The fun living in the countryside of the Dominican Republic. I just came back in the house after killing 34 tarantulas all within 25 feet of my side door. There will probably be more in a little while. They all were the size of a dime and probably just hatch out not long ago. When the mother makes a nest than dies giving her body for the first feeding than they leave. So there must have been a nest close by. I have went out at night looking for the big ones killing 15 in one night they are quite common here. You don’t hear of many people being bit by one.
@Martin Alonzo We caught one the size of a teacup while on a hiking trip, kept it in a plastic bag on the trip back home. I was shocked when it's jaws began chewing it's way out of the bag! A bite is very painful, though only slightly poisonous, generally. The jaws are fearsome-looking:
I was sitting at a pool in an RV park near San Diego several years ago when I saw what I thought was a crab scuttle by. Nope, a large California Brown Tarantula. Nope, nope, nope....I was not a Happy Camper.
@Mary Robi Usually, they move fairly slowly, at least the times I've seen them. One day, living in Vegas, I went out in the garage to find my big male cat seriously interested in something: 6-inch long scorpion! He kept batting it with a front paw, quick, never lingering anywhere near long enough to be stung. Finally, the scorpion just gave it up, and the cat lifted it into the air, and shook it off his claws! Then he walked away, no longer interested. I preserved that scorpion in casting plastic, but over the years, so many moves, I lost track of it. The action resembled this clip, though this cat is far less interested than mine was: In this one, the cats are young, inexperienced, but entranced by their prey, and, FAST. Surprised me the cat picked it up in it's mouth, though by then the scorpion may have been all but done for. At 1:20 it is pretty dead. Good cat!