Tarantula Blue and Why It Matters

- Put your finger down into a hole that has a spider and know that spider's gonna come out and bite you. This is the dumbest thing. All right, you guys ready? - I'm actually 50/50. I'm curious if they're actually gonna bite you or not. - I like it when Mario's 50/50. The last time there it was like, "Oh yeah, Coyote, that's definitely gonna bite you," was my hand in a box of yellow jackets. (screaming) If you really stop and think for a second, he's going to put his hand in front of a tarantula burrow, trick it to come out so that it bites him.

I mean, that's pure nightmare fuel right there. If you have arachnophobia, this is definitely the episode for you. (tweezers clanging) Oh, my tweezers. Found one over there? Oh my gosh. Yeah, there it is right there. Oh wow. Yeah, it's a big spider. I'm honestly very nervous to attempt doing this. These spiders are not small. And what's cool about these spiders specifically is that they are ambush predators. Now this is not a trap door spider.

A trap door spider would have a cover over its hole. This is some variety of tarantula that definitely just uses its burrow to probably entice things to sniff down in there. These holes are very well camouflaged into the ground and they're lined with webbing. So imagine if you were to be a little lizard, or snake, or a mouse and you come sniffing around the edge of this hole, and all of a sudden a giant spider pops out, and bites you in the face, and sucks you down in there. That's kind of what the scenario is. All right, you guys ready? I'm Coyote Peterson, and I'm about to tickle a blue tarantula.

Here it comes. (dramatic music) It's grabbing the stick. See that? Oh, tried to get my finger close. (dramatic music) Ah, smacked me on the finger and made me jump. Just that made me jump. On gosh, just look at his fangs. (tense music) Oh, I'm so nervous. This is so stupid. I don't know which finger to get bit on. - [Lockie] It has to be a small one so it's non-threatening. (dramatic music)

- [Mario] You gotta keep your fingers still. Lockie, hold him down. - You try keeping my fingers still. - [Mario] Lockie, you gotta hold him down. - Oh my gosh. It's very nerve wracking. Ow, god, put it right down the side of my fingernail. Ah, you get that? - [Mario] I heard it too. - [Coyote] Oh, oh, he got right in the edge of my fingernail. - [Mario] I heard him hit your fingernail. - I don't think he got me though, but I felt the fang go right there.

Woo, all right, I can do better. - [Lockie] This might end up being my favorite video, I think, of the whole trip. - Oh my gosh. This is the dumbest thing. Actually, maybe if I do this. - [Mario] Yep, that's a good idea. (dramatic music) He's gonna get me. Ah, yeah, he got me there. Oh yeah, did you get that shot? He definitely got me. - [Mario] I see it. Two? - Double fangs. Oh, it burns. That's some pretty quick venom.

Ah, oh wow. Yeah, wow, that's a little bit worse than I thought it was gonna be. Hooey. Yowzers. Oh, that was a play right there. Get it to come all the way up to the edge and turn my finger sideways. Oh, my heart's racing. And what does it feel like? Ah, more than a bee sting. I would put it on par with probably a yellow jacket I would say, but we'll see if it starts to build it all.

You can see obviously the way that the fangs come up and those pedipalps spread apart and then the fangs go down. Got two solid puncture marks right into my hand there. It definitely burns. Wow, blue tarantula. All right, now I wanna get one actually out of the hole and free handle it to show you guys that they're actually rather docile when they're not in feeding position. Ah, that's nerve wracking. Think about that. Put your finger down into a hole that has a spider and know that spider's gonna come out and bite you.

Only I would do something with this dumb. All right, let's try to catch this bigger one. (dramatic music) - [Lockie] Can you see it? - Big one. All right, so the goal here is to get this spider all the way up and out of its hole. And then when I do that, I'm gonna free handle it and show you they aren't nearly as aggressive as when they feed.

(dramatic music) (tense music) (dramatic upbeat music) - [Mario] Okay, now you got her. - [Coyote] She's going great. - [Lockie] You just want this light off now? - It's right up on my face. I'm not being able to get control of her, but you can see it tucked down right there. But don't wanna go to my shirt. Come down like this.

Oh, this shirt has a strong grip on their legs. There we go. She ran on top of my microphone. It's interesting, it looks like she has little eggs or a parasite on the side of her thorax. (tense music) Okay, we've seen this scene before. Oftentimes you get tarantulas on my back, but we were successfully able to get her up and out of the hole. And you can see now as I'm trying to handle her, she's more interested in getting away than she is at biting. See if we can get you to go this way. I should get her into my hand.

- [Lockie] Do you want me to get her? - Yeah, see if you can bring her around. - [Lockie] There she is. She's on your far right side there. (dramatic music) Just kind of push her around this way. (tense music) - Awesome. Thanks, Lockie. When they're on your back, it's a lot harder to get them under control. And there you have it.

Spider's not necessarily aggressive if it's not in hunting position. Still nerve wracking though. Not necessarily holding it, but just getting it to come up out of the hole as a dangerous little game of "Operation." Have you ever heard the phrase keep your hands where they belong? Inside of a spider hole is probably not a place anybody should be put in their hands, but the bite from a spider like this is rather painless. And while it did hurt at first, right now, I'm actually experiencing no pain from the spider's bite. No more potent than that of a bee sting. On the initial bite, I said it was probably closer to the sting of a wasp or hornet. But other than that, at this point, pretty much feels like nothing.

And we proved that a spider once taken up and out of its burrow is actually pretty docile. I'm Coyote Peterson. Be brave. Stay wild. We'll see on the next adventure. All right, let's let this little guy back down into his hole. (animal roaring)