Valkyre's Weblog

Yes! That is My Hand!

This is the first time, in my life, that I have ever held a tarantula. As I've posted before, I hate spiders But, if you read that blog entry, I tolerated my daughters tarantula. As long as it was in the tank. She would ask if I wanted to hold it, and I always declined. It made me nervous when she took that tarantula out. Even if it was in the next room ,where I couldn't see. Anyway, at work yesterday, Kelly, the owners daughter, had brought home a Chilean Rose Tarantula. I started snapping pictures of it, in the tank. She saw what I was doing and brought it out so I could get better shots. She told me how docile this one was. "Do you want to hold her?" There was no way I was going to hold her. Just her being outside of her container on the table was too close. Even though I was snapping pictures of her, there was a camera between me and her. But, Kelly was rather convincing. She wouldn't take no for an answer. As far as she was concerned, there wasn't really any reason for me to be afraid. So, I let her place the tarantula in my hand. She was really light. I guess I was expecting something a little more hefty, but I could barely feel any weight at all. They are rather delicate, in fact. If I were to drop her from the height I'm holding her in this picture, she would die. He exoskeleton would break. She was very, very good. She didn't try to crawl up my arm. She just sat there in my palm. The only time she did any moving was to get a slightly better grip when I moved my hand.

I will probably still be afraid of house spiders, but I have a whole new respect for tarantulas.