so well in captivity. It looked 'bedraggled.' I always felt sorry for it.
You do know that spiders you put outdoors is a death sentence anyway, right?
So....are you going to confirm that this is true? I've never heard of it. If you merely mean that it will become part of the food chain, well that's not such a bad thing, is it?
Spiders can live many years....up to about 18 or so, and it seems sad to knowingly end the possibility of a spider growing long enough to become venerable.
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