OMG I did it!!!

This is a huge and momentous occassion for me. I have had a fear of spiders, more specifically tarantulas, for some time. (since I was a little girl, but let's not dwell on how long ago that was :P ) I had been watching threads here, and even began to appreciate their beauty. I was so excited when I purchased my first little sling.

I have been trying to work myself up to actually holding the sling. Last Monday, I went to another cub scout pack to give a snake presentation and took along the spider shed as well. The kids all wanted to know if I had held it, and I had to tell them I hadn't yet. So this weekend I decided it was time to do something about it.....

First off... to decide to go with the adult diapers or not. Since I was too lazy to go out and get any I decided to go without. :giggle:

Next, get the sling and take to a safe spot. I decided to go with the bathroom counter, hoping that I wouldn't drop it but have enough light for pictures.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ing/sling1.jpg

Then I got the little guy out of it's container and onto the lid. I started to get a bit nervous at this point.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ing/sling2.jpg

Okay maybe I'm getting a lot nervous, but I can do this. We'll start with baby steps. Maybe just a couple legs on my hand, I think I might be able to do that.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ing/sling3.jpg

Just another second and I'm good. Please don't let me freak out or drop the little baby.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ing/sling4.jpg

Okay that's enough. I'm good. Now go back onto your lid little T. ACK, wait ... what are you doing. Oh gawd, it's on my hand and how the heck am I supposed to get it back into it's container. Breathe. Okay time to get off ... eep!
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ing/sling5.jpg

The sling spent all of 2 minutes on my hand, but that was because it took me that long to coax it off me! :oops:

BUT ... I did it and I'm so proud of me!!!! :clap:

How do I know it is YOUR hand?

For all I know it could be someone else so I think someone need to take a picture of you with the T in your hand ;)

Did I mention you were NUTS.

Congrats!!!!!!! :spid0r::banana::carrot::banana::carrot: :spid0r:

All the people who I know that are afraid of spiders, have never made the effort to get over their fear. Some have made the effort in getting over their fear of snakes, but would say heck no to spiders.

Anyways, congrads on taking the steps to conquering your fear! Pretty soon you'll be walking around showing him off to everyone, and they'll be all :eyepoppin::omfg: :bolt:

Btw, (s)he is a cool lil guy, what species is he?

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Originally Posted by Deborah

How do I know it is YOUR hand?

For all I know it could be someone else so I think someone need to take a picture of you with the T in your hand ;)

Did I mention you were NUTS.

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Who else is going to be dumb enough to let me put a T on their hand?

Hmm... you know I'm not sure you have mentioned NUTS. I'm sure there were a multitude of other names, but I'm not positive on that particular one. :rofl: :wuv:

That is so cool. :)

I am scared of spideys too... but really want one.

I was scared of snakes at one time too... WTF?

Glad you held the wee baby boy... :gj:

bruce

PS: you know Deb is not going to be happy till she gets a pic of it on your face to prove it is you. Do not encourage her. :rofl:

Haha! Yay for you! You can keep that spider though! I'm not afraid... Just don't like bugs! :P

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

Who else is going to be dumb enough to let me put a T on their hand?

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Definitely would have to be related to you! :rofl:

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Hmm... you know I'm not sure you have mentioned NUTS. I'm sure there were a multitude of other names, but I'm not positive on that particular one. :rofl: :wuv:

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That because http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...ns/ILoveU1.gif

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Originally Posted by Bruce Whitehead

That is so cool. :)

I am scared of spideys too... but really want one.

I was scared of snakes at one time too... WTF?

Glad you held the wee baby boy... :gj:

bruce

PS: you know Deb is not going to be happy till she gets a pic of it on your face to prove it is you. Do not encourage her. :rofl:

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Oh good heavens! :O Who's the one giving her ideas now? :evileye:

I never would have thought I would enjoy the little thing so much. It's very cool to watch just walking around. :yes:

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Originally Posted by python.princess

Haha! Yay for you! You can keep that spider though! I'm not afraid... Just don't like bugs! :P

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Thanks Mel.

I am not afraid of cockroaches, but I do not want one of those so I understand. If you ever change your mind, I'll be sure to send one your way though. ;) :giggle:

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PS: you know Deb is not going to be happy till she gets a pic of it on your face to prove it is you. Do not encourage her. :rofl:

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Bruce that is actually a GREAT idea :gj:

So Christie I am waiting ;) (even on your shoulder would do it) show us how BRAVE you are!

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Originally Posted by Jyson

Congrats!!!!!!! :spid0r::banana::carrot::banana::carrot: :spid0r:

All the people who I know that are afraid of spiders, have never made the effort to get over their fear. Some have made the effort in getting over their fear of snakes, but would say heck no to spiders.

Anyways, congrads on taking the steps to conquering your fear! Pretty soon you'll be walking around showing him off to everyone, and they'll be all :eyepoppin::omfg: :bolt:

Btw, (s)he is a cool lil guy, what species is he?

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Missed this one. We must have posted at the same time. :oops:

THANKS! This really is a HUGE step for me, but not too many people understand. My mother is getting the biggest kick out of it, since I always fussed at her for her Ts.

Now I'm not too sure that I'll be walking around with the little guy just yet. It's a Chaco Golden Knee and will be getting MUCH bigger, so I figure I better start aquainting myself with him/her now. :D

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Definitely would have to be related to you! :rofl:

That because http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...ns/ILoveU1.gif

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My sister said she would have to hold it, so I guess you're right. :rolleyes: Of course two others of my sisters do not even want to come into my house now. :rofl:

Love you too girl! :love:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Bruce that is actually a GREAT idea :gj:

So Christie I am waiting ;) (even on your shoulder would do it) show us how BRAVE you are!

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I thought that one over really hard (for almost 2 seconds!!!) NO!!! *shudder*

I'm so proud of you too! Better you than me! He looks like a big fat tick! :P

They just give me the heebie jeebies!

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I'm so proud of you too! Better you than me! He looks like a big fat tick! :P

They just give me the heebie jeebies!

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Thanks Robin! :hug:

Please don't remind me that it looks a bit tick like. That's my other irrational fear that I have no intention of getting over. Big, MASSIVE irrational fear. :tears:

Yay!!! Congrats on the holding and I'm glad it went well!!! Did yours kick any hairs? Male or a female? :gj: :gj: :gj:

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Originally Posted by Boanerges

Yay!!! Congrats on the holding and I'm glad it went well!!! Did yours kick any hairs? Male or a female? :gj: :gj: :gj:

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I don't think it kicked any hairs, but I haven't a clue if it did or not. I didn't itch at all so I thinking no. I tried to be very gentle and slow, so as not to startle the poor thing. The breeder I got it from handled it very easily.

I was told the sling needed to be much bigger before I could sex it, but even if it was old enough I haven't a clue really yet in determining sex. I may be posting a picture later on when I get the next shed to see if any of the experts here can help me determine the gender (as I hate calling it an it)

congrats on that big step Christie.. but OMG.. aaaaarrrrgggghhhh. I couldn't do it. hubby wants one.. and I point blank told him.. you want it you take care of it.. every aspect of taking care of it. I can appreciate their beauty, but from pictures.. or through glass. :D

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Originally Posted by Ladydragon

congrats on that big step Christie.. but OMG.. aaaaarrrrgggghhhh. I couldn't do it. hubby wants one.. and I point blank told him.. you want it you take care of it.. every aspect of taking care of it. I can appreciate their beauty, but from pictures.. or through glass. :D

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Thanks Doris. It really is a big step for me, and not one I'm ready to try again so soon though. :oops:

Plus I don't see any harm in appreciating Ts in a hands off way. I have been able to take care of the little guy without ever really getting too close for almost 4 months. It's totally doable! :yes:

Wow, you’re tougher than I am. I would have flipped out. I am not the type of person who goes running from a room if there is a spider in it, but I do not want them on me either...

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

Wow, you’re tougher than I am. I would have flipped out. I am not the type of person who goes running from a room if there is a spider in it, but I do not want them on me either...

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I have found in the past I am very capable of screaming like a girl, but that was over a nasty palmetto bug that suprised me. The husband came running but never DID help me kill it! :rolleyes:

I was very worried I would freak out and drop the sling, but I managed to control the urge to shake it off. Since this little guy is going to be MUCH bigger, I need to get comfortable with it now. I really can't wait too long to get over the fear or I'd be facing a pretty big T! :O

I appreciate the thought that I'm actually tough. (as most people would never put those two words together in a normal sentence) I'm feeling even braver today, even though it seems to be a bit surreal at this point. Go me! :D

Definitely an awesome thing to hear someone getting over their fears. That's so great. Eh. I'm not sure about owning or holding one either, though. The little black jumpy spiders in Texas are so much smaller in comparison.

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Originally Posted by Melicious

Definitely an awesome thing to hear someone getting over their fears. That's so great. Eh. I'm not sure about owning or holding one either, though. The little black jumpy spiders in Texas are so much smaller in comparison.

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Thanks. I never thought I be at this point in my life... EVA!!

I did start out keeping a little wolf spider (which I was NOT going to hold!), and had more fun than I thought I would keeping it for a couple weeks. Next thing I know the husband says it's okay to get the little T and bammo! Who knew?!

GO GO Christie GO! :banana: I'm SO proud of you... :oops:

Was it as bad as you thought it would be?

BTW... that is one FAT lil'-pider! :P

:O Girl you are too crazy! (I am sorta proud of you though...MUAHHHH!!!!!)

One of these days I will have to follow in your footsteps....just not anytime soon :rolleyes:

If you can post a pic of the underside of him or her. You can get a pretty good idea most of the time by looking at the epigastric furrow (vent between the top book lungs). If you can get a picture of her (like crawling on the side of the tank if you don't want to pick her up for a underneath shot) I can probably give you a good idea of gender, then when he/she molts you can see if I was right :D

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Originally Posted by Laooda

GO GO Christie GO! :banana: I'm SO proud of you... :oops:

Was it as bad as you thought it would be?

BTW... that is one FAT lil'-pider! :P

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Thanks Laura. :D The little sling does seem a bit fat. I think it is due to shed sometime here soon. If it doesn't it won't explode will it? It only gets 2 little crickets a week.

Since I did suprisingly survived the experience, it wasn't as bad as I though it was going to be. Although I was a bit shocked to see how much my hands shook afterward. It really was VERY difficult for me to take this step, but one that I felt I needed to take.

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Originally Posted by STORMS

:O Girl you are too crazy! (I am sorta proud of you though...MUAHHHH!!!!!)

One of these days I will have to follow in your footsteps....just not anytime soon :rolleyes:

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HEE HEE!! :wuv:

I felt if I could brave Chuck E Cheese for my son's birthday party (on a Saturday no less) then a teensy spider was nothing.

I know if I can do it, then you can too. Baby steps girl... baby steps.

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Originally Posted by Boanerges

If you can post a pic of the underside of him or her. You can get a pretty good idea most of the time by looking at the epigastric furrow (vent between the top book lungs). If you can get a picture of her (like crawling on the side of the tank if you don't want to pick her up for a underneath shot) I can probably give you a good idea of gender, then when he/she molts you can see if I was right :D

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I will see if I can get a picture of the underside, but I not quite ready to pick him/her up just yet. I'm still very shaky on the whole let it walk onto my hand thing. :oops:

In fact, I have some time to kill while I bake some cookies so I think I might try and get them here in a minute. Wish me luck on getting a good picture.

Damn that thing is FAT!!!!

How often does it eat?

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Originally Posted by Patrick Long

Damn that thing is FAT!!!!

How often does it eat?

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I was thinking that too. It eats one cricket twice a week. Sometimes only one cricket a week.

Okay for all you spider people, I managed to get one good picture of the underneath. So hopefully you guys can tell me what sex it is. If not I can always try again. What say you?

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ing/sling6.jpg

I don't see the flap "thingy"...Male? But of coarse I most definitely could be wrong.... :rolleyes:

*SHIVERS* You're a brave woman! Pretty little fuzz tho!

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Originally Posted by STORMS

I don't see the flap "thingy"...Male? But of coarse I most definitely could be wrong.... :rolleyes:

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I don't see any flap thingy either, but then again I don't really have a clue of what to look for. :oops:

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Originally Posted by OhBalls

*SHIVERS* You're a brave woman! Pretty little fuzz tho!

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Thanks. It's an adorable little guy. It didn't seem too happy with me this time when I got it out. It had it's butt high in the air, which made me think it was going to flick some hairs at me. But again, I'm new to the whole spider behavior too. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

I don't see any flap thingy either, but then again I don't really have a clue of what to look for. :oops:

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You can see a pic of it here... The flap should only be present if it is a female....if I remember correctly ;)

Hope that helps you know what to look for :D

So there should be a bit of indentation then if it were female?

Well dang, I was hoping for a female since they are supposed to live longer but at least I can stop calling it an it. I will try and get a good pic of the next shed to confirm it. Thanks Lena. :blowkiss:

http://www.birdspiders.com/faq_sex.php

Yours is still a bit small yet for me to make a good guess. I am posting a link of something I had in my favs. It will show you what you are looking for from underneath to determine sex. Rule number "12. Links or text with the purpose of recruiting members to competing sites are not allowed. " I hope posting this link on how to sex a T from underneath is not a violation to your rules and if it is please accept my apology. I don't think it is but in case i am wrong I am sorry.

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Originally Posted by Boanerges

http://www.birdspiders.com/faq_sex.php

Yours is still a bit small yet for me to make a good guess. I am posting a link of something I had in my favs. It will show you what you are looking for from underneath to determine sex. Rule number "12. Links or text with the purpose of recruiting members to competing sites are not allowed. " I hope posting this link on how to sex a T from underneath is not a violation to your rules and if it is please accept my apology. I don't think it is but in case i am wrong I am sorry.

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I did find that article, and at least now understand better of where I'm supposed to be looking. Thanks for posting it. And yes, you can post links as that allows people to know exactly where the information came from, instead of just copy and pasting it. You did good. ;)

Okay, so it's still up in the air. Poor thing needs a good gender neutral name, although I really think Fluffy is a possibilty. I had been calling it Cookie, but nothing seems to stick.

About how much bigger do you think the sling needs to be before an accurate guess of the sex can be determined? I was told that it needed to be at least twice the size that it is now, but I guess I can wait since I don't have much of a choice.

With the next molt under a microscope you could. With the naked eye I'm not sure.

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Originally Posted by Boanerges

With the next molt under a microscope you could. With the naked eye I'm not sure.

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Do you think I'd get any weird looks if I try sneaking into the local high school science lab with a tarantula molt? :confuse: :giggle:

Look how big hes gotten!!! awww... his butts huge now!

Pffft, I was ready to hold that sucker from day one if (youd let me) I wasnt afraid of loosing him!

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

Look how big hes gotten!!! awww... his butts huge now!

Pffft, I was ready to hold that sucker from day one if (youd let me) I wasnt afraid of loosing him!

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I was so sure you were going to lose him or put him on me. Or heck, you may have tried to stick it in your shirt too. :giggle: :P

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

I was so sure you were going to lose him or put him on me. Or heck, you may have tried to stick it in your shirt too. :giggle: :P

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good ideas! LOL

My fiancee got one out of a tub at the local exotics shop and it started crawling up her tricept and I had to get it off...side note: I don't do spiders, not afraid, just don't like them one bit. So I grew a pair real quick and let it crawl on my hand to get it back in its tub, not fun. She was just laughing because she had web on her jacket. lol.

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

good ideas! LOL

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Note to self.... do NOT bring sling down to bham. :no:

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Originally Posted by Little B-Py

My fiancee got one out of a tub at the local exotics shop and it started crawling up her tricept and I had to get it off...side note: I don't do spiders, not afraid, just don't like them one bit. So I grew a pair real quick and let it crawl on my hand to get it back in its tub, not fun. She was just laughing because she had web on her jacket. lol.

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How big was it? And congrats on 'man'ing up so fast. :gj:

These guys get pretty large, but are supposed to have good dispositions. So far mine as been very calm and easy to work with, but it's not like I get mine out very often and even cage cleaning is only like once a month.

I'm still really enjoying the little guy, I'm just don't get warm fuzzies about handling it yet. :oops:

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

How big was it? And congrats on 'man'ing up so fast. :gj:

These guys get pretty large, but are supposed to have good dispositions. So far mine as been very calm and easy to work with, but it's not like I get mine out very often and even cage cleaning is only like once a month.

I'm still really enjoying the little guy, I'm just don't get warm fuzzies about handling it yet. :oops:

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It was about the size of my palm when curled up or whatever (like yours was sitting in your hand). It was a pink toed or a rose haired, I don't exactly remember. I just know it was creepy.