wanderer

In viewing someone's beautiful pictures of St. John, one of them - at Cinnamon Bay Campground - in their "lodge" had a picture of a HUGE tarantula.

We've been the Barbados, St. Barts, Bermuda, and Antiqua, and maybe they were also there, but we never saw them.

This kind of freaks me out. I don't mind the lizards, but how common is it to see these roaming around. Should we expect we might see them inside our villa??

Robert

Tarantulas are all over the Caribbean Islands, Mexico, the U.S., and South America. Some of the largest are out west in the good 'ole Southwest USA. In the late 80's, I helped the NY Zoological Society rid the southern jungles of Abaco, Bahamas of feral cats which were devastating the indigenous Bahamian Parrot. I slept with a researcher on the ground at night, and had some medium sized tarantulas and ground spiders crawl over my sleeping bag...two times. Then, I slept in the pickup truck. Tarantulas are definately scary to look at, but only the ones in South America, I believe, are dangerous to humans. They are slow moving and nonaggressive, unlike to quick ground spiders. The ones you encountered on St. John are not like the S. American cousin, which has fangs an inch long and a leg span up to one foot! But, yes Tarantulas are all over the tropical and subtropical Caribbean islands, and these particular species will not harm you. In fact, I've seen researchers actually allow them to crawl up their arms. They rarely bite and they defend themselves by retreating. So, if you're hiking in a remote area, make some noise and don't rush into the undergrowth...go in slow. Of course, even if you brush up against one while hiking, you most likely won't get bitten. While driving along the Great Abaco Highway at 2am looking for feral cats, we encountered many tarantualas crossing the primitive road (it's now paved)and would tease them with a stick. It took a lot of teasing to make them bite the stick; they would raise their front legs and rear back on their stomachs before striking. Nevertheless, we did carry a spider first aid kit, even though its venom is rarely toxic to humans. The bite is painful, and the effects are similar to a wasp or hornet sting. Robert

Diana

Robert,
I'm always amazed anew by some of the adventures you recount on the board - and more than a little jealous!
What is your educational background and where do you work do get to participate in all of this cool stuff I keep reading?

Robert

Hi, Diane; I'm a psychologist and adjunct professor of educational psychology, who was going to follow my older brother's footsteps and become a zoologist. My older brother is a zoological researcher for the Smithsonian Institution. One of his associates, Rose Marie Gnam, helped save the Bahamian Parrot in the late 80's and actually met with the Bahamian Prime Minister, who set aside the huge National Park in Southern Abaco, specifically to assure the Bahamian Parrot would be saved from extinction. I still love Nature, and do reef surveys for the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) out of Key Largo, Fl. Any interested scuba diver, or snorkeler, could join REEF's efforts in conducting reef fish surveys throughout the Caribbean. It requires some training, but it makes vacations more interesting. The man who tried to rid the remote southern Abacos of feral cats with me was working with Gnam, his name was Bob Peck and at the time was a researcher for the NY Zoological Society. Robert

oldhippy

I've also encoutered this giant caribbean tarantula...and although scary to look at,at first, I've learned to live with them without any worries or concerns at all.

I was living in a palapa roofed beachfront cabaña, and he lived amongst the layers of palm frongs above...[one of their favorite places!]

I was told they also make very good eating, but they do kinda pop and sizzle as their little hairs hit the fire.

No worries mate...its the mosquitos you have to worry about!

Boonie

Robert (previous poster) is right about some
of the biggest being in the Southwestern
USA. I live in a canyon area in Southern
California, and have personally observed
some really big ones (including one which
crawled into the house through an open
patio door) in my neighborhood. That being
said, while scary to look at, they don't seem
particularly agressive. I would not let the
spector of these critters deter one from a trip to the USVI. Black widows (which like to
spin webs on my car wheels), however,
are another story!

Tuxedocat

Couldn't resist answering this one even though the question is so long ago. Yes, Virginia, there are tarantulas or ground spiders in St. John and throughout the Caribbean. They are really pretty shy and will only venture indoors by the rare accident. Antigua actually has alot of them but because they are shy, a casual visitor will probably not see one. We have a house in St. John and during the excavation of an exterior staircase the workmen actually hit upon a colony of half a dozen or more. Poor spiders, they got clobbered. But in the years before and since, I never even saw one, let alone in the house. Cinnamon Bay is a campground afterall and open to all of mother nature.