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Tarantula bites!


Met dank aan Phong - Big Hairy Spiders

I've been making an effort to collect recounts of tarantula bites in a central location as a resource for those in the hobby. Bites are somewhat uncommon and accurate and reliable information is very difficult to come by. I'm only accepting accurate first hand accounts of the actual bites, and am specifically avoiding second and third-hand accounts, rumors, speculation, superstitions and other such nonsense. If you've ever been bitten by any tarantula and would like to share the story with others in the hobby, please e-mail me. Be sure to include the species, size of tarantula, any symptoms, and if possible, the circumstances surrounding the bite and any medical treatment applied. I'm looking for ALL accounts, even dry bites or partial bites.

I would like to sincerely thank all of those who have shared their bite stories and made this page possible. If you have any updates or corrections to any of the information below, please let me know.

Bites reported:
    Unknown/Not mentioned    2    
    Aphonopelma chalcodes    3    
    Aphonopelma vogeli    1    
    Avicularia avicularia    1    
    Unidentified Brachypelma sp.    2    
    Brachypelma smithi    3    
    Brachypelma vagans    2    
    Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens    2    
    Citharischius crawshayi    2    
    Cyriopagopus paganus    1    
    Grammostola rosea    2    
    Haplopelma lividum    2    
    Hysterocrates scepticus    1    
    Poecilotheria pederseni    1    
    Poecilotheria regalis    2    
    Tapinauchenius gigas    1    
    Thai black    1    


Species: Unnamed
Reported by: araknorman@...
"once on the right thigh a few years ago and got a HUGE welt and very little pain..... once a couples weeks ago and much less swelling (may have antibodies from first bite) and it bothered for the first day only....."
Species: Aphonopelma chalcodes
Reported by: Bill Azevedo
"I've been bitten three times by Aphonopelma chalcodes--field-collected specimens. One was a "good" bite--both fangs penetrated. The puncture hurt, and there was lots of blood dripping. The other two were "lesser" bites--I jerked away before they got a good bite--mostly just one fang penetrated. All were on my hand. No long- term effects. The most severe symptom was an ache that spread only as far as my elbow, and if I hadn't been actively paying attention, I'm not sure if I would have noticed. The most noticeable effect was the puncture wound I think--the fangs are like large tacks, and that hurts."
Species: Aphonopelma vogeli
Reported by: Chad Ray
"I was bitten when I as a kid (7 or 8 years old). NO bad side effects though. My hand swelled up for 2 days, and then it was ok. The tarantula even lived, and I let it go. It was a local Aphonopelma, (behlei?)."

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."


Species: Avicularia avicularia
Reported by: LINEBACKER II
"Well, I thought since my pink toe is still pretty small, I'll handle this gentle giant. So, I stuck my hand in the cage and got a grip on her, like I was shown many, many times when it comes to tarantula handling, and she fought me.

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."


Species: Unidentified Brachypelma sp.
Reported by: Jason Perry
"...Also, its behavior is most un-Brachypelma like. He is feisty, readily flicks its hairs and charges at anything in its cage be it food or other. It has even bitten me twice..."
Species: Brachypelma smithi
Reported by: Allen Nelson
"Well, I make another stupid mistake, and that lands me with a bite from Brachypelma smithi, the second tarantula to ever bite me. I was quite surprised at the consequence, there hardly was any! I was going to pick the animal up using the pin-down method, but she turned skittish and tried to squeeze from under my grip and bit me on the left index finger. At first, I was kinda scared at the sight of her opening her fangs and going for my finger, and she planted them firmly in, making them go all the way in, and held on for about a second. Well, I only experienced some pain that felt about like two big pin-pricks in my finger when she did it. When she let go, I put her down, and went to wash my finger thoroughly with soap and water. Minutes after, slight redness and swelling directly around the site of the bite. The only pain is a very slight burning, and if you touch it, it stings a little. But that is it. You can see two definite holes in my left index finger, though, as I think she drove her fangs quite deep. No other symptoms have arisen as of yet. I was expecting something like a wasp sting from this species like people say, but I can't say that a wasp sting was that inconsequential!"
Species: Brachypelma smithi
Reported by: Steve Miller
"...I have kept a collection of Brachypelma smithi for years now and have been bitten only once. This doesn't count the "dry bite" I first received. The situation was a loose Red-Knee in my shop/garage, trying to locate it after hours with a red lens flashlight. I had exhausted all locations in my search including behind some curtains that hung up in there. As I made my way for the door in the dark, after turning out the flashlight and giving up hope, I felt as if I had brushed my hand into something sharp. This wouldn't be uncommon as I have a sheet metal shop there. I rubbed my hand against my leg in reaction then I felt it! There was another reaction then of me flinging my hand backwards and then I realized what had happened. It had been on me since I looked behind the drapes and was traveling towards the floor when I so rudely interrupted it with my arms moving in stride. I flipped the light switch on to see where it went and look at my hand. I had two small scratches that were the effect of the "dry bite" and two small punctures. I immediately poured hydrogen peroxide on them and watched it foam. I would say the adrenalin rush was the biggest thing to get my heart pounding. The effects were a couple hours of stinging and tingling in my left thumb region. Very similar to the effects of the "stinging nettles" weed we encounter here in Michigan. There were no other effects I noticed different than a typical bee sting, except I do have a small scar there now. The B.smithi was approximately 2 1/2"- 3" and was only reacting in self-defense. I did manage to find the little devil about a month later. Funny how much smaller it was as I feed them everyday..."
Species: Brachypelma smithi
Reported By: Deanp33@...
"You know out of 21 years of keeping many species of T's, the only real solid bite I received, was from a Brachypelma smithi in 1979. She was a good sized female, freshly wildcaught, and bit my upper chest as I was trying to coax her off of my shirt.

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."


Species: Brachypelma vagans
Reported by: Mark Kent
"ok, i have never been taged i am not known as the cat for nothing ie quick reactions,drunk or sober ok ive had a few up my arms,hair, chest but still the force is strong with me.
my son however got tagged at around 4 years old he is now 8, i was feeding the ts when the phone rang i turned around to answer it he then dicided to pick up a 50mm vagan in a scooping crushing movement. he got bitten in the palm ,reaction well he cried there were also two puncture wounds .if anyone knows kids he maybe cried for 2 minnutes (it was the shock i think)before his mum came and shall i say tore a strip outa me,revenge on the t was swift and rapid i had put it back on in a plastic container which was still on the floor the little horror then stamped on it repeatidly but i did not have the nerve to tell him off."
Species: Brachypelma vagans
Reported by: Bryant Capiz
Gave "his and hers" redrumps to a couple at their wedding. One person loved it, the other slammed it back into his hand. The spider lived, but bit him in the palm in the process. He felt a pain in his armpit for a few days after that.
Species: Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens
Reported by: Pat Kane
"THe second time was just recently also because i was being dumb, I was feeding my 2"++-2.5" green bottle blue (which someone else now has) and it bit me because i decided to hand feed it but it just reached that size where it was too big (i usualy feed some small spiders by hand for the fun of it but this one perhaps was not such a good idea lol."
Species: Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens
Reported by: Stan Schultz
Marguerite and I are in the midst of our annual Spring cleaning. Last evening she was moving tarantulas from dirty cages to clean.

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! :)"


Species: Citharischius crawshayi
Reported by: Drastak
"Well, I was bitten only once by my spiderlink of C. Crawshayi (4-5th instar). I tried to give him more substrate and he attacked my hand. I was bitten to my forefinger (hope dictionary is right :")) ). It didn't hurt a lot but it was very unpleasant feeling like small cramp only in location I was bitten. The only problem was, when I had to go outside (and there were about -5 degrees), because cold wasn't the best environment for this :). It didn't hurt more, but it was very strange feeling that I can't describe. After return to my room, evrything was OK again.:)"
Species: Citharischius crawshayi
Reported by: Gary (gcombs@...)
"How do you like your little King Baboon? I don't see mine very often it spends most of it's time down in it's burrow. Luckily it goes right along the edge of the bottom of the tank so I can see her down in it. She is about the size of a quarter and not long ago she got out of her tank. Those little buggers are quick as lightning! Anyway, I got lucky and she scurried up onto the bottom shelf of a book shelf. Luckily she did not go behind it, otherwise I would have never seen her again. I managed to get her to run back into her tank but I was afraid she would run back up the corner and out into the library again so I put my hand over the corner where she was while reaching for the lid and she ran up and latched onto the palm of my hand. Let me just say Ouch! for a tiny little baby T she sure can bite hard. The next day I had a small black and blue spot and it was a little tender to the touch."
Species: Cyriopagopus paganus
Reported by: Mike "troll"
"welp it was inevitable if oyur gonna play with spiders your gonna get bit. i had to count and transfer a bunch of C.pagan lings tonight hehe man can these thing move when ever i opened there container 15 or so come rushing out going every which way expected it to be a breeze lol luckly i was working in a tub. anyways bout half way through catchign and cupping them (i did round 70 tonight) a spot on my finger starts itchign like mad and it felt hot. it didnt really dawn on me till about a half hour later with it still itchign like mad and the hot feelign expandign half way down my finger that maybe i got bit. its been bout 45 min now and im startign to get a very very slight dull pain and hot feelign all the way down the finger (ring finger) and side of my hand its also feelign a littel crampy as i type. is this just my imagination or did i really get bit these guys are 1/2"-3/4" LS."
Species: Grammostola rosea
Reported by: frank1026@...
"Got a little nip from my rose hair, who used to get picked up quite often. Not any more, of course! Stung quite a bit for a short time, and then itched for a day or so right at the sight, but this was one of those "no worse than a bee sting" experiences."

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."


Species: Grammostola rosea
Reported by: Pat Kane
"I have gotten bit by a male G.rosea that got bit after mating adn ran out of the cage me having just gotten into the hobby thought rose hairs are docile picked it up BANG right in the palm of my hand."
Species: Haplopelma lividum
Reported by: Bryant Capiz
He was cleaning out the dead cricket remains from, and a 4" cobalt ran up the tongs, bit his thumb, then ran back in the cage. It was apparently a dry bite, because there was no reaction (other than the holes in his thumb).
Species: Haplopelma lividum
Reported by: Lee Ungeran
"Anyway, the bite I sustained was from the cobalt (big suprise)...

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?"


Species: Hysterocrates scepticus
Reported by: lividum@...
"BTW, I was bitten by Hysterocrates scepticus juvenile (70mm or 2+3/4 inch legspan) on my finger. Nothing uncomfortable happened after cooling with an ice pack. Lucky that it did not cling on my finger for injecting more venom."
Species: Poecilotheria pederseni
Reported by: Henrik Wessel Frank
"Funny Yesteday I was doing a photosession, with my pokes. And it all went well.........until I took out the P. Pederseni. I tried to put it right on the tree trunk but it started to run away...after putting it back 3 or 4 times it went crazy and bit me twice in the hand. Hmm the first time it had happened to me, the pain was not so big as expected. I was pretty painful for 3-4 hour but then it stopped whirring and Today I have 4 small holes but no more red skin and only a little pain. BUT... I got the photo uhuuu !!!"
Species: Poecilotheria regalis
Reported by: Wayne Kettlewell
"I have just been had by a regalis, about 4 inch in legspan. Trying to re- organise its tank and it cought me on my little finger on my left hand. First bite in 11 years in this hobby. the sensation at first was a sharp (hot feeling) pain in the finger, although not enough to throw the T across the room, if you get what i mean. It hurt as though pins'n'needles were going through the finger. It bled for a few minutes but that did not last long. All i feel now, 25 minutes later is a strong, yet mildy painful pins an needles feeling. My finger has swollen a little but not a great deal and it seems to be the tophalf of the finger that is infected by this sensation. I can no longer type with that finger. I feel excited and curious at this event, the size and temperature of my digit seems to have increased and it is still throbbing with the pins and needle effect."

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."


Species: Poecilotheria regalis
Reported by: Bryant Capiz
He was feeding a baby regalis (about 2.5"), and he got a little too close (apparently the spider mistook his thumb for food). It held on for 20-30 seconds. After that, he took benadryl and laid down for a nap (it was in the morning that the bite occured). He didn't wake up until that evening... He could hardly walk (walked like granny), knees were stiff, chest was tight, breathing heavily. He went to the doctor (at the insistance of others, he didn't really want to go). They didn't really have any idea what to do, so they flushed his system with two or three bags of saline. The kept him overnight for observation, but there were no effects after that evening.
Species: Tapinauchenius gigas
Reported by: Sitehnd@... (Brian Whiteley was the one bitten)
"As some of you may have heard Brian Whiteley got bitten on the tip of his finger while catching a male Tap. gigas during the monthly San Francisco Tarantula Gathering at my home. This is a pic of the bite just after it happened. He reported that the pain stopped very soon and it didn't bother him at all. But a day or 2 later he reported swelling. Brian please post a pic if possible."
...
"This is a pic of the spider's fangs that bit Brian Whitely. Needle sharp. Only 1 fang penetrated tho. This is a male Tap. gigas. The last spider to bite Brian was also a male Tap. gigas. Apparently they are squirmy little boogers."


Species: Thai Black
Reported by: Terry (ccrain@...)
"I was clearing the cages of small refuse (the wrapped up unreconisable remains of crickets, roaches in spider silk) and was probably doing it half awake. Now, I usually put in dried leaves as for me it looked natural to disguise the substrate of which i used with a more natural setting rather than the clinical-showcase- plainforward display. As i sifted through the dead leaves I did not notice that that dark shape in the corner was my female Thai Black and absent-mindedly scooped her up with my fingers, mistaking her as a pile of dead leaves. She promptly bit me and I was realised that she had sunken her jaws into my hand. Ouch....

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"


Copyright ©1999-2001 Thomas Schumm