# Poecilotheria Regalis - Bite Report



## mattdebarr (Apr 27, 2014)

*So I got bitten (First time)…. Would be by the harshest Tarantula I own…. A Pokie! 
*
After spending the afternoon walking, I decided to do some general maintenance on my 32 T’s and thought I’d start with my biggest girl, my Poecilotheria Regalis. 
Normally, I would use tweezers but as she was hiding and I keep her water dish near the door I just went in for the grab. I sort of looked and saw her near the end of my finger, I knew what she was going to do, but in that split second I didn’t move as I saw her open her fangs. God knows why I didn’t move. 
I sort of flinged her backwards and slammed the door shut, gripping my finger. Almost instantly the burning started. I ran down stairs to a frantic partner, obviously realising what had happened started waving to phone at me telling me to ring NHS… I dismissed it. 
I had my finger under the cold tap and I started to squeeze the area where she had bitten. I couldn’t particularly see for sure as there was a nice amount of blood. I then put my finger in my mouth and started to suck out large amounts of blood (and hopefully venom) 
I then tied a towel round my finger to prevent the venom spreading, although at this point I could feel a strange pain in my lower arm (like when you’ve been writing too long)
I went straight onto the BTS Facebook for advice as I’ve heard horror stories I.E get to hospital and things swelling ect. 
The burning sensation persisted all of the evening, I had several occasions of sweating and the pain in my finger did not stop all night. The end of my finger stayed quite red all evening, not just around the affected area, but the whole upper part of my finger. 
I took piriton, cocodamol (30mg codeine) and ibruprophen and to my surprise this morning im in no discomfort, with no swelling or soreness. Maybe it was a dry bite?! But that wouldn’t explain the burning or the pain in my arm. I think that drawing the venom out is the reason im ok this morning. I acted quickly and will certainly not make the mistake again. 
When you have larger collections I guess you can get overconfident. I guess this is why I got bitten the first time since owing these beautiful creatures. I don’t blame her for biting me, she was only doing what she knows to keep herself safe. 
It could’ve gone a different way, had I been allergic to her, or had it hit a major vein or something. Please use the necessary tools to prevent these avoidable situations happening, as I know I’m not going to make the same mistake again.


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