# the newbie handling bible, worship it, love it, sleep it



## TCBT (Jul 11, 2010)

welcome to the world of exotic inverts, to start with, id like to say you got into the best hobby out there, and are welcomed here with warm hearts :Na_Na_Na_Na:

This is a question i no you are dieing to ask, How do i hold my tarantula ?? dont worry it is a common question, and can be frowned upon by many of the experienced keepers... Which is very understandable, a tarantula, are very very delicate animals, along side of many of its relatives in the invert world.

But as a new commer, you are just wanting to experience that first hand feeling of holding a tarantula, so here i have taken the time out of my scedual to help you understand, why it is frowned upon, and how to do it safe with pictures and simple written details to help you understand the pro's and conns of handling, so today i will be keeping it very simple, nothing scientific just plain simple handling and why its frowned upon.... *This is YOUR bible to handling* 

repspect it love it, and worship it, as this bible, will keep your tarantula alive...


*Old world tarantula handling


*What is old world you may be asking, well an old world tarantula is somthing i pray you do not have in your collection yet, but we are going to cover it. As there will be a point with most new keepers who will buy old world tarantula's. When you hear the phraze "Old world tarantula", this should tell you 2 things straight away, *Very  Defencive*, and* POTENT* *Venom*. If this isnt what comes to mind, but quiet the opposite.. you have no buissness owning one, for you're safety, 3rd party house holder's safety, and the spiders safety, do not buy an old world species.

Now what is an old world tarantula, well to keep this thred simple for everone :Na_Na_Na_Na: it is a large spider that is fast, bitey/very skiddish, with very potent venom with only one defence, which is to bite. This ofcourse does mnot mean they want to bite, that is far from the truth, infact they just want to be left in peace, to put this in human terms, imagine someone so big cornering you, in you're own home, whilst destroying the work you put into it.. we would fight, use weopans because we can, and try to get out... well a tarantula does not have aposible thumbs, so they can't use a weopan, they can hit the ground with there front legs to scare you, but does it ? whats the alternative, nothing but to bite you're way out, so ofcourse an old world tarantula, you cant possibly expect anything less.

So after now understanding how an old world tarantula would work in comparison with humans, i hope i have helped you see the good side of them, and how scared they must really be... 

so how do we get these beautiful animals out, peacefully, as little stress to the tarantula at hand, well here we are going to show you the *Hands Off* technique, and it goes as follows ....


You will need a tub and a long thin blunt object as shown in the picture bellow










The reason's for using thin and blunt are so it minimizes the risk of the tarantula being able to get a good grip on the object, run up it, and bite you in defence, and blunt so you have no accidents, such as cutting the leg or abdomen. The tub is to place the spider in, be sure to have air hole's on the container and a lid ready to place back ontop of the container to keep the spider inside, here im useing what is commonly named as a *cricket tub*
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Once you have these objects at hand, you can now go onto taking the spider out. *

Warning
**always allow plenty of working space when working with any tarantula, it is vital to not panic if the spider does run onto you or out the enclosure, if you stay still, the spider will respond to this, and not run hectic. allow plenty of space and cover any holes an gaps around the room to allow more room and freedom for the spider to react the way it needs to.









*
Here you can see the tarantula is in the tub, use the long blunt object to coax the spider into the container, *Do Not Touch The Abdomen, Only Coax The Legs.

*Once the spider at hand, is inside the container, take the lid, and place it on top, as shown bellow in the picture










As you can see the spider is further up in the container, as placing the lid on *Will* disturb the spider and make her move. Again when working with spiders, *Calm and Steady* is vital at all times

Now you have the spider secure, you can take the container out of the enclosure, be sure to place in a safe place away from harm, and on a flat surface.

this should be the end result, shown in the picture below










a clear enclosure with no spider at risk, and you are not at risk either.


Next we go onto new world tarantula's, we will be going through the same simple steps as we did with old world, including the 2 ways of handling these, then finally the additional 3rd way, known as a *Restraint/Pinch grab


[EDIT] NOW WORKING ON NEW WORLD PLEASE BARE WITH ME AND WILL BE DONE SHORTLY
*


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## selina20 (May 28, 2008)

So now you are encouraging newbies to handle old worlds rather than new worlds


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## Freakinfreak (May 13, 2009)

selina20 said:


> So now you are encouraging newbies to handle old worlds rather than new worlds


Perhaps you should read through it again : victory:


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## TCBT (Jul 11, 2010)

*Part 2 New world tarantula's*

These are the first spider's introduced to you, when you first get into the hobby. If somone suggested Old world to you, id like to meet them..

ok so New world, New world are still defencive, but alot less defencive with there fangs, therefore meaning they are less likely to bite, But why ?? whats so diffrent between the 2. Lets go back to old world for a second, do you remember the part about *Apposible thumb's*, in the tarantula world, you could say these are the tarantulas with the apposible thumbs, as they have 2 - 4 ways of defence, and not just the one.

These defences are listed bellow

*Biteing: *were the spider will bite you, using there sharp fangs and venom to back you away

*Slapping:* This is a term for saying striking without biteing, the spider will rear up and slam down, useing the pedipalps and legs *I* and *I *on either side of the body to hit the ground, with such force to send a good message saying *back off*.

*Kicking/Rubbing urticating** hairs: *A new world tarantula will raise the *4th leg* (rear) on each side of the body, and begin to kick vigarously on the abdomen, to flick the hairs at you, Tarantula's like Aviciualria sp will generally try and rub hairs on you, by rubbing there abdomwen on you, it may look like she/he is being sweet, but the itching and the stress to the spider, aint so sweet.

*Poop Cannon: *as seen in *Avicularia species,* they will aim with there abdomen and shoot cream coloured nuggets at you, sometimes runny. this is a nasty defence, as they are a very very good aim, not that it smells, but remember it is poo :Na_Na_Na_Na:

New world tarantula's, therefore are more tolerant of us, but dont be fooled by that statement. as some are just as bitey as our friendly old world's.. not very 

*How do you i handle my new pet ?
*
If you can help it, dont ... but if you must, then here are 2 ways of doing it safe,

This is called the hands on technique, and this one alone there are 2 ways of doing this, so choose wisely.

*Warning
before trying any of these techniques, always check the temperment of the spider everytime before handling, to do this use an object and touch the back legs a couple of times. If he/she is in a bad mood, rather the spider turn on the object than you're hand
*
one way is to place you're hand inside the enclosure, beside the spider. As shown in the picture bellow










once you are ready, use you're finger to coax her/him onto you're hand,* coax the legs only*










now you should have a tarantula on you're hand, *Stay relaxed at all times

*Now gently take the spider out of the enclosure, holding him/her close to the floor at all times, you do not want to lose you're new animal because of ignorence.. to give you an idea drop an egg, thats what will happen if you're spider runs of you're hand.

the next hands on technique is the same but not placing you're hand in her/his home, instead this time we are going to, place our hand on the edge of the enclosure and let the spider wlak onto our hand, as shown in the picture bellow 










1 rule of thumb, always keep you're tarantula close to the ground

Now we move on to a pich grab, this is more advanced handling, and will require practice, Start of with a slow moving new world, as going into old world will garentee a bite with this handleing technique with out practice.

[Edit] more to come on pinch grab please bare with me


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## TCBT (Jul 11, 2010)

selina20 said:


> So now you are encouraging newbies to handle old worlds rather than new worlds


 please read it again :Na_Na_Na_Na: : victory: infact i clearly state, i hope they do not have old world T's, but i will cover it as it will eventually happen  if i was encoraging it i would have said, hold them look at me i hold mine bare handed, its fun but i did not :Na_Na_Na_Na:

but please read again, as i dont think you took the time to read it :2thumb:


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## TCBT (Jul 11, 2010)

*Restraint grab talk through*

This grab is important in some cases, for checking a tarantula for injury for example.

it is important that the whole manouver is swift, moving slow will only stress the spider out more, do it swift check quick then place the spider back, it will minimize stress and the spider wont get to p*ssed off. But because you are training in picking the spider up this way, be sure to take it step by step until you are able to do it swift, this is to minimize any injuries to the spider.

These will be the two fingers and one thumb you will be using, index, thumb, and middle. there is a picture below showing the fingers and thumb you will be using for this grab










now use the *index* finger to push down on the carapace, not to hard but with enough pressure to keep the spider in place, a photo bellow will demonstrate this










now place the middle finger and thumb between legs *2* and *3* on each side of the body, a photo will demonstrate this bellow










once you have a firm grip, pick the spider up with ease, and check for any injuries you may be looking for, you should end up holding the spider as demonstrated in the picture bellow










*Do not pinch grab an old world tarantula with out confidence and practice.

*This is the results of a pinch grab of my Pterinochilus lurgardi










didnt touch her mouth parts as i was checking her over, she grabbed the plastic stick i was useing to raise her palps, and she got it. here she did not let go until placed back in her enclosure. this is one reason you do not pinch grab an old world without training first

i hope this comes helpful for you all : victory:


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## Freakinfreak (May 13, 2009)

My, you have hairy hands.


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## tarantulamatt (Nov 12, 2009)

i never pinch grab, it doesnt fell safe and it's very stressful for the Ts,

its very rare i handle a T only when im changeing tanks,


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## Erinaceinae (Mar 26, 2007)

I'm really sorry but... "bellow" and "below" are different words, and very different meanings.
Same with "you're" and "your". 

And i have to agree with tarantulamatt on the "pinch grab" thing. There are far safer and less stressful methods of examining a T. Such as a cricket tub. Its a totally unnecessary way to look at them, and slightly too much pressure can cause major problems with them, and not enough and they'll fall or bite you.

And what's with the title...


> *worship it, love it, sleep it*


Eh?


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## Craig Mackay (Feb 2, 2009)

What a load of self righteous nonsense!



TCBT said:


> Now what is an old world tarantula, well to keep this thred simple for everone :Na_Na_Na_Na: *it is a large spider* that is fast, bitey/very skiddish, with very potent venom with only one defence, which is to bite.


Erm, no, this isn't true. You get some very small dwarf species of old world tarantula. For the sake of people who want to know the difference between old world and new world without being patronised: New world tarantula's come from North, Central and South America and, with a few exceptions all have urticating hairs. Old world tarantulas come from Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia and all of them lack urticating hairs. Technically Australia is part of the new world but because their tarantula sp lack urticating hairs it's probably more appropriate to refer to them as old world.



TCBT said:


> you have no buissness owning one, for you're safety, 3rd party house holder's safety, and the spiders safety, do not buy an old world species.


Who are you to say what other people can and can't keep? 
There are plenty keepers out there who started off keeping old world tarantulas without any drama. There is no reason why a responsible and well prepared person can't start with an old world species.


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## selina20 (May 28, 2008)

Craig Mackay said:


> What a load of self righteous nonsense!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
:notworthy::notworthy::notworthy::notworthy:


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## Mutley.100 (Nov 3, 2008)

Craig Mackay said:


> What a load of self righteous nonsense!
> 
> 
> 
> ...





selina20 said:


> :notworthy::notworthy::notworthy::notworthy:


+1 :notworthy:


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## Paul c 1 (Sep 30, 2009)

Pinch grabbing doesn't always work... if the tarantula is having a bad day they will most definatly struggle and turn towards the hand in defense... believe me I know!

Admittadly I have used the pinch hold method in order to ventrally sex or move a tarantula etc in certain circumstances,...however I would never recommend this method as a guide to handling and find it quite irresponsable to suggest this to new starters in the hobby.

-P


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## sage999 (Sep 21, 2008)

The newbie handling bible - And what qualifies you or any of us publish "a bible" on this subject?

Worship it - Do you honestly believe this, at best, confused information deserves worship?

Love it - Are you familiar with the term "self promoting"?

Sleep it - What????


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

I think I may just close this thread now since it's going to illicit hassle, and I don't believe it is of the standard of previous advice threads.

-GRB


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