Yikes. In the house. At least the kitty crew alerted you to its presence.
Here’s the one of the few tarantulas I have come across: creepy hairy spider
Some 28 years ago I was travelling cross country, mooching off friends and relatives. I stayed in Walnut Creek, California and spent the night sleeping on the floor. As i was reading my pre-bedtime book (** The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee**, a Dover paperback of some heft), I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It was skittering across the floor, and, when I looked more directly at it, I saw that it was a gray spider the sixe of the palm of my hand. I reflected that it was simply another creature, one that ate bothersome insects. But then I reflected that I probably couldn’t get to sleep that night, knowing something that big and disgusting was skittering pretty quickly across the same floor I was sleeping on, so I took my book and gooshed it. I refused to consider the possibility that it had nearby relatives, and so got to sleep.
The next morning my host told me that I should have left it – their cats took care of the Wolf Spiders.
<sheepishly raises hand>
<sleeps a little easier in San Jose>
/hates tarantulas
Chilean rose hair tarantulas are not native to the USA. They hail from Chile (naturally) and probably other parts of South America as well.
Based on the first photo, I would guess that it’s a California ebony tarantula (Aphonopelma eutelynum). Whatever the case though, there’s no cause for worry. California tarantulas are all slow-moving and extremely docile.
In other words, keep calm and don’t worry. You should be able to easily prod it into a box and release it outside. If you’ve never done this before, I recommend using a long stick to prod it into the box.
:smack: My dad’s the spider expert, and everything I know came from hm. He never told me they are CHILEAN rose hairs!
Ignorance fought.
That’s exactly what I did, and it was not difficult to box it, though it did scoot into the box pretty damn fast. Do you know if there are certain circumstances that cause any of the California species to hustle outside of their normal behavior? Would being stalked through a house by 4 cats be one of those circumstances?
ETA: And do you know of any good cites with distributions for the various California species?
Yeah, but no bee is going to give me a concussion from jumping out of my skin and whacking my head on an open drawer.
If I ever go to California, I’m bringing combat boots with me. And a nailgun.
As I recall, while typically slow, they can move fast when motivated. California species might all be slow though; I’m no expert.
I was reading up on them in Wikipedia ( not the best reference I know ), and it mentioned that :
So it might not take much size, or even biting.
TWO DOUBLE A BATTERIES?!?!
Eew eew eew eew!
(Mental note - spray foundation with new bug spray sooner than later)
I’m with you! shiver
That is most awesome!!
And now,** My Tarantula Story.**
I was 11 or 12 and spending the night at my friend Colleen’s house. She was the youngest of 15 kids. (15 kids!)
Her Older Brother had tarantulas as pets.
I came alert from sleeping in my sleeping bag on the floor to the sounds of giggling and snorting.
Then I felt something on my face. I had a pretty good idea what it was. (I was no rube to the shenanigans of these kids.)
By my eyeball. Over my eyeball.
I creaked open my eye to see a tarantula right there
Well, that tarantual went flying, by my hand, right into the wall.
All I heard from her brother was, " You killed Albert!"
And that is my tarantula story.
and strangely enough, I am not afraid of spiders at all.
Yes, upon re-reading your OP, I see that they missed that part.
They can have bursts of speed when they feel threatened, but even then, they’re not all that fast. I suspect that being stalked by cats could indeed make it move more quickly than normal.
I know that your OP described it as “fast as hell,” but of course, that’s a relative term, and one’s perception of their speed will depend on one’s fear level. If you’re not used to handling them, then they’ll seem pretty fast. Conversely, if you’re used to wrangling them or compose yourself thoroughly, I guarantee that they won’t seem nearly as quick. And of course, it helps if one avoids agitating them.
And hey, congratulations on having herded this creature into a suitable container! That takes a great deal more nerve than many other people would have.
Tarantula hairs are indeed designed to irritate. However, North American species tend to have very mild urticating hairs. Sure, you might feel some itching, and different individuals will experience different levels of sensitivity to different species. On the whole though, the hairs on North American species won’t cause much trouble.
Some other species do have more severe urticating hairs, though. The mighty Goliath Birdeater (Theraphosa blondi), for example, has hairs that feel like shards of fibreglass. Not something you want to mess with. Thankfully, this species is native to Brazil. (If you want to see one though, you’re welcome to visit the medium-sized specimen that I keep caged in my spare bedroom.)
Yep. You see them a lot in pet stores, but that’s because (a) they’re fairly common and readily harvested and (b) they’re very hardy and extremely docile, which makes them great starter pets. If they’re harvested by impoverished Chilean peasants (as I suspect they are), then they’re probably dirt cheap to import as well.
Sorry sorry sorry
I can’t resist anymore
cometothedarksidewehavecookies, you’ve got it so wrong. The tarantula was trying to rescue you. Tarantulas know about the schemes kittens have, and are saving humanity. And what thanks do they get?
A few years ago, in early fall, I was in Pleasanton, a short drive from San Francisco, for software training. I had a free afternoon one day and chose to visit Mt. Diablo.
On the drive up the mountain, I started seeing tarantulas. Lots and lots of tarantulas.
I’m not arachnophobic, so I stopped the car for a closer look. Someplace around here I have a reference picture of my coffee cup with a tarantula next to it. The spider’s body was about as long as the mouth of the cup was wide.
They weren’t really doing anything, either. Just sunning themselves on the pavement, apparently, and, from time to time, based on the splotches, failing to evade traffic. They didn’t really move, even when you walked right up to them. If you poked one in the butt with your finger, it would run a couple of feet, and then stop.
When I got to the summit, I asked the park ranger, what’s the deal. He said, mating season. These are all males, running around looking for females. Maybe he knew what he was talking about, maybe he didn’t know but was BSing, maybe he was pulling my leg. No idea.
But anyway, yeah. Tarantulas in the Bay Area. Enjoy. 
When I was a kid growing up in Ojai (southern/centralish CA) we had a large field at the end of our street, and beyond that was the main highway into the valley (still only 2 lanes, but pretty decent traffic). I remember several times seeing a long line of furry black tarantulas crossing the road–I don’t remember which direction they were heading (toward the field or away from it) but I do remember seeing the remains of many of them that didn’t make it.
I hate tarantulas, and as a kid they scared the bejeebers out of me, but I still found their little trek across the road every year to be kind of fascinating. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was a mating thing.
Yeah, I looked at the post and thought, hmm, must be tarantula season. Then I looked at the location and freaked right out. Since when do we have big hairy spiders in Silicon Valley?! Damn.
You and me both. The downside of being from Western Canada - no tolerance for creepy crawlies. The upside - almost no creepy crawlies. 
GAAAH!! DUDE! Two. Click. Link! Good freaking God I just made a tiny poo in my trousers and attempted to smash my computer monitor with a rock!