Hi Guys .... what can I say bought this spider yesterday and as always we decide to give our new spider a nice clean house.

Well I knew that this would not be an easy task but was not prepared for this little thunder to be so quick all went perfect with the cleaning and then went completely pear shaped when I had her almost back in the cage.

she darted past her containers entrance, landed on the table and here the chase started between me trying to catch it and stopping the cats to get it.

I eventually got the spider to climb on my hand here it darted from the one hand to
the other I managed to get it to the opening of it's enclosure and here the little (insert swear word here) clamped down on me with its legs and then bit me in the finger lucky I shook her before she could inject allot of venom.

I consider my self lucky as I only had a very slight burn in the finger for a few minutes .... and that is it nothing else.

so be careful these little monsters are sneeky buggers

What size is the T?

I am still bite free, touch wood.
My 13cm P.irminia is due for a rehousing soon though. ......

Sent from my GT-N7100 a long time ago and far, far away.....

She is about 8cm plus, yeah i was also bite free and i hoped to stay that way. Guess you will get biten at some stage. Hopefully by something less aggresive.

I hear ya..... part and parcel of the hobby I suppose. ...

Good to hear that the symptoms didn't last too long.

Sent from my GT-N7100 a long time ago and far, far away.....

Yeah, this is the only thing that concerns me about keeping any of the H. maculata, S. calceatum or other old world species and any of the really venomous scorpions (parabuthus anyone?). My 8 year old son always works with me to do feeding and tank maintenance and we handle all of our T's together except for my Psalmopoeus species. He is completely fearless and I just worry that he will handle them when I'm not there. He has a large "posse" of friends that live in our complex and the last thing I need is for him or one of the other children to get bitten. Although he is very responsible and I have explained in detail why he should be careful, I still worry about it.

@Jacques - this is why it's wise:

A: To do enclosure transfers or maintenance that involves the T, in a bath Tub with:
B: The door closed to ensure no cats or dogs can get bitten or T's splatted.

I'm not sure about cats, but I read an article about a local baboon spider that bit a fully grown Alsatian dog and the dog was dead within 45 minutes of the bite.

@Llloyd, peer pressure makes kids do anything to impress their friends, I seriously suggest keeping your T's in a locked room with the key kept somewhere that the kids won't find it - coz they will try. I know I would.

HS