# Yes it really hurt!!!! (H.mac bite)



## TaniaBaker (Nov 14, 2009)

Ok, I posted this in 18+ but thought it would be a good idea to post it here also as not everyone can access 18+ section.

I have been trying to recover from the painful experience of being bitten by a Heteroscodra maculata. Thanks to my OH deciding to potch around with the enclosure at midnight when they are most active despite me telling not to and why. The tarantula ran out straight of the tank into a sink full of dishwater. My OH was just standing there watching it flailing about in the sudsy water. I ran over and tried to scoop it out with a spoon but failed. Then used my hand to scoop it out. It ran off my hand and jumped back into the sink. So I scooped it back up again. Then it proceeded to bite me right on the tip of my right index finger and wouldnt let go as it was steadily pumping venom into me. A minute passed and neither the OH or myself could prise it off so my OH gave it a good hard flick (its legs were wrapped round my finger too). Needless to say it went flying across the room and died. I of course had to go to hospital as I was already getting severe burning,extreme pins and needles and cramping up my right side. My leg, hand and arm was cramping up, vision was going, had palpitations, erratic heartbeat, swelling of hand, throat and tongue amd vomiting. At the hospital my cheeks started twitching like crazy. Am now home and the pain is subsiding a little but feel like :censor: and my fingertip is still purple. I would rather get bitten by any of my snakes than a 2.5" H. mac anyday. I am now faced with slowly getting a fear of spiders again which is not good as I have a lot of OW species in my kitchen. My OH won't let me sell my OW but I certainly don't want to get bitten by any of my larger H. macs or huge Pokies, OBT's, Baboons etc (too many diff species to list).

I hope that never happens ever again. And he is banned from going anywhee near any of my OW species, even the ones smaller than an inch. 

And yes.... a spider bite hurts so much more than say a bite from a big boa or royal python etc.......


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## LIZARD (Oct 31, 2007)

Ouch!!!!


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## Theevilreddevil (Oct 30, 2008)

well i dont think that one will be doing it again :devil:


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

I have only ever been bitten by a chillie rose once but it let go fairly quickly, never had that happen to me though, how are you feeling now hope you are okay and give your OH a right BACKHANDER OFF ME!


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## mcluskyisms (Jan 24, 2010)

Sounds a proper nasty bite! But to "flick" (must've been some flick by the way) it off and for the said T to subsequently die due to this "flick" is pretty sh!t to be fair!!! Why play about with Baboons that late at night? was your "OH" drunk and decided "lets go play with the Togo Starburst baboon?"
I think people like you shouldn't really own T's of any kind if you cant respect their natural ways and defence instincts, of course its going to bite you, your messing about with it and it felt threatened! Who plays about with baboons anyway? 

I just don't get it...........


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

Blimey, H. mac has to be one of the worst to get bitten by! :gasp: Glad you are recovering, you may have some effects for a while yet though. 

And give your OH a boot up the :censor: from me. Shame you got bitten and the poor spider had to die as a result of somebody else's carelessness.

Feel better soon!


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

TaniaBaker said:


> My OH won't let me sell my OW


I don't get this though Tania. Whose spiders are they, yours or his? If they're yours then a) he has no business messing with them and b) you can sell them if you wish.

If they're his then let him look after them and be the one to get bitten next time he messes about with them.

The spiders in this house are mine and my husband would never interfere with them. He will help me if I need it (like when we had to move a bookcase to recapture a MM OBT) but he'd never start poking about in their tanks.


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

Ouch, I've heard H. mac venom can be horrendous... It's a shame about the spider too  How long were you in hospital for?

However foolish it may have been, mistakes happen though and hopefully the lesson has been learned.


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## gothling (Feb 17, 2010)

why on earth did it keep jumping in the water as well, ignoring the other bits... hope you feel better x


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

gothling said:


> why on earth did it keep jumping in the water as well, ignoring the other bits... hope you feel better x


Dunno about maculatas but a fair few arboreal Ts use water as an escape route from danger. Avics, Psalmos, Taps and I think some others.


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## GoliathGabby (Jan 22, 2010)

*bite*

maybe he was rehydrating :lol2:


in all seriousness though hope your feeling ok 

fair enough that species can be pretty nasty at the best of times just bare in mind it was the middle of the night and how much Ts hate water BET HE WAS :censor:IN HIMSELF no not your OH i mean the tarantula .

keep us posted on recovery

Gabby


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## Hardwicki (Jun 18, 2007)

I've noticed a few pretty harsh comments on here. All i have to say to this is i wish ppl would start gaining some form of respect for creatures. If they are to be kept as pets then fine, i do i have 4 t's however i never mess around with their faunariums they are sprayed with water and fed that is the only connection i have with them. I would certainly never disturb them during their active period. 
However i think that mistakes do happen, unfortunatley for the t he wasnt so lucky but you were. If they are your t's then you should have just said to the OH no. My OH never interferes with any of my animals unless i ask him to give me a hand etc.
I think this is a sad and irresponsible outcome and you are very lucky.
If you continue to keep these potentially dangerous creatures, show some maturity and respect for them.


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## Higgt4 (Apr 25, 2009)

Sorry to hear you got tagged, but thanks for the bite report as I have a bunch of these, and I treat them with a lot of respect, but I think your OH will have a lot of making up to do ie.:flrt: :notworthy:, etc.
Hope the effects wear off soon.


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## Paul c 1 (Sep 30, 2009)

oh dear .... unfortunately it's this type of incident that will end up getting these animals that we all love so much added to to the DWA act - I feel very sorry and saddened for the poor spider involved.


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## DannyB (Nov 8, 2009)

Get off the girls back, it wasnt her that let it escape, and how many of you would of scoped up a H.mac with their hands, twice!? She showed a caring attitude in trying to get the poor thing out of the water, and im pretty sure she feels worse then any of you that the thing had to die! I dont know how i would react to a spider with the reputation of a maculata that had its fangs embedded into my finger, but getting it off would of been at the front of my mind.

As for the OH, bet he wont do it again!

Hope you feel better soon, sounds pretty painful.


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## _TiMiSdRuNk_ (Aug 27, 2008)

My advice would be to throw the other half out, he seems like a penis


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## Paul c 1 (Sep 30, 2009)

_TiMiSdRuNk_ said:


> My advice would be to throw the other half out, he seems like a penis


 
lmao - well said


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## scorpion-boy (Dec 14, 2009)

DannyB said:


> Get off the girls back, it wasnt her that let it escape, and how many of you would of scoped up a H.mac with their hands, twice!? She showed a caring attitude in trying to get the poor thing out of the water, and im pretty sure she feels worse then any of you that the thing had to die! I dont know how i would react to a spider with the reputation of a maculata that had its fangs embedded into my finger, but getting it off would of been at the front of my mind.
> 
> As for the OH, bet he wont do it again!
> 
> Hope you feel better soon, sounds pretty painful.


 what he said:2thumb:


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## TaniaBaker (Nov 14, 2009)

DannyB said:


> Get off the girls back, it wasnt her that let it escape, and how many of you would of scoped up a H.mac with their hands, twice!? She showed a caring attitude in trying to get the poor thing out of the water, and im pretty sure she feels worse then any of you that the thing had to die! I dont know how i would react to a spider with the reputation of a maculata that had its fangs embedded into my finger, but getting it off would of been at the front of my mind.
> 
> As for the OH, bet he wont do it again!
> 
> Hope you feel better soon, sounds pretty painful.


Thankyou, and I feel very saddened that the poor spider lost it's life. I had nurtured it from a very young and tiny sling. The OH knows his place and not to attempt any kind of cage maintenance with my spiders again and he is very sorry for the whole incident. He reacted out of his own instinct as we had tried frantically with any way we could think of to gently get the spider off without hurting it- him flicking it off was a last resort as I was screaming/yelling "Ow!!!!" repeatedly and frantically whilst keeping my hand still and trying not to panic. As for the effects they are slowly getting slightly better. And as for getting the spider out of the water with my hand, I had to do something quickly before it drowned. I was thinking of the spider and not myself.


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## Paul c 1 (Sep 30, 2009)

DannyB said:


> Get off the girls back, it wasnt her that let it escape, and how many of you would of scoped up a H.mac with their hands, twice!? She showed a caring attitude in trying to get the poor thing out of the water, and im pretty sure she feels worse then any of you that the thing had to die! I dont know how i would react to a spider with the reputation of a maculata that had its fangs embedded into my finger, but getting it off would of been at the front of my mind.
> 
> As for the OH, bet he wont do it again!
> 
> Hope you feel better soon, sounds pretty painful.


 
I don't feel anyone on this thread who has posted so far is aiming a personal attack at anyone - but seriously these sort of incidents don't support 'our' hobby or what we love for one second .......the way this bite has happened through messing around is not cool and I won't welcome it!!


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## _TiMiSdRuNk_ (Aug 27, 2008)

I don't think anyone is having a go at you, because after all you did try to save it's life. But i think the abuse is aimed at your other half for mucking about with it anyway


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## TaniaBaker (Nov 14, 2009)

Paul c 1 said:


> I don't feel anyone on this thread who has posted so far is aiming a personal attack at anyone - but seriously these sort of incidents don't support 'our' hobby or what we love for one second .......the way this bite has happened through messing around is not cool and I won't welcome it!!


Well the OH certainly knows now *not* (edit) to change the water or pick out bolus during early hours of the morning, well in fact, not at all as I have told him in no uncertain terms to leave well alone... He wasn't "messing around" so to speak, he was being less than careful during unnecessary (sp) maintenance. 

I posted this thread as I thought the bite report may be helpful to other owners of this species. I swallowed my pride about the foolishness of the OH that led to the bite and unfortunate demise of the spider and still posted.


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## Paul c 1 (Sep 30, 2009)

TaniaBaker said:


> Well the OH certainly knows now *not* (edit) to change the water or pick out bolus during early hours of the morning, well in fact, not at all as I have told him in no uncertain terms to leave well alone... He wasn't "messing around" so to speak, he was being less than careful during unnecessary (sp) maintenance.
> 
> I posted this thread as I thought the bite report may be helpful to other owners of this species. I swallowed my pride about the foolishness of the OH that led to the bite and unfortunate demise of the spider and still posted.


 
OK Tania - firstly I appreciate your honesty regarding how the bite occured - my opinion is just one and you don't have to answer to me or anyone else on here just for the record - personally I just feel incidents like the one you mentioned don't help things in the long term:2thumb:


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## _TiMiSdRuNk_ (Aug 27, 2008)

I told you, get rid of the other half, problem solved!

Get someone with brains


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## Mrs Meldrew (Oct 5, 2006)

Hope you feel better soon Sweetie...

Sorry for the loss of your Spider...xx


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

I think the bite report was rather useful, thanks.


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## Mr_Goodbytes (Sep 7, 2008)

Ouch!
Glad to hear you're feeling better. I have a pair of these, I treat them with the utmost respect anyway, but will be doing even more so now!

Speaking of people poking around in baboon tanks, found my stepdad had removed a moult from my 2.5-3 inch horned baboons enclosure, within a burrow, with his fingers earlier! Needless to say, i was not amused.


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## TaniaBaker (Nov 14, 2009)

Mr_Goodbytes said:


> Ouch!
> Glad to hear you're feeling better. I have a pair of these, I treat them with the utmost respect anyway, but will be doing even more so now!
> 
> Speaking of people poking around in baboon tanks, found my stepdad had removed a moult from my 2.5-3 inch *horned baboons *enclosure, within a burrow, with his fingers earlier! Needless to say, i was not amused.


C. darlingi? I have those in my collection too lol. They are very very fast when they want to be lol. He was very lucky to not get bitten. 12" tongs are a keeper's best friend.


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## Mr_Goodbytes (Sep 7, 2008)

TaniaBaker said:


> C. darlingi? I have those in my collection too lol. They are very very fast when they want to be lol. He was very lucky to not get bitten. 12" tongs are a keeper's best friend.


Marshalli. Yeah i'm surprised he wasnt bitten aswell, i'm always armed with 12" tongs and a cricket tub :lol2: i wish people would start listening to me when i tell them not to go into my room :devil: haha


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## TaniaBaker (Nov 14, 2009)

Mr_Goodbytes said:


> Marshalli. Yeah i'm surprised he wasnt bitten aswell, i'm always armed with 12" tongs and a cricket tub :lol2: i wish people would start listening to me when i tell them not to go into my room :devil: haha


Maybe a padlock on the outside of your room? lol.... I named my larger C. darlingi before I sexed it by molt. Found out it's a female, but won't change the name as I had named it after my OH had severely wound me up and got me miffed ..... he is not amused lol.... I called it ........ Nobhead lol.


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## jakakadave (Dec 29, 2009)

I agree, those who feel the urge to say Tania has been irresponsible or endangering the hobby etc etc back the hell off with your condescension! I for one found it informative, as well as a good little invert anecdote. 

I can tell you right now, if I had a H. mac buried in my fingertip, trying to gently pry it off would be the last thing on my mind. I would flick that thing off so fast the movement wouldn't even be perceptible to the naked eye. I think you showed enormous compassion in trying to rescue it, and tremendous retraint in not just flicking it or smooshing it as soon as it bit you!


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## _TiMiSdRuNk_ (Aug 27, 2008)

I don't think anyones having a go directly at her and unless she died i really don't see this as putting our hobby in danger. I think the abuse her is aimed at her other half who was mucking about with it which in the end caused her to get bitten, and for the poor spider to die. In my eyes a waste of space who doesn't respect these animals. It's idiots like him that cause more damage to our hobby.


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## vawn (Jul 1, 2008)

eek n my h.mac is my only t i scared of now i now why n i also now y i keep antihystemines and antiinflammatories in my first aid kit in my t(bed)room, my big boa bite only brused...
seems a sad night all round


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## bainsy (Feb 17, 2009)

Tbh it doesn't even sound like he was doing anything* that *retarded. A warning for all those wanting to keep anything similiar, be very careful when doing anything in the tank.


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## jakakadave (Dec 29, 2009)

_TiMiSdRuNk_ said:


> I think the abuse her is aimed at her other half who was mucking about with it which in the end caused her to get bitten, and for the poor spider to die. In my eyes a waste of space who doesn't respect these animals. It's idiots like him that cause more damage to our hobby.


But I'm not even sure he was doing anything stupid really, or worthy of such beef. He was just doing some maintenance by the sounds of it. I've been known to throw down a little late night tank maintenance in my time -admittedly I don't go tinkering about in my sicarius or pokie tank in the middle of the night, but meh, everybody makes mistakes.


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## Paul c 1 (Sep 30, 2009)

jakakadave said:


> I agree, those who feel the urge to say Tania has been irresponsible or endangering the hobby etc etc back the hell off with your condescension! I for one found it informative, as well as a good little invert anecdote.
> 
> I can tell you right now, if I had a H. mac buried in my fingertip, trying to gently pry it off would be the last thing on my mind. I would flick that thing off so fast the movement wouldn't even be perceptible to the naked eye. I think you showed enormous compassion in trying to rescue it, and tremendous retraint in not just flicking it or smooshing it as soon as it bit you!


 
At the end of the day this a place for constructive debate - if everyone had the same views or followed the same cliques this forum would soon become a very boring and stale place - I mean what I say with the best intentions and have not posted with mallice or with the idea of undermining anyone - but threads like this are always going to have different views - I take slight umbridge at been told to "back the hell off" maybe a little OTT.


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## David L (Jul 13, 2009)

_TiMiSdRuNk_ said:


> I told you, get rid of the other half, problem solved!
> 
> Get someone with brains


Tim.... you being opportunistic again?


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## spider_mad (Mar 8, 2007)

Should really write this up and send it to BTS for article in the journal. Bite reports are just as if not more valuable than breeding reports. hope recover is swift and speedy. Find it strange that the spiders were in the kitchen although would be impressive to see nice displays wont leave much room for kitch apps : victory:.


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## spider_mad (Mar 8, 2007)

Also it has to be said that some of the most well known tarantula keepers and members of the BTS committee, taxonomists have all been bitten by spiders at one time or another and happen to be very mature responsible people. 
At the end of the day sometimes sh!t does just happen! It's a shame that the spider died in the end but if a spider latched its fangs and wouldn't let go i'd probably done the same, its pretty much an instinct to protect oneself. I had a near miss with my female pokie few years back, whether she took my finger for cricket dont know, just happened that my reflex was quick and moved before got her fangs in.


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## Paul c 1 (Sep 30, 2009)

spider_mad said:


> Also it has to be said that some of the most well known tarantula keepers and members of the BTS committee, taxonomists have all been bitten by spiders at one time or another and happen to be very mature responsible people.
> At the end of the day sometimes sh!t does just happen! It's a shame that the spider died in the end but if a spider latched its fangs and wouldn't let go i'd probably done the same, its pretty much an instinct to protect oneself. I had a near miss with my female pokie few years back, whether she took my finger for cricket dont know, just happened that my reflex was quick and moved before got her fangs in.


Too true, I know of a few who have been bitten/stung etc... Tania being bitten by her H maculata wasn't the issue for one minute and bite reports and venom are something that I've found interesting and others will always be intrigued - if anything, perhaps i've read into the initial post the wrong way - my concerns were with how the bite occured which ultimately led to the death of an animal.


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## jakakadave (Dec 29, 2009)

Paul c 1 said:


> I take slight umbridge at been told to "back the hell off" maybe a little OTT.


Oh well, never mind.


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## Paul c 1 (Sep 30, 2009)

jakakadave said:


> Oh well, never mind.


 
fair enough - that's fine mate:2thumb:


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

To everyone who's going on about how stupid the OH was,

I'm glad to hear none of you have ever made a mistake or specifically done somethign you were told not to. It's nice to know that the forum is full of such wonderful and perfect people :2thumb:.

A wise man once said "Before you remove the speck from my eye, remove the plank/beam from your own"... however he later got nailed to a couple of lengths of wood so maybe I'll shut up now. I'm not saying the two were related but I'd rather not take the risk.

Regards,
Toby.


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## Paul c 1 (Sep 30, 2009)

Toby I love reading your wise proverbs lol..... and yes joking aside I can see what your saying.


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## RAZZ-MCFC (Jan 25, 2010)

can they not swim H.Mac's? i would of though so as a lot of other baboons can


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## spider_mad (Mar 8, 2007)

Some species of baboon spiders can swim, wasn't sure macs could but guess almost any can given the situation


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

GoliathGabby said:


> maybe he was rehydrating :lol2:
> 
> 
> in all seriousness though hope your feeling ok
> ...


This video must be very cruel then...
YouTube - H. Gigas swimming
AS said,most arboreal tarantula will jump into water and use their weight to their advantage, and swim(more like skim) across the water.
Think.


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

spider_mad said:


> Some species of baboon spiders can swim, wasn't sure macs could but guess almost any can given the situation


 Most Baboon and arboreal species can "skim" across water


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## garethwilliams (Jan 16, 2010)

crystal had me afew days ago think she is going in to shed


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## TaniaBaker (Nov 14, 2009)

The T Lord said:


> Most Baboon and arboreal species can "skim" across water


The mac wasn't really able to swim amongst the thick sudsy water with lots of bubbles. It was definitely floundering in the water.

............................

Anyway I am feeling a lot better today. Still sore with cramping down my right side, leg and in my right hand but the tingling in my gums has gone and my face isn't twitching like a mad woman anymore...

All my Tarantulas are in my kitchen. It's a large kitchen and is where I spend most of my time. Also my computer is in the kitchen. My living room is very small and is full with snakes. Granted there is not much surface area in the kitchen left for cooking but with only myself and the OH living here we don't make big meals. 

..............

Gareth, crystal is a boa constrictor hun, quite a bit different from a tarantula lol.


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

Yeah, it was soapy dish water... slightly different. For a start I doubt detergents do inverts a lot of good.

Are you keeping a day by day or hour by hour account? I'm sure a lot of folk would find it most useful. I've read _H. maculata_ bite reports before :? nasty stuff that. Glad you're feeling a bit better.


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## RAZZ-MCFC (Jan 25, 2010)

i heard the H.Mac has 1 of the most toxic venoms out of all T's, that and S.Calceatum, worse than pokies and other baboons


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## jakakadave (Dec 29, 2009)

Hedgewitch said:


> To everyone who's going on about how stupid the OH was,
> 
> I'm glad to hear none of you have ever made a mistake or specifically done somethign you were told not to. It's nice to know that the forum is full of such wonderful and perfect people :2thumb:.
> 
> ...


Well said el duderino...


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## bobby (Sep 26, 2006)

How are you now?


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## TaniaBaker (Nov 14, 2009)

bobby said:


> How are you now?


I am feeling a lot better now thankyou but still have the cramps and tingling but my finger is not purple anymore.


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

In all honesty I wouldnt recomend picking up any water dish from a ts enclousure with your hands, forceps can do just that and there are alot of different ones which you can select from small to large.... for a t you would probably only need a small plastic pair which you could pick up for a few quid from your reptile dealer.

I learned that afer an african baboon jumped out at me at work lol didnt get me but the shock did.


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