Unwanted pet

[Ladipyg]

Beautiful clear shot..nice job on your sons spotting abilities and your photographic ones...

Many big tarantulas look alike in appearance...to me that one almost looks like a Chilean Rose-hair due to the rose/copper colored hairs over the rear...When people get tired of pets, they often just release them thinking it's okay. In Arkansas, I see lots of tarantulas all the time, as well as scorpions and copperheads...a very good reason to wear leather gloves at the wood pile. I never hurt them as their benefits out weigh the risk.
Brown recluse are the WORST...my son almost lost his little finger to one of those...didn't realize it was a spider bite and when he finally came over to show it to me, the toxin has almost "digested" half of his finger. Surgery and weeks and weeks of industrial strength antibiotics administered at home finally worked. Big tip...never and I mean NEVER smack a spider when it's crawling on you...spiders and tarantulas walk with their fangs spread open...whacking one on your arm may just drive the fangs and venom into your skin. Better to get into the habit of brushing a spider off...less risk. Do a Google search to see what a spider bite looks like...2 puncture holes instead of one and usually triangular shaped..and to see the results of a recluse spider bite. Don't be smug about living north...my son was bitten in Chicago and my second son, a pilot, was bitten on the thigh in a hotel in OK city during a layover. Even with quick attention, he ended up with a baseball sized hole when all was said and done.

Given the odds, I'd rather be bitten by a tarantula. I own 6 of them, including an over 6 inch Haitian bird eater and have never (knock wood) been bitten ...