First thing first: I don't recommend handling Tarantulas, especially Old World Tarantulas. Their bites can mess you up. If you do handle a Tarantula, it's at your own risk.
Cameroon Tawny Red Baboon Tarantula (Hysterocrates gigas) is known to be defensive, fast and defensive (double defensive!). One outside of her tank, my H. gigas calmed down a bit, enough to be handled. What you did not see in the vid is 10 seconds after I pressed "Stop" recording, she went back into her usual self. Gave me a huge adrenaline rush!
I got a 5" female Hysterocrates gigas (Cameroon Tawny Red Baboon Tarantula) and 2 Centruroides sculpturatus (Arizona Bark Scorpion) in a trade. Another ABS died during shipping.
It's quite common for us to find it amusing for a T to try to take us on mano-a-mano. But how about a T trying to challenge a... fake leaf mano-a-leafo?
I was trying to take a feeding vid for my H. gigas so I got the camera ready and turned around to pick up a meal worm. I accidentally knocked the fake plant with the feeding tongs and my H. gigas seriously thought the fake leaf is a predator. So I knocked on the plant a few more times and it indeed thought the plant is a predator. Only after the 3rd times that it finally figured out that if you try to bite something 3 times and the thing doesn't move away, it is probably a plant.
To show you how Cameroon Red Baboon Tarantula (Hysterocrates gigas) can be very defensive - it tries to attack a leaf, thinking it's a predator. So goofy = very cute. ^_^
Cameroon Red Baboon Tarantula (Hysterocrates gigas) is a fast defensive burrowing specie. This is the only specie I know that love water. It can (and will) dive and swim under water.
I was unpacking the 2 H. gigas today. I saw one of the label saying "H. gigas aka LP eater" so I was like "Hey this is cool!". I read that they can be quite fast so I was very careful opening the deli cup in side the tank and carefully lure the T out. Below is the sequences:
Poke poke.
Blink
Where is it? Oh on the side of the tank.
Blink
Crap! Where is it?
Looking... Oh, on the carpet...
Blink
Crap!Grab the big deli cup.
I saw it scurrying into the underneath of my desk. So imagine a 180 pounds Asian man (btw, that's big for Asian) launching himself toward the T with arm outreached trying to cup the T.
And my head hit the desk.
The T was safe and I think I saw Master Jackie Chan laughing at me.
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