So typical of the know it all's on this site, Maybe sometimes just keep your opinions to your selves as hard as it might be. Cool vid by the way.

Stupid know it alls.
I think the video was ok. Maybe a bit jumpy at times and the subject was not always in focus. :eyepoke:
As for holding a calceatum. I think its pretty stupid. Great for new people to see and try themselves.
And I must admit and be honest, I watched the whole thing hoping that it would end with a bite to the neck. Kinda like playing russian roulette I think.

:spider:

A paint brush is maybe also not the best to use. I had an incident the other day when while removing a females egg sac she actually punctured the metal part and it was quite a struggle to get her fang out again.
Maybe a round metal object is not such a bad idea, first it's to big to get their fangs around, second it's to hard to sink their fangs into and lastly their fangs would just slip around the metals smooth surface.

Hats off to Taki. My dad would tell Taki the same as he tells me when handling a copperhead or gaboon viper: "Stupidly brave, and bravely stupid"

Here's a link to a guy "handling" a H. Maculata, but this guy REALLY deserved to get bitten, no, taken apart by that T! :chainsaw:

Also shakes head, I must say, I would never 'hope' for anyone to get bitten on the neck by a S calceatum but I guess each one to his own, that was a pretty sad statement and I would hope not many other people on the forum think that way!

Let me say a few things about this whole thread, I have been in the hobby for 8 years now and lost track of how many T's I've handled, it should be over a thousand by my reckoning....
In all of that, I have never been bitten, I have never had a single T get hurt and I have never lost a single one during handling!!
Statistically (0% out of a thousand) that points to more skill than luck in my opinion!

I of course would NEVER recommend that anyone handle a very dangerous tarantula (which the S cacleatum most certainly is) but I have great confidence in my own ability and know the risks very well..... the photos that I take for the tarantupedia don't just happen by accident, it often takes a lot of hard work and time to get them as good as they are, there is often no choice for me personally but to handle them to the perfect pose etc.

Regarding the use of the screwdriver, in my personal experience I find it safer and more effective as a tool for handling or moving a T than a brush, I find that a brush makes my T's more defensive (probably because a natural predator is more likely to be 'hairy') and as has already been mentioned, it's almost impossible for a T to 'hurt' itself biting such a smooth, hard surface in comparison to a brush for example.

I also don't handle nervous terrestrial species in the same way as I did the S calveatum in the video for fear of a fall and injury but this particular species is arboreal.