Which T has the most irritating bristles in your collection?

For me, it is hands down, N. tripepii. Whenever I feed her or work in her enclosure, my nose and throat start to burn. It is like mild pepper spray. It is almost instant as well. I can see how this would prove an effective deterrent to natural predators in the wild.

I'm lucky, because I'm not too sensitive to urticating bristles, but N. tripepii packs a punch!

Shane Visser wrote: Which T has the most irritating bristles in your collection?

For me, it is hands down, N. tripepii. Whenever I feed her or work in her enclosure, my nose and throat start to burn. It is like mild pepper spray. It is almost instant as well. I can see how this would prove an effective deterrent to natural predators in the wild.

I'm lucky, because I'm not too sensitive to urticating bristles, but N. tripepii packs a punch!

I cannot answer your question directly because, for the time being, I have no tarantulas. And, since I'm currently in western Canada (North America) I am literally on the other side of the planet, so my experiences may not necessarily apply in S.A.. (For instance, does anyone have any of these species?) But, in the arachnoculture hobby at large, the members of the genus Theraphosa are generally agreed to possess the absolute worst urticating bristles with T. apophysis (pinkfoot goliath tarantula) topping that very elite list.

Here's a photo of a spiderling displaying the reason for the name:

(Photo by Paul (Matthias) Lawniczak, one of the photo-contributors to TKG3 . A tip o' the ol' hat and a hearty thanks to Matthias! Click or right-click this thumbnail for a larger image. Click that larger image to see the full size, original image.)

And, a photo of an adult female:

(Photo by Craig (Cossor) McInnes, one of the photo-contributors to TKG3 . A tip o' the ol' hat and a hearty thanks to Cossor! Click or right-click this thumbnail for a larger image. Click that larger image to see the full size, original image.)

Be careful when dealing with these. They do not have a particularly bad temperament, or a particularly terrible bite in spite of their immense size. But man, can you suffer from those bristles! However, since your allergic/immune system is different from everybody else's, your mileage may vary.

Id definitely say my B.smithi and A.Geniculata :whistle:

Stanley, I have a T. blondi as well, but I don't seem to get the same reaction when working in it's enclosure. The tank is much larger though, so maybe that contributes. Also, I'm extremely careful when working in the T. blondi enclosure for exactly the reason you mentioned above.

Why no tarantulas Stanley?

Hey Guys/Gals

I have 8 Slings at this time (Getting 5 H. gigas on Saturday) and haven't experienced the hair flicking that much.

When I bought my new kids at the beginning of the month a had to get a Acanthoscurria geniculata (Giant white knee tarantula) for a guy that works with me.

It was about 5cm and he was on the defense as soon as you picked up the container. He flicked a lot but never felt the hairs did anything, had to be that he was a tad too small to do any proper harm?

As soon as my T's are big enough and I do a few enclosure swops I'll learn witch are the ones to look out for