Tarantula bites!

He later added:

"I have sense identified the spider as Aphonopelma vogeli, and it has been tenativly confirmed by Brent Hendrixon (Texas A&M guy). As an amendment, or more of an in depth report, I was bitten on the finger. The finger swelled more than anything, and had a pins and needles feeling. The finger was so swollen that it turned whitish, because the blood circulation was so hindered. It was also the most itchy I have ever been in my life. One side of my finger got a bit chapped from the rubbing, but some lotion cured all that. It did go away after a few days, and there were no other ill effects."

I thought, wow, what a cranky spider we have here. Even my Pamphobeteus antinious doesn't behave like this when I pick her up, so I tried again, and this time the pink toe twisted around in my hand and bit me on the thumb. I was shocked! It's the first time I've ever been bitten by a tarantula and of all the tarantulas I've handled it turned out to be a pink toe who nailed me first.

She only connected with one fang, but nonetheless drew some blood from me. So needless to say I put her down and left her alone the entire night."

The puncture wounds were deep, and there was immediate bleeding and sharp pain in the area. Aside from the actual punctures though, there wasnt any extra- ordianary pain that followed. One other thing to note is that the bite area did not heal well as I went swimming in a pond in the days following the bite which caused an infection in the biten area. 2 small scars are still there today. She quickly gained my full respect and she actually went on to become one of my most docile T's I have ever owned. It was a sad day when she passed. I will try to dig up some pics of her and post them to the pix list."

She: "What's this greenbottle blue like? Is it used to handling?

Me: "Oh yeah. No problem. It won't bite. I've handled all three lots of times."

She: "Ouch! The little %^#$@*& bit me!"

Me: "Oops!"

This morning her right thumb is a little swollen, a little red, a little tender and itches like crazy.

She: "'No problem. It won't bite.' Indeed!"

Me: "Oops! :)"

In a later message he added: "While I can't bring myself to comfortably use Stan Schultz' cup method on any but my most docile T's, I will never again use the pin method. My only bite came years ago from using it on my rose hair, and I'd picked her up many times w/ it previously. Now I guide any T I handle up the side of its container w/ a paintbrush and out onto my hand. Cowardly, maybe, but if they turn on the brush, or won't go where I guide them, then I don't pick them up."

From what I undertstand, it's a female (another suprise, hehe). She's the biggest of all my T's, and she's much more colourful than what I had been told--really, really blue on parts of the legs and abdomen. Anyhow, I knew that she was an aggressive species from different people but I wasn't expecting what I encountered.

About a month ago, my girlfriend had come to the apartment to hang out for a bit and she wanted to see the rose hair (it's her favorite). As she was looking in on her, I noticed that the cobalt's tank was becoming increasingly tangled with web, to the point where it was getting difficult to see even the substrate. I always keep her well fed, and I mist the tank about twice a week, along with her water dish being filled. Normally she just comes out of her enclosure for a second, then races back in if there's a disturbance. I just kind of peripherally used my index finger to sweep some of the webbing form near the top of the tank and she bolted for me. In the length of less than a second, she had tagged my right hand about three times, as well as blindly striking at the side of the aquarium. My girlfriend was laughing her ass off.

At any rate, the initial bites felt to me like weird electric shocks--it's hard to explain. They hurt like hell, but not in the way I would've expected. I had some pre-concieved notions about what a tarantula bite would feel like, but I was off the mark a bit.

Later on, my girlfriend and I went out for a coffee, and that's when I really started to feel discomfort; my hand where I had been bitten started to really ache, and I had started to get a headache (then again, I was with my girlfriend, so...).

In the long run, all I suffered was a bit of dead skin, as well as a newfound respect for my own stupidity <<insert "Imperial Margerine" theme here>>. The day I was bitten, I remember cranking Slayer all day. Loud. I wonder if she hates metal music?"

The next day he added: "Well i am still here.

I went to bed just after writing my initial post and the girlfreind took away some of the pain :-). (Can't have pain without pleasure).

When it happend my finger did swell a little but that has gone now, although there is a little redness on the finger. It is tender to touch but feels stiff when i move it. Apart from that i have had no other effects. I am guesing that venom was injected because of the sensation i felt in my finger, if there was no venom i would imagine that it would have the same effect as sticking a pin in it, but this tingled (Painfully) and throbbed. No other parts of tmy body was effected. It was an unusual feeling, quite difficult to describe. I should also mention that i had a few glasses of wine so no doubt the alcohol would have subdued the pain and maybe even counteracted with any venom. Who knows?"

Four days after the initial bite, he added some apparent after effects:
"If you recall I mentioned that I was bitten by a 4 inch regalis last week and reported no particular problems other than a sore finger, of which the discomfort is slowly disappearing. I have now noticed one or 4 other things. Now whether they are related to this bite I simply don't know, only those who have been bitten before maybe able to comment. 2 nights ago approximately 24 hours after the bite my right calf muscle seized for approx. 5 minutes. I put this down to a simple muscle cramp. (Had them before but not for a few years). At approx. 6am in the morning I had another in the same leg. Now this got me thinking if it was related to the T bite. That day I seemed very tired, exhausted and wanted to sleep, but I plodded on. The next day, still tired I finished work at 12pm dozed on the sofa and at around 3pm I got the same cramp, only this time in my left calf, later that day a muscle in my lower jaw temporarily seized during a yawn.

I have never had so many muscle cramps/seizures in such a short space of time. I was wandering if anyone else who has suffered bites, particularly a poke has experienced the same or similar? I know someone mentioned that someone had but I forget the name.

Don't mean to bore you with this but I do know that there are peoples out there collecting this sort of info. And I thought I might be worth mentioning, but again I cannot say if it were related to the bite. Both Calf muscles are still sore, but WOW!! what a few days I have had."

I am allergic to bee stings and this bite could have prooved fatal I guess. I called up my bro (I think he is still sore I woke him up in the middle of the night ) and told him .."Uhh could you please bring me to the doctor.. I got bitten by a poisonous spider..." Freaky but well, I guess I learned my lesson. I'm only glad I managed to recieve medical attention for I dare not say what would have been worse . Apparently she broke the skin and gave me a wound. I flicked my hands in fright and flung her unto the tank floor. ("Sorry baby.. will promise to treat you nice next time.") Could not help notice that she landed on all eight legs like a cat(which has four:\).

I guess she did not apprecieate hominid hands upon her myglomorphic body after a good meal of cricket delight"