need a little help please....

i just got a part time job at a local mom and pop pet store. i am basically the clean up guy. here is my predicament....they have tarantulas. i am freaked out by spiders. i believe they are rosey knee tarantulas. the owners said they are harmless. what advise can i get for cleaning the cage and general handling? i would like to get over my fear. so let me know the do's and dont's. thanks!

I'm sure they're fine and won't bite you, but you just got to will yourself to hold them.

I don't know what species you're talking about. It sounds like you're mixing the Mexican red-knee and the Chilean Rose-hair together.

I know the rose-hairs can flick hairs at you. If you see them doing this just avoid breathing in the hairs.

I wouldn't recommend forcing yourself to hold them. Their cages usually don't require much cleaning - just use a big pair of tongs to take out the food bolus (the ball of bug bits left over after they eat), and make sure they have water available at least some of the time. I water all my Ts once a week. Some dry out between waterings, but that's not usually a big deal as long as they have regular access to water. If it's either a rose hair (G. rosea) or a red-knee (B. smithi), they don't need damp substrate. A little overflow around the dish is fine.

After you've been doing that a while, you'll hopefully become more comfortable around them. I've been keeping tarantulas for about 15 years now and currently have around 100, but usually never hold them. I just don't believe it's necessary. I understand wanting to get over that fear, though. Maybe once you've been doing maintenance for a while, you could get it out (in a cup or something similar) and set it on a surface and just let it walk across your hand. They often seem to display less defensive behavior outside of their containers (and yes, they can bite, and the urticating hairs can irritate your skin, also). If you do work yourself up to handling, always make sure that you're not holding too high off the ground. They can be injured pretty easily if dropped.

Good luck!

I had a reptile shop for awhile, and had to deal with T's.....now, I have had a spider terror since I was little.....lol. What I did was buya rose hair, and take it home. I set her up in the living room where I could see her when I was home, and I watched her. I fed her, and cleaned her tank and changed her water without touching her. After a couple ofmonths, I just bit the bullet and encouraged her onto my hand inside the cage, with my hand just and inch or so off the bottom, that way if I freaked and dropped her, she wouldn't be hurt. I was TERRIFIED the entire 10 seconds or so she sat in my hand.....of course, she was fine, she didn't move until I nudged her back off. I repeated this every day or so until I was able to hold her outside the cage for longer periods. I still am not a big fan, but I can deal with them, and my serious fear of spiders no longer exists.