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Old 01-24-2009, 11:02 AM
 
Location: Phoenix metro
20,004 posts, read 77,093,806 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsrobinson73 View Post
OH, I trust ya :0) I just wondered what on earth kind of spiders make a screaming noise! That sounds cree-eeepy! (( off to google huntsman spiders))
Spiders dont have vocal cords. Therefore they cant scream. What he probably heard was them boiling and on the point of exploding. Some tarantulas can stridulate, which they do by rubbing their legs together and the fine hairs make a hissing-type sound. But, those dont even live in the states.
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Old 01-24-2009, 11:08 AM
 
Location: Phoenix metro
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsrobinson73 View Post
ok just saw them online ~ hehe they are creepy looking but atleast they are not poisonous!
Well, yes, theyre venomous (not poisonous).... sorry, thats a pet peeve of mine. Their bites can be a bit painful, expect some localised swelling and redness, not much else.

The "dreaded" tarantula:


My room full of venomous critters, all who are kind-tempered and actually amongst the best pets one could wish for.
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Old 01-24-2009, 11:23 AM
 
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Originally Posted by Steve-o View Post
They werent tarantulas. Tarantulas (at least in the states), are not communal and they dont hang out on houses, they live in burrows under rocks, etc. And last but not least, they dont even have ears, so no amount of noise on earth will "scare" them.

Tarantulas are harmless creatures. Big, slow, hairy, lumbering spiders that want NOTHING to do with humans. The ones you see outside are probably mature males who are out in search of a mate because they dont have long to live once they reach sexual maturity. Females can live 15-25 years on average, so its important that people leave them alone, theyre harmless, despite their appearance.
Obviously tarantulas do not have ears, else they'd be cute. But seriously, they do detect noise as vibrations, this is one way that they sense their prey, and they are very sensitive to vibrations. Fireworks, firecrackers would in fact stimulate the hairs that the tarantulas have all over their body, this is their "hearing" mechanism.

Everytime after the rains, we used to go looking for them, they'd be everywhere. We'd play with them (with sticks), but they were never aggressive. This was "out in the country", just East of where Yarbrough is, that used to be the end of the city when I lived there, it was all desert.
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Old 01-24-2009, 11:58 AM
 
Location: oversea's
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well they may be venemous ~ but they aren't life threatning, which is what my main concern is having kidlets :0)
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Old 01-24-2009, 01:27 PM
 
Location: 3rd rock from the sun
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Late last summer the parking lots at i10-Redd (Albertsons, Honda) were over-run with black beetles. You couldn't walk without crunching them.
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Old 01-24-2009, 03:06 PM
 
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How big do the tarantulas here in the El Paso area get?
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Old 01-24-2009, 05:07 PM
 
Location: Phoenix metro
20,004 posts, read 77,093,806 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp View Post
Obviously tarantulas do not have ears, else they'd be cute. But seriously, they do detect noise as vibrations, this is one way that they sense their prey, and they are very sensitive to vibrations. Fireworks, firecrackers would in fact stimulate the hairs that the tarantulas have all over their body, this is their "hearing" mechanism.

Everytime after the rains, we used to go looking for them, they'd be everywhere. We'd play with them (with sticks), but they were never aggressive. This was "out in the country", just East of where Yarbrough is, that used to be the end of the city when I lived there, it was all desert.
Yes, youre correct in the fact that they use vibrations to detect things, but it doesnt come across to them as "noise" because the vibrations they sense through their hairs (setae) travel to nerve endings to detect movement (which would technically be an advanced set of eyes since their normal eyes are useless), not ears. They use the vibrations to tell where something is, how large it is, etc, etc. And they can only detect movement with their setae up to a certain range, and its not that far in relation to their body size.
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Old 01-24-2009, 05:12 PM
 
Location: Phoenix metro
20,004 posts, read 77,093,806 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsrobinson73 View Post
well they may be venemous ~ but they aren't life threatning, which is what my main concern is having kidlets :0)
The only life-threatening things in El Paso that Id raise concern with children over are rattlesnakes, black widows and Centruroides species of scorpions. Im not sure if Centruroides exilicauda/sculpturatus ranges into El Paso or not, but its cousin Centruroides vittatus should. Theyre not dangerous to healthy humans, but elderly and infants are more succeptable to dangerous effects from the venom (ie pallor, swelling, tachycardia, etc) that could be fatal if not treated.
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Old 01-25-2009, 08:34 AM
 
Location: oversea's
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Thank you Steve-O for the valuable information! Do you happen to know if there is some sort of "average" for rattlenake bites of El Paso? And Im going to guess that the hospitals in the area always have the correct "anti venoms" available?? ((forgive me if these sound like dumb questions)) Would it be safe to take my family on one of the many "hikes" I hear about in El Paso?
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Old 01-25-2009, 02:28 PM
 
Location: Phoenix metro
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsrobinson73 View Post
Thank you Steve-O for the valuable information! Do you happen to know if there is some sort of "average" for rattlenake bites of El Paso? And Im going to guess that the hospitals in the area always have the correct "anti venoms" available?? ((forgive me if these sound like dumb questions)) Would it be safe to take my family on one of the many "hikes" I hear about in El Paso?
While I dont have specific data regarding rattlesnake bites in EP, I can tell you that the area is home to a vast number of rattlesnakes, the most prevalent being the western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox). A bite from one needs to be treated immediately, get to a hospital ASAP just in case. Their venom is quite potent (haemolytic) and can be devastating if left untreated. But the number of bites vs the number of fatalities is drastic, you really shouldnt worry too much. And most bites from rattlers can be "dry", where no venom is injected. Remember, snakes dont want to waste valuable venom on something they cannot eat. Your first warning would be the tell-tale rattle sound. If youre hiking and you hear a rattle, STOP IMMEDIATELY and try to identify where the snake is. Once you spot the snake, take 2 big steps away from it and simply go around it, no more, no less.

And hospitals in EP should definitely be stocked with anti-venin, which is very expensive, especially depending on the severity of the bite and how many vials are needed to stabilize the patient. Im willing to bet that hospitals in EP stock the super-effective CroFab anti-venin, which is used to treat all venomous snake bites in the states IIRC.
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