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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Martin Oosthuysen" data-source="post: 38581" data-attributes="member: 1070">HelloRemember all have their views,so no matter how strict we sound or like some handle their specimens don't judge haha. I will now be open and honest,and explain why I stand by what I say. I have been bitten,and out of all my specimens a Brachypelma. I do not like handling tarantulas,not even my docile ones. This specific day I was doing my usual feeding round,I got to my Brachypelma Emilia sweet girl never an issue her hair doesn't even bother me when flicked (so far no tarantula hair luck I guess). I threw in a feeder she didn't seem to want it(assuming huge mistake),so I tried removing it my faithful tongs and brush. This failed abysmally,so I got irritated and made the huge mistake not even one a newbie should make I stuck my hand in to take it out. I think what happened was,she didn't pick up on movement but my hand broke that soon. She swung around obviously going for the food not my hand,and wham tagged me. In the end,not the Tarantulas fault,she was instinctively going for the food ally own doing. I slacked,since I haven't been bitten by any of my way more defensive/aggressive specimens ever. If I stuck to what I always do,not lose sight or concentration that would not have happened. My opinion, I came between her and her meal. So I can't give a splashy cool bite report,but I never want to this was just me getting a reality check which I actually appreciated. I actually laughed at her,feisty little Tarantula. If an accident like that can happen,purposefully handling a tarantula ups the stakes even more. I am not scared of their venom,nor their bite but the reaction to the bite which could see me hurt the T I will hate myself for it. I have worked with snakes reptiles and many other animals,since I was in school I worked at the Pretoria zoo helping out many years ago. I have caught tarantulas locally a lot of times,obviously I was young and stupid but I have never not even then hurt myself or the Tarantula. The closest I was able to get to a tarantula then,was by catching it observing it and leaving it again. We were poor,so I would do this see where they were and observe them daily while they were in the wild. This is why I am so passionate about them,I could only start keeping them when I was older till had my own Job etc. If there was anyone ecstatic about these creatures it was me I waited since I was 12-13,till I could support my own hobby and keep my creatures I had so much love for.</blockquote>

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