The first question to ask yourself is ‘should I handle my tarantula?‘
There is no actual need to handle the spider, it won’t affect it’s health or anything like that, so the decision is entirely on you. Some people just like to be up-close and personal with their spiders, others prefer to see them on the other side of the glass.
If you do decide to handle your tarantula, remember that spiders are actually quite fragile, and at the same time remember that some species of tarantula are also very fast little buggers – so you need to learn how to handle them properly – the last thing you want is to have thee spider make a run for it, and for you to just react and grab it – chances are you will cause the spider an injury.
Handling Your Tarantula: How to pick up a spider
The best way to pick up your pet spider is to gently reach between the second and third legs on each side, using your thumb asnd forefinger, and securely lift the spider of the ground. The tarantulas instincts tell it to freeze and hold-still instead of trying to run out of the way when all of it’s legs leave the ground at the same time.
Some species are pretty docile and won’t move around a whole lot. they may crawl over your hands and thats as lively as they get. Others like to crawl all over you, if you let them, and are quite fast at it. It’s advisable to keep your pet tarantual on your hands as much as possible, both for your safety and theirs.
It only takes a fall of about 3 feet to burst the abdomen of most species of tarantula, so avoidng any acrobatics is also advised. Should this happen your spider will die over the next few hours.
If you are nervous at all about handling your spider, or there is a lot of commotion in the room, such as young children, or while you have friends over watching the ball game, it’s best to leave your spider in their enclosure – at these times it’s just best not to risk it.
Tarantula Defenses
Not all spiders are gong to let you pick them up, in fact the first response of most will be to withdraw or hide where possible when you attempt to.
If this isn’t possible for any reason, the tarantula will resort to throwing hairs at its attacker, including at you if you are the antagonist at the time.
By rubbing it’s legs rapidly across it’s abdomen, the spider will fling hairs to discourage the attacker. In most cases this is a very effective tactic for the spider, even against humans, where the hairs can cause a temporary, but painful, rash.
Tarantula’s also have a poisonous bite, but the poison isn’t strong enought o do much damage to something our size – most often it is used on prey smaller than the spider. A tarantula bite is comparable to a bee sting in how it feels when it happens.
You will need to clean and disinfect the bite, although no direct deaths have been attributed to a tarantula bite, infections have been known to set in after untreated bites causing more problems for the bitten.
The spider will usually give fair warning ahead of biting by rearing up on it’s hind legs and showing it’s fangs – if you see this happening it’s advisable to leave your pet well alone for a while.
Learn more about specific species of tarantula:
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