# If you drop a tarantula it will shatter..?



## XoxOriptideOxoX

First of all, unless you are allergic to tarantula venom, they are harmless to humans (though they pack a painful bite). Some tarantulas can also shoot the “hairs” off their legs which can pierce human skin and cause great discomfort. Now - back to the weird fact. Tarantulas have an exoskeleton (that means its skeleton is on the outside) like crayfish and crabs. They shed their exoskeleton regularly - normally by lying on their back. (When they are shedding their skeleton, it is a good idea to keep right away from them as they will attack due to their vulnerable state.) Because the exoskeleton is very fragile, if a tarantula is dropped from a low height, it will shatter and die.


from:

10 Weird And Wonderful Oddities Of Nature - The List Universe



is that true?


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## Lucifus

Land based and burrowers apparently do shatter from a drop of 3-4 feet. Arboreals are better at surviving it though but will still probably kill them.


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## XoxOriptideOxoX

Lucifus said:


> Land based and burrowers apparently do shatter from a drop of 3-4 feet. Arboreals are better at surviving it though but will still probably kill them.



woo thats wierd lol


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## DannyLeigh

I don't think they 'shatter', like a pane of glass, for example, more likely they tarantulas body (normally the abdomen) will rupture and leak Hemolymph (which is essentially blood) and as a result of this, they die.


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## XoxOriptideOxoX

DannyLeigh said:


> I don't think they 'shatter', like a pane of glass, for example, more likely they tarantulas body (normally the abdomen) will rupture and leak Hemolymph (which is essentially blood) and as a result of this, they die.




lol i had the imadge of a tarantula like exploding =]


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## Athravan

The damage is most likely to be internal, so you may not even notice anything is wrong, or it may look like the abdomen has split, but certainly you definitely don't want to be dropping a tarantula from any great height.


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## PSYCHOSIS

XoxOriptideOxoX said:


> First of all, unless you are allergic to tarantula venom, they are harmless to humans (though they pack a painful bite). Some tarantulas can also shoot the “hairs” off their legs which can pierce human skin and cause great discomfort. Now - back to the weird fact. Tarantulas have an exoskeleton (that means its skeleton is on the outside) like crayfish and crabs. They shed their exoskeleton regularly - normally by lying on their back. (When they are shedding their skeleton, it is a good idea to keep right away from them as they will attack due to their vulnerable state.) Because the exoskeleton is very fragile, if a tarantula is dropped from a low height, it will shatter and die.
> 
> 
> from:
> 
> 10 Weird And Wonderful Oddities Of Nature - The List Universe
> 
> 
> 
> is that true?


Tarantulas wont attack you if there shedding


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## Notanothernickname

I don't think it would shatter into pieces, just like a human won't shatter into pieces if falling from a great height, the bones might splinter into shards, but the surrounding tissue keeps the body itself together in one piece, I guess it's the same for tarantulas.

this doesn't make tarantula throwing a good idea however : P


on a side note, why is the plural of tarantulas not tarantulae? as in formula > formulae, do the words come from different languages?


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## AshMashMash

DannyLeigh said:


> rupture and leak Hemolymph (which is essentially blood) and as a result of this, they die.


Indeed, haemolymph has a very poor clotting factor so I believe. 

Good news is, if you rush it to a vets pretty quick, and its only and external leak (say, from the abdomen or something), its possible to glue back together with surgical glue I believe.


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## selina20

Ermmm iv never heard of them shatter. However their abdomens do rupture and due to them not being able to clot they will bleed to death. However i have seen people overcome this by 1stly covering the wound in flour which makes the blood thicker and then supergluing the wound closed. This spider was a male G.rosea and did survive and moulted out to a mature male a couple of moults later.


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## Becky

XoxOriptideOxoX said:


> First of all, unless you are allergic to tarantula venom, they are harmless to humans (though they pack a painful bite).


Correct to some degree. Get bitten by a Brachypelma spp. for example and maybe get soreness at the area of the bite and some itching and redness etc but get bitten by a Poecilotheria spp or an African species of spider and end up in hospital, muscles spasms, vomitting, fainting, high blood pressure etc And if you're allergic it gets worse!!



> Some tarantulas can also shoot the “hairs” off their legs which can pierce human skin and cause great discomfort.


Yep, called urticating hairs. Only new world spiders possess these.



> Now - back to the weird fact. Tarantulas have an exoskeleton (that means its skeleton is on the outside) like crayfish and crabs. They shed their exoskeleton regularly - normally by lying on their back. (When they are shedding their skeleton, it is a good idea to keep right away from them as they will attack due to their vulnerable state.)


What???? How can a spider thats laying on its back shedding its skin attack you exactly?! Thats the funniest fact i've heard in a LONG time! :lol2: 



> Because the exoskeleton is very fragile, if a tarantula is dropped from a low height, it will shatter and die.


Not shatter as such.. legs will snap and abdomen will probably explode.


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## bluerain

AshMashMash said:


> Indeed, haemolymph has a very poor clotting factor so I believe.
> 
> Good news is, if you rush it to a vets pretty quick, and its only and external leak (say, from the abdomen or something), its possible to glue back together with surgical glue I believe.


 
Ash, you beat me to it again!!! I was gioing to say id heard of the Carapace being glued together !! Ash - 1
Bluerain-0


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## AshMashMash

bluerain said:


> Ash, you beat me to it again!!! I was gioing to say id heard of the Carapace being glued together !! Ash - 1
> Bluerain-0


:lol2:

:Na_Na_Na_Na::Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Slinkies mum

I once accidently dropped a T in it's little tank, only a couple of feet but onto a solid floor. The poor wee thing literally fell to pieces. Now what ever level I keep any invert at at I use a couple of blobs of blutac to secure the tank to the surface it's on, even if it's the floor.


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## Poxicator

wow they really know how to produce some misinformation. Most of it has been answered.

When a tarantula moults its at its most vulnerable state. The larger new body is folded up inside the smaller old body, its therefore weak, soft and requires hardening and stretching once the T has moulted. The body, lungs, stomach pump, fangs and genitalia are all replaced and they'll take perhaps a day or 2 to harden. So, to suggest that its at its most dangerous when its in this weak state is pure baloney, the fangs would break under an attack!


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## Scaley

going back to the abdomen splittiing and glueing it back up. ive heard you can also use tac powder to help the 'blood' clot and ive heard that someone dropped their T and sealed the split abdomen up with normal super glue! and it survived for ages after! there are a couple other methods aswell but cant think of them at the min!


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## Cleo

Superglue does actually work if applied to the wound quickly (clear nail polish can also be used). It should only be used if the wound is on the carapace (not near the eyes), or the abdomen (taking care not to get any on the booklungs). It should only be used on a leg wound if you're sure you're not going to get any on the joints (in case when it hardens it imobilises the joint). If you want to apply it accurately it helps to hold the spider in a pinch grip. Never had to glue a T myself, but I've spoken to a couple of people who have used it both successfully and unfortunately unsuccessfully.


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## enlightenment

A swan cannot break a man's arm. Urban myth.


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## C_Strike

lol this is silly as par usual

it amuses me how everyone rushes to correct the mistakes

shatter tho? lol thats funny... theyr not made of glass
id probably liken it to poppin more than anything, you drop a water balloon onto the ground chances are itl pop, not shatter


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## selina20

C_Strike said:


> lol this is silly as par usual
> 
> it amuses me how everyone rushes to correct the mistakes
> 
> shatter tho? lol thats funny... theyr not made of glass
> id probably liken it to poppin more than anything, you drop a water balloon onto the ground chances are itl pop, not shatter


Lols when someone shatters i just think of glass too.


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## Willyleigh

enlightenment said:


> A swan cannot break a man's arm. Urban myth.


A man can break a swans wing though.


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## enlightenment

Willyleigh said:


> A man can break a swans wing though.


 
Yes.

It did it an hour ago.

Having it for me tea.

Lovely.

:whistling2:


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## selina20

enlightenment said:


> Yes.
> 
> It did it an hour ago.
> 
> Having it for me tea.
> 
> Lovely.
> 
> :whistling2:


Eventho that is illegal as they belong to the queen


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## C_Strike

lol, but selena, do you really think swans are the property of the queen? like honestly

Thats Codswallow, the queen owns NO wildlife...hence its wild, no 1` owns it
thats more silly than the idea of a tarantula shattering


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## selina20

C_Strike said:


> lol, but selena, do you really think swans are the property of the queen? like honestly
> 
> Thats Codswallow, the queen owns NO wildlife...hence its wild, no 1` owns it
> thats more silly than the idea of a tarantula shattering


I thought they were like the Sturgeon fish hence why u can get arrested and even jailed for killing one. Also thats why all swans have to be rung. It is only one species of swan tho and does not include those kept by people but the queen is also named the Seigneur of the Swans


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## HABU

as a kid i had a big mexicam rusty knee... i had it in a jar to take it to a friends house. my little sister got hold of it and dropped the jar. the jar didn't break but her abdomen split wide open. what can you do?... well i mounted it in a frame...


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## enlightenment

selina20 said:


> Eventho that is illegal as they belong to the queen


She has her own problems.

Ask Prince Harry.

:2thumb:


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## selina20

enlightenment said:


> She has her own problems.
> 
> Ask Prince Harry.
> 
> :2thumb:


Lols trust u to be the 1 2 bring it up. Anyway im not happy with u do u remember a certain centipede u gave my OH?


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## georgieabc123

wow i never knew this: victory:


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## enlightenment

selina20 said:


> Lols trust u to be the 1 2 bring it up. Anyway im not happy with u do u remember a certain centipede u gave my OH?


Ummm.possibly.

Er, what did it do?

It was always a bit mental....:whistling2:


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## ShaneLuvsMonitors

A swan can break a mans arm: 


Can actually happened to my dad... 

Admittedly indirectly as the swan knocked him over but there we go. :lol2:


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## enlightenment

Can you get _Chav _Swans?

Wear a lot of snide Stone Island?

Drink a lot of cheap cider?

Push prams around with their swancav signets, or whatever...


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## selina20

enlightenment said:


> Ummm.possibly.
> 
> Er, what did it do?
> 
> It was always a bit mental....:whistling2:


Pretended it was dead and someone poked it with a pen and it ended up on his shoulder. Nasty nasty animal. Its died tho and now he just wants another one cos that 1 was incredibly mental and an escape artist.


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## Elmodfz

If anyone else is like me and likes reading up on stuff here is the links to swans lol Swan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And also, how does a spider fit a new body into the old shell before it sheds? All im getting images of in my head, is the whole how many clowns can u get into a mini sketch lol.


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## ShaneLuvsMonitors

grows a new one underneath its old one. bit like lizards having new skin under there old. :2thumb:


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## iiisecondcreep

Elmodfz said:


> And also, how does a spider fit a new body into the old shell before it sheds? All im getting images of in my head, is the whole how many clowns can u get into a mini sketch lol.


The new skin is soft and flexible, which is why you don't feed them for a week after they've moulted. If you see them walk post moult you may notice that the legs will bend slightly.


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## reef

Notanothernickname said:


> I don't think it would shatter into pieces, just like a human won't shatter into pieces if falling from a great height, the bones might splinter into shards, but the surrounding tissue keeps the body itself together in one piece, I guess it's the same for tarantulas.
> 
> this doesn't make tarantula throwing a good idea however : P
> 
> 
> on a side note, why is the plural of tarantulas not tarantulae? as in formula > formulae, do the words come from different languages?


Tarantula belong to the family *Theraphosidae* ,the Generic name of tarantula comes from the Italian town of Taranto .It was origionally used to describe a type of mediterranean wolf spider *(*_*Lycosa tarantula*_*)* whose bite was said to cause an ailment called Tarantism .Modern science has discovered that *(*_*Lycosa tarantula*_*)* is not dangerous to humans and the most likely spider to cause this ailment was probably the Meditteranean black widow .However as *(*_*Lycosa tarantula ) *_is a large hairy spider the name was consequently used for all other large hairy spiders and so became the well known generic misnomer for all large spiders .Not quite what you asked but thought i would share anyway !


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## Becky

Theraphosidae is the 'collection' but the plural for that is Theraphosids..


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## ladyboid

regarding the shedding of the tarantula.... if the new body comes out of the old body where do the new legs come from ??? only asking as one of my T's dropped a leg ( my fault) and when it next moulted i expected it to have a stump which would get bigger with each shed but a whole new leg was there.

i am assuming that the news legs come out of the old legs and the regrown one comes from inside all folded up??


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## enlightenment

selina20 said:


> Pretended it was dead and someone poked it with a pen and it ended up on his shoulder. Nasty nasty animal. Its died tho and now he just wants another one cos that 1 was incredibly mental and an escape artist.


Ahhhh. Don't go poking stuff! How did it die?


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## iiisecondcreep

Correct 

I was lucky enough to catch my bfs GBB just before it started moulting a few weeks ago, here are the pics of the moult as it happened, you can sort of see the legs coming out of the old legs... its hard to take pics through a tub!
GBB moult from start to finish PIC HEAVY! - Arachnophiles Forum


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## Poxicator

I consider a tarantula body as similar to an egg. Its quite sturdy but unable to survive a large fall. An egg doesn't shatter but it certainly breaks, or in the tarantula's case ruptures. The insides then flow out. It seems some have been able to aid the injuries and bring their tarantula back to good health, I guess it really depends how high its dropped from. There's a great example of a T. blondi being dropped by an American on TV from less than 2' and the rupture and subsequent leaking abdomen is clearly seen.
As for moults, the new body, legs, fangs, lungs, stomach pump, genitalia etc is within the old body. As the hairs develop we begin to see dark patches on the existing body which is where this hair is starting to show through. The new body is folded inside the old body and is quite soft. So, once the moult is finished the new body has to be stretched to its larger size, you'll notice tarantula stretching their legs and bending to achieve this. Its a bit of a race of time which is why we encourage raising humidity so that the body doesnt harden too quickly.
Quite amazing and the best face lift you're likely to see!


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## enlightenment

I am pretty sure a house spider would survive a fall of two feet.

Perhaps the fact that it is smaller gives it an advantage?


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## iiisecondcreep

enlightenment said:


> I am pretty sure a house spider would survive a fall of two feet.
> 
> Perhaps the fact that it is smaller gives it an advantage?


I think its to do with the relative size of the abdomen. I remember once years ago finding one of those garden orb spiders with the huge abdomen on the ground, its abdomen was completely squashed into the ground but the front half was still intact. It looked like it had fallen from some height and landed abdomen first.


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## enlightenment

If T's were able to use their silk to spin a line of webbing, like a garden spider can, then all would be well, because if it were dropped, then it could ease it's way down.


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