feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby Urucone » Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:26 pm

I thought I'll share this with you guy's, I think it's helpfull to actually know the effects of bites and the symptoms that venom can cause

Today at work around 13:00, one of the staff members wanted to take a picture of a feather leg (Stromatopelma calceatum), so I opened the enclosure and moved a few ornaments around, It moved like lightening onto my hand dashed onto my shoulder(where I can't reach it) so the other staff got a paper and the enclosure to put it back, as they tried to move it back it got irritated and I felt this sudden burn on my shoulder, it felt like a someone putting a needle in side and slowly pushing it deeper, so the BUGger bit me, they finally got it back into it's enclosure, but the symptoms is as follow:

13:00 Burn
Red area around bite mark
13:05 throbbing burn as if your skin is alive
13:15 closest joint starts to become sore
13:15 arm feels a little numb
13:15 Felt a little light headed (due to venom or adrinalien?)
13:00 - 21:00 Burn gradually disappears after about 8 hours
18:00 Redness starts to disappear
23:00 thus far only a Reddish bite mark left and still a little sore

Obviously every person reacts different to venom and some one that's allergic to bee's will probably have a problem but in general, the bite of Stromatopelma calceatum won't kill you, but your arm will be sore for a while(On a sting scale I'll give it a 8/10)

If there is any other symptoms I'll add it on here
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby cascade » Sun Apr 07, 2013 1:32 am

How big was the spider that bit you?
That makes you the 2nd person to have been bitten by this spider in SA, that is known about.

As you said, every person reacts differently to the venom, but it is the days after the bite that makes this spider venom pretty nasty and what happens to your body. Will be interesting to see if you have some of those symptoms.

Thanks for sharing.
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby Bushviper » Sun Apr 07, 2013 3:30 pm

It was good of you to document the bite and post it. Lets hope nobody else gets a bigger venom dose. I dont know if spiders can regulate their venom yield the way snakes can.
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby Urucone » Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:08 pm

This far I haven't had any other symptoms but the bite site is still a little touchy, the gland under my arm is still a bit sore, the Stromatopelma calceatum was around 7 - 8cm in leg span.
Bv - I also wondered if a spider can regulate their venom like snakes, but I haven't tried to look into it, but I think I just got a knew answer to chase down.
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby JayDempsey1979 » Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:49 am

i was bitten by a adult male Stromatopelma calceatum about 2 years ago. very similar reaction as you described. i did suffer from cramping and my hand locking up for about a week after the bite. i would imagine this was residual poisoning in the muscle tissue that was breaking down over the course of the week.

i was bitten on the finger and i can tell you that it was one of the most agonizing bites i have ever taken. it lasted about 6 hours for the pain to subside.

there is a recorded death from this species. it was a soldier bitten in the neck while climbing in a palm tree. i guess if you are allergic or just the location of the bite can make a big difference to your reaction
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby Spider » Mon Apr 08, 2013 10:29 am

Must have been painful ! I have only ever been bitten by a Ceratogyrus darlingi (horned baboon spider).
I was pulling a huge 15cm female out of its burrow to take a photograph. Afterwards I got brave and stupid and tried to pick her up to show my mates tarantulas are not the fierce creatures everyone makes them out to be.
It was a mistake because this lady did not want to be messed with and bit me on the forehand as I picked her up.
It was 10 years ago but I can clearly remember the actual physical bite was a lot more painful than the symptoms that followed.
The symptoms being very mild with a slight burning sensation lasting for about 4 hours.
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby Urucone » Mon Apr 08, 2013 10:00 pm

It has been 2 days now after the bite and my shoulder still feels a little heavy, if i apply pressure to my shoulder it is still a bit uncomfortable, but otherwise fine.

:lol: :lol: :lol: Spider: all the horned baboons I came across was hecticly aggressive, one (a female) actually made a hisss sound and jumped at me, what wen't through your'e head to decide to pick up a Ceratogyrus darlingi, I'll rather put my head in a bee hive before picking up one of those guy's
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby WW » Tue Apr 09, 2013 12:17 am

BV: Yes, at least some spiders can regulate their venom expenditure just like snakes, or even better!

See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8599185, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10393823 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12175611
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby cascade » Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:04 pm

Tarantulas can regulate the amount of venom they inject.
Dry bites, no venom, mild bites, some venom and then full envenomation.

What I have noticed, smaller tarantulas bites aren't that bad and only have mild pain for a couple of hours and not much symptoms attached, where the larger adult tarantulas are concerned, the bites are far more painful and the symptoms are allot worse.

There was 14 old boy that was bitten on the back by a 13cm P.ornata (Fringed ornamental), he had pain, burning, nausea, tiredness, headache but a couple hours later he was fine.
Then their was 30 something year old man in the states that had been been bitten by a large female P.ornata on he's hand, he's pain and symptoms where much worse and lasted longer.

I was bitten by a adult female Stromatopelma calceatum (feather leg baboon) and I had symptoms weeks after being bitten.
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby Bushviper » Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:27 pm

Thanks Wolfgang. So this bite is just an observation and it could have gone either way.
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby Urucone » Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:53 pm

I agree with smaller tarantula bites are far less potent and with you’re bigger tarantulas the cause for concern is much greater, but when it comes to the severity of symptoms, it comes down to the person that got bit, people that has a allergy to venoms or toxins, diabetes, weak heart, high and low blood pressure or other, will have greater symptoms that will lead to respiratory problems, hart failure ext.

If the same tarantula that bit me, bit a guy in his 50's under the same circumstances and he is diabetic or he had an allergy towards bee stings chances is that he would've got chest pains and even got a ugly bite wound and the symptoms would've been a lot more severe, where as someone with no medical problem got bit, the symptoms will be approximate the same to mine and then you get your'e screaming queens that tell everyone this horrific tale of the big bad tarantula that went for his throat and he had to put his finger between them to protect himself and it wasn't that bad at all.
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby caveracer » Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:41 am

Haha Urucone you and the other folks are lucky as I was bitten by a "dwarf brown baboon" about 10 years ago and stil have the round scar on my arm to remind me. I dont know much about spiders other than they dont like humans. :oops:
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Re: feather leg baboon tarantula, the bite stings a bit

Postby ColinWa » Wed Apr 10, 2013 9:16 am

As far as I know, and was told, a featherleg has the most potent venom of all the tarantula specie, if this is true, I guess the chances of getting harsh symptoms are much more likely than the others T's, so this should be pretty much as bad as it gets from Tarantulas, besides being allergic and all of that.
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