I think we got dear Gailah over her fear of household spiders,, stopped to camp in the desert between Insurgents and Loreto,,,,Gail made a lovely
risotto while I grilled some fish and prawns on a fire,, all ready as the sun set, chiraz poured,,,, then Gail started FREAKING out..... not unusual
being an arachnophobe in Baja..... so I calmly turned around to see a .....4" tarantula,,, I kid you not!!!! <;~O
I have a feeling Gail's now over any worry of anything under 2"!!
Hopefully, she will be convinced that no such creatures live near the waterfront, then we'll still get out to San Nicholas in a day or two, lol.
.....Did some reading, it's good to know that tarantulas are relatively harmless to humans, and indeed it's the very dry desert they prefer,,
nonetheless, I did a particularly carefully job of packing the car, as we made retreat to the comforts of town and motel,, an important part of the
client's integrating such experience. <;~)
How often are tarantulas spotted in Baja? Certainly never come across them myself in the ~6mo of time I've camped here over the years. The closest
I've come would be a 2cm scorpion I saw in the 80's!
Baja is home to many many Tarantulas.
They are very peaceful and kind animals.
I see them in camp and I see them in my house.
Sometimes I pick them up to demonstrate how docile they are and of course to freak everyone out.
main thing is to keep them around for a while (like chicken) and let them gain some weight. They grow so much slower than chicken though.
I prefer them as a crunchy snack, salt, pepper, chile, lime.
A quick dive into hot oil gets them there.
Perfect to Tequila
We used to fly to Alfonsina's at Gonzaga Bay from San Diego and sometimes we had to land at Ranch Santa Ynez at Catavinia when the runway at Alfy's
was under water -- twice a month. We also stopped at Rancho Santa Ynez for gas sometimes. But in the spring the runways was covered.....covered!!..
sometimes with tarantulas such that we couldn't land without killing about a million of them and getting tarantula guts all over the airplane:-)
So we had to go down to the dry lakebed behind the dunes at Punta Bufeo....then we were forced..... :-)...to walk over the dunes to the cantina for
heuvos rancheros while the tide went out.
the fuzzy Li'l guys are nocturnal hunters, so you usually don't see many in daylight unless rain sends them out of their burrows usually. I had one
in my back yard a few years back I named "Herman", would play with him every so often. If you see a hole in the ground an inch or so wide and a kind
of webbed trap door over it, sit down with a twig and tickle the webs lightly. You might get to shake hands with one.
I don't have a BUCKET LIST, but I do have a F***- IT LIST a mile long!
I have seen a few here in Asuncion but coincidentally, one came calling in my kitchen for the last two nights in a row. Last night I moved him to a
new neighborhood.
Encountered a big fluffy one in the porta-potty at base camp in Santa Teresa canyon. Didn't stop those seasoned, fearless vaquero guides from sleeping
on the ground!
Nearly all of the Tarantula's that are found out in the open are males. You can identify the male by the hook on it's forearm (see 4x4abc photo). This
arm traps the forearms of the female as she rears up to fang the male who is just trying to mate with her. He uses his hind leg to place his half of
the DNA on her abdomen and then pushing off makes his escape (all of this in a standing position/no missionary style here...tarantula porn if your
bent that way). Often he's not that fast and she kills him.
Once the male mates it sets off a clock and he dies in about a year...so the drive to keep wandering and mating. The female will make a nest and stay
within a 36" circumference of that initial nest her entire life (the ones in the ground). She will give birth to a hundreds of little ones at each
birthing and will eat most of them. The females will molt twice in the first five years and then once every year after that...thus you can judge their
age if you have them long enough.
The California browns are the most common in Mex and southern Cali. On Mainland your most likely to see the red legged with red rings around their
legs. If you keep one they will climb up corners of a room and rest at ceiling level there just like any little spider you find in your home. They
love to sit on warm tv's if you have the old box style...when it's on. It's ok to let them run loose although they are attracted to body warmth and
will climb under the sheets with you once in a while...just check when you walk into a room so you don't step on 'em.
It is extremely safe to hold them flat handed...they have to rear up and expose their curved fangs to get you...very hard for them to bite a flat
surface. Never let a nervous person try this because they have not bone structure they burst in their abdomen when they hit the ground from being
dropped.
Best to fry them if you want to eat them...this way fully cooks the abdomen jelly. You can order them on line from Vietnam if you want to do this for
a lark.
Use to raise them. Biggest one I ever had was a South America red legged the size of my hand...you could actually feel the weight of her.
It was not in Baja, but on the mainland (Manzanillo) we encountered a spider much larger than a tarantula.
The body was not that much larger, but it had long, hairless legs, sort of like a daddy long legs on steroids!
Continuing the culinary theme, it covered an area the size of a dinner plate when it was walking.
[Edited on 2-17-2018 by AKgringo]
Sure it was a spider, not a cancle? Long long legs, square body with crab-like pincers and long anntenae. Called a false scorpion or whip tail
scorpion in English, but in fact neither a spider nor a scorpion. Harmless, have no toxin.
"If it were lush and rich, one could understand the pull, but it is fierce and hostile and sullen.
The stone mountains pile up to the sky and there is little fresh water. But we know we must go back
if we live, and we don't know why." - Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." - Theodore Roosevelt
"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them or to them." - Malcolm Forbes
"Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others
cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you." - Jim Rohn
"The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer." - Cunningham's Law
Thankyou to Baja Bound
Mexico InsuranceServices for your long-term support of the BajaNomad.com Forums site.
Emergency Baja Contacts Include:
Desert Hawks;
El Rosario-based ambulance transport; Emergency #: (616) 103-0262
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
