from what i read, these very large spiders are not very venomous-supposedly, their bit affects most humans as would a bee sting. however, I’m wondering about the really large ones-like the goliath “bird spider” native to the amazon region of Venezuela, are they dangerous? What amazed me-i saw a show on Animal Channels-and the local people eat tarantuals (roasted over a fire, they taste like shrimp).
My brother gave me a tarantula as a pet for Christmas '77. He explained to me that they could not get a good grip on human skin, except maybe for the web of your hand and that there venom wan’t all the poisionious. He would let the thing sit on his head and crawl over his body and had no fear of it at all. I had to give it back because at the time the pet stores were not prepared to service exotic animals like they are today. Could not find any live bugs to feed the poor thing during that winter in Ohio and we were afraid that it would starve before spring. 
Well, I can only speak of the ones I saw in California. People are fare more dangerous to them, then the other way around. You can seriously injure or kill one if you drop it, say, while holding one. Never saw one bite, but then there were the sociopaths who stepped on them, beat to a pulp with a stick, kick em around like a banana–they’d kill 'em because… "Well they look evil!. :mad: :rolleyes:
The term ‘tarantula’ covers many different types of spiders. There are ground dwellers and ones that climb, large ones and not so large, aggressive ones and others that are known to be more docile. All are tarantulas, but otherwise they may have little in common.
In many cases, you can handle the spider without any serious risk of a bite (provided you handle them gently and carefully) and even if they did bite, the venom wouldn’t cause you any serious problems. Others are known to be more aggressive, and the bite might possibly give rise to complications, but would still be unlikely to cause you any serious problems in the medium to long term.
In terms of danger to us, size is more or less irrelevant in the spider world. Large ones can be tame/harmless, small ones can be deadly.
I had a pretty large tarantula crawl over my hands and arms once. Wanna see? Look!
Hopefully, Lynne42 wil be along soon to give the definitive answer. She’s the resident spider expert.
I was with you until that very last picture. You’re clearly insane and not to be trusted. 
My experience with them (brother had several growing up) was that they were quite harmless. We’d let Barclay out and he’d sit next to my brother on the arm of the couch and watch TV with us.
Remember that scene in Dr. No with the dramatic tension as one crawled on Bond in bed as the music swelled and he was covered in sweat? When I first saw that scene Barclay was watching it with us. Humor ensued.
They look evil, but they are actually very nice, provided you treat them right. I have seen many a tarantula, and they are actually cute to me, fuzzy. 
some tarantulas shouldnr be handled due to irritating hairs that can be quite nasty
"Third, tarantulas from the New World have developed another very effective defensive behavior. When threatened, they rapidly scrape special hairs, called urticating hairs, from the back and sides of their abdomens into the eyes, nose, or lungs of their vertebrate predators. The hairs have a variety of shapes and are coated with irritating chemicals that cause itchy skin or irritated membranes. I have known of several people who have gotten the urticating hairs of tarantulas in their eyes and have needed surgery to have them removed. This is the most serious risk that you are likely to experience with your spiders. "
from http://www.entomology.cornell.edu/SpiderOutreach/Tarantulas.html
Sure, maybe. All I can promise you is I will do my absolute very best to keep as far as possible out of stomping distance from them, to the point of running away whimpering. But if anybody violates my airspace with one of those buggers, it’s going to be summarily flattened. I’m sorry, there are lots of big nasty spiders in this world, and plenty of places for them to be that are not around me. Same goes for scorpions and leeches. They have their biologicial niche, I have mine, never the twain shall meet.
They’re also a handy snack when you’re lost in the jungle.
One of the guys that works in my building has a collection that fluctuates between about 300 and 400 spiders/scorpions, etc.
He’s been bit about 50 times in about 20 years without a super serious reaction. I imagine that he’s built up a bit of a resistance to the bites (if that’s possible), but, IMHO, anything that you can do 50 times can’t be SUPER dangerous. Not a good idea maybe, but not instantly deadly.
I loved the photos, Ianzin! I did like the finish with a crocodile - the topic of my last book. Another greatly maligned group of animals. Being Australian, we tend to get the nasty crocs and spiders, if you consider deadly to be nasty. But they very rarely kill.
Spiders are my absolute passion, and the topic of my next book.
Ianzin is right - ‘Tarantulas’ cover a wide range of spiders. The original use was for wolf spiders, the origin of the Tarantella stories in Europe. Many Europeans will refer to wolf spiders as tarantulas. In fact, the gospel on spider biology, Rainer Foelix’s “Biology of Spiders”, uses the term in this way. I adore wolf spiders. I have photos of some of my up-close-and-personal favourite wolf spiders on my website HERE. These are all in the wild - out in the garden. I live in the bush.
Mind you, those European ‘tarantulas’ got the blame for someone else’s crime. It is now thought that the culprit was a one of the close relatives to the red back / black widow spiders.
Australians often call huntsmen spiders ‘tarantulas’ but they are misusing the term.
The large hairy spiders which are now kept as pets, and also called ‘tarantulas’ are spiders of the Theraphosidae family. This is the most accepted use of the term. These are mygalomorphs - their fangs point down and they rear up to attack. Our version are called barking spiders or whistling spiders, and are far less spectacular than the African, Asian and American species. Africans often call theraphosids baboon spiders, while Asians call them tiger or bird spiders.
There are no recorded deaths from theraphosids, although the bite can be painful due to the large, strong fangs. Mostly, they seem to be pretty gentle creatures. There may also be a reaction to the venom, but it is not severe. As scm1001 rightly said, the New World Theraphosids do release irritating hairs as a form of defense.
Interestingly, we mightn’t be at risk of death from a Tarantula bite, but our other pets may. Our barking spider is known to kill puppies (I can cite the veterinary article if anyone wants it) but there hasn’t been much research, so the same may be the case for other tarantulas.
The closely related Sydney Funnel Web is the reverse. Deadly to us (except there is now an anti-venom) but harmless to non-primates. It is the same suborder as the Theraphosids, but a different family (Hexathalidae). The Sydney funnel-web is also sometimes mistakenly called a tarantula. It may have a challenger to the most deadly venom - this is very new research! Our mouse spider (Missulena sp, family Actinopodidae) seems to have potentially more deadly venom - but it doesn’t use it. So what is the definition of ‘deadly’? There is an anecdote of a seven year old boy being taken to hospital with one of these Missulena beggars attached to his finger, hurting like hell. The spider was removed and the kid went home fine. No venom was released. In fact, researchers have had a great deal of difficulty extracting the venom for testing, ending up having to electrocute the spider to get it. If you want a cite, I got this in an interview with the world authority on these spiders, Robert Raven at Queensland Museum. I’m chasing up the official report.
I did want to ask you to tell me the most common spiders you see around your houses - but I think I’d better start a different thread.
Lynne
The hairs mentioned by scm1001 present a bit of a problem when it comes to tarantula cuisine.
Do you desert-dwelling Dopers have encounters with these freaky beasts often?
Lynne-42, I’m most intrigued by your conversion from phobe to philic. I, too, am a science educator and consider myself to be an inveterate nature lover. But something about spiders so gives me the willies that I’ve not been able to get over it in many years. Many. I hope your book will cite some other instances and explain to some extent this peculiar sensation. I can sit for a long time watching a spider spin a web, or watch one as it sits motionless and then scampers to the edge of a web to capture and tie up some unsuspecting insect. I can look at them close up and find them interesting and even amazing. But then I realize, eeew, it’s a spider. They creep me out. I’d love to participate in a similar re-birth as yours. I just don’t know how to, or even if I could.
p.s. Do you have any idea why spiders sit head down in their webs? (two different threads here, I guess. Sorry to take advantage.) xo, C.
In the Colorado foothills, we rarely see them during the year until right around October. Then, suddenly, they’re everywhere. Walking across the plains you might see 4 or 5 at a time, a like number crossing the road. I suppose it’s something to do with the mating season.
I’m like you. I can appreciate the benefits of spiders. I can marvel at their webs and their ability to hunt and trap. But goddamn…just thinking about them touching me sends me into a psychotic break. I am horrified by them. And big ones like tarantulas are positively mind-bending. I’d drop. fucking. dead.
I’d be happy talk this over if you want to start a new thread and let me know. For me the change was involved with getting to know individual spiders. Naming them.
I didn’t know about the head down thing until a few weeks ago. One of the arachnologists I was interviewing asked me if I had worked it out. I hadn’t. Then he asked me to think about orientation. If they face up they have nothing to orient themselves against. Even with poor sight, the ground provides an orientation. Well, that was his theory.
Fascinated to hear more stories of people who see wild tarantulas walking around. I can’t imagine that!
Lynne
Somewhat “educated hobbyist” cite-free information here: I believe the ones out wandering around are typically male. In raising and breeding circles and for pet keepers, it’s particularly valuable to find a female. They tend to be larger and beefier and people who want to keep big hairy spiders usually like it when theirs is the biggest and the hairiest.
Also, the females, which stay in their burrows while the males go in search of them for matting, live MUCH longer than the males, even in captivity. I mean, even when you take away the fact that the wanderer would typically have a shorter life in the wild. In some species the male lives five to seven years, while the female can live up to 20.
Obviously, YMMV. This is just general information on the types of spiders that are most commonly kept as pets. But it does include the Goliath, I believe, which I owned at one time until it outgrew its habitat and started hissing at me. Yikes! I sold it to a crazy man for $500.
I s the Goliath especially poisonous? I saw one once (in a zoo)-it was the size of a dinner plate! Since it is capable of killing birds, I would expect it to be quire venomous. about the “hissing” noise-how does it make the noise? Spiders don’t have lungs like mammals.
Layman’s WAG: Is the spider basically hanging from its larger, stronger back legs, resting/reserving its front legs for capture activity when prey arrives? If it were hanging head up, its front legs would be doing double duty, so to speak.