True Facts: Tarantulas

Instagram: @ericjamesaldrich
Twitter: @EricJAldrich

Special Thanks to: 
Dr Kate Archibald, The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
Dr Michael Bogan, University of Arizona
Dr Paula Cushing, Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Dr Anne Danielson-Francois, University of Michigan
Dr Jason Dunlop, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
Dr Sebastian Echeverri, co-host @BBCEarth Podcast
Dr Rainer Foelix, Neue Kantonsschule Aarau
Dr Saoirse Foley, Carnegie Mellon University
Dallas Haselhuhn, Eastern Michigan University
Dr Fernando Pérez-Miles, Universidad de la República de Uruguay
Dr Bastian Rast, Neue Kantonsschule Aarau
Dr Milan Řezáč, Department of Entomology, Crop Research Institute
Dr Cara Shillington, Eastern Michigan University

--

Citations (titles omitted in favor of links to accomodate YT description length restrictions):

Foelix, Rainer & Rast, Bastian & Peattie, Anne. (2012). The Journal of experimental biology. 215. 1084-9. 10.1242/jeb.066811.

Foelix, Rainer & Rast, Bastian & Erb, Bruno. (2009). Journal of Arachnology - J ARACHNOL. 37. 292-298. 10.1636/sh08-106.1. 

 

Peattie A. M., Dirks J. H., Henriques S., Federle W. (2011). PloS ONE 6, e20485.

Perafán C, Galvis W, Gutiérrez M, Pérez-Miles F. Zookeys. 2016 Jun 29;(601):89-109. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.601.7704. PMID: 27551189; PMCID: PMC4978081.

von May ET AL. (2019). Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. 13. 65-77.

[chrisjorritsma]

“Science is sort of a long, passive-aggressive argument about everything” is now my new favorite definition of science.

[AJVD]

I had a tarantula throw it’s hairs into my eyeball once, during a holiday weekend. Worst 3 days of my life. I started panicking about what to do but all I found was a news article and a medical journal entry 🫠

The entire ophthalmologist office would not shut up about my case, a lot of them had no idea that could even happen to you. I ended up having 7 hairs removed from my eyeball itself and 8 from the surrounding area.

Upsides? I’m no longer scared of getting lasik, and I ended up being a students thesis and teaching moment about why you never look inside a box with an angry tarantula in it. Ever.

[anondecepticon]

“Sort of like an upside-down version of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, except they both have bongos and Juliet is potentially a pissed off cannibal” is the best analogy for tarantula courtship I’ve ever heard.

[JeanneOxley]

I was camping in the Sonoran Desert. A few friends came over and we had our fire pit roaring and were enjoying the stars.
Not long after starting our get-together, a tarantula comes sauntering over into the spotlight of the fire. I think he just wanted to party and hang out.
After a few minutes, my friend stands up and says "Okay Bert, we didn't invite you and I think you're trying make our party all about you!"
Bert slunk away slowly.
So, tarantulas are just sensitive fuzzy emotional spiders. I still think about Bert and hope his mental health is okay.

[michaelnash]

I am a veterinarian. One day I had a potential client call on the phone with quite a conundrum. He had a tarantula and he was, by his own admission, afraid of it. This guy wanted me to do an operation on his tarantula and remove its fangs because, as I mentioned earlier, he was scared of being bitten. I had to explain to him the several things wrong with that idea: 1) If this were to be done I don't know how i would anesthetize the spider since they don't have lungs for inhalant anesthesia and I certainly couldn't inject the spider with valium. I don't even know if valium will WORK on a spider but I know it would leave a very big leaky needle hole, plus I'd have to get the spider to hold still for it and, well, that wasn't going to happen. I could have placed the spider in a tank of anesthetic gas but how to monitor it escaped me, as it doesn't have the usual pulse and respiration, nor could I use a pulse oximeter on it. Even if it would work (which it wouldn't) I didn't have one small enough. There would be a very fine line between asleep spider and dead spider and one could become the other quite rapidly.

2) In veterinary school we are, quite frankly, taught how to KILL arachnids and insects (ticks and fleas, respectively) rather than operate on them. I suppose I could have opened up a whole new category of service for people with pet arachnids, but I'm sure I'd soon get someone wanting me to de-venom sac their Deathstalker Scorpion and I'm not going there.

Finally, the 3rd problem with the idea is that if I 'defanged' his spider it would very quickly starve to death because it couldn't inject any venom in its prey. The guy sat quiet for a minute and then said, "I guess a tarantula won't make a good pet for me if I'm afraid of it." I agreed. He thanked me and hung up. That still ranks as one of the oddest telephone conferences I've ever had.

[makokx]

I got a tarantula as a teenager without knowing anything about tarantulas and the first time it molted I honestly thought it died. It was late so I figured I'd deal with cleanup the next day. When I got home from school I picked up the molt and was like, that ain't right, and the tarantula crawled out from under its log and was like Yo, whattup? Had dozens of pets of dozens of varieties and none were as gentle as that tarantula (Chilean Rose)

[TSIRKLAND]

I got a tarantula for Christmas when I was nine years old. I had that pet for eighteen years. I developed an allergy within the first few years, so I couldn't hold and handle her, but I still enjoyed watching in the terrarium, feeding it crickets and grasshoppers, watching it molt several times. One interesting thing is that when I got it, one of its legs was missing. Through the process of several molts, it grew back, good as new! Fascinating creatures.
I learned so much in this video that I never knew before! Thanks again, ZeFrank, for your informative and entertaining content!!

[coreyhead]

“Like an exorcism, where you’re both the demon AND the possessed.” Is a phrase I didn’t know I needed

[quiggsy]

Tarantulas are so entertaining to watch when they're out and about. Like a cross between a neurotic crab and a paranoid samurai.

[erickchristensen]

Remember when Zefrank was gone for a few years without any word?
I'm so happy he came back, love these videos to death.

[monkelyn]

As someone who is terrified of spiders, I love this. Spiders are frightening yet so fascinating to me

[robthedestroyerjr]

9:16 "You can try this at home" absolutely slayed me I was giggling like a maniac and you can hear him try to hold it in as well.

[greensun]

That tiny frog shown at the end lives in a interesting symbiotic relationship with tarantulas. The frog keep the burrow free from ants and parasites, and the tarantula provides shelter and protection for the little frog, so it's a win/ win situaton for both animals!

[cannibalbananas]

"but Juliet is potentially a pissed-off cannibal" 😂😂😂
Love zefrank's humor

[kdash]

I had a Chilean Tarantula for 17 years. She was one of the kindest and easiest pets to ever take care of, even easier than owning a plant. RIP Rosy, may you eat your fill of crickets and worms in your heavenly hole.

[tread]

I'm 50, and I think I learned more about tarantulas in the last 15 minutes than I had in the rest of my entire adult life. And actually laughed out loud more than once during the learning. Kudos!

[tarantulacollective]

Wow! You nailed this Episode. Hillarious and extremely informative. Amazing job! Thanks for letting me contribute footage and be a small part of this. 🖖💚🕷

[byronic-heroine]

You're the only person who could get me to watch a spider video. That's very high praise.

[eledatowle]

I'm such an arachnophobe that I was once "trapped" in the bathroom for almost an hour until my husband came home to remove the spider that was perched on the door frame. And yet, Ze posts a spider video and I watch it, even while eating supper. Only ZeFrank could do that. Thrilled you've got sponsorship for your videos now!

[maxfield]

That cricket eating the other cricket must of lived longer than expected because he’s pumping more food into his body for the tarantula to suck out lol