Big Spider season ?

jerryme

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Feb 1, 2004
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My girlfriend does not want to go to Cabarete in October because she heard it is the rainy season and tarantulas will be everywhere and come into our house. Is there such a thing as "spider season" ? Thanks
 

Larry

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Mar 22, 2002
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I don't know but if you look at one of the recent pictures in the Media Gallery, you will see a girl with a big spider on her arm. She is smiling in the picture so I think she is unaware of the spider. Someone should contact her in case it is still on her.

Larry
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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Tarantulas are called cacatas here in the DR. By the way, did you know there's no recorded death anywhere in the world because of a tarantula bite? Also, I heard they're becoming popular as pets. I'm an arachnophobe myself, and when I encounter cacatas in my property in the foothills north of Azua, I yell to my caretaker to get rid of them. He can actually lift them with his hands. Once I stuck my sockless foot into a sneaker and felt with my toes what I thought was a wadded-up sock. When I shook the shoe, to my extreme distress, a huge cacata fell out!

Mirador
 

more1216

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Jun 29, 2004
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I don't know if there is a spider season in DR, but because I am terrified by them I am always on the look out. Especially at nigth. I often vacation in DR in August and one time while staying in Bayaibe my husband and I took a drive at night and you could see them crossing the road by the bunch. They should have cacatas crossing sings.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Whatever you do don't kill them!

Unless you like cockroaches and mice more.

Cacatas are very important to the environment and are very good predators for roaches and mice. Leave them alone.

It is normal tropical behaviour to shake out your shoes in the morning. Not only cacatas but centipedes (very nasty biters) like warm, muggy places to sleep.

I certainly would not avoid a chance at a vacation just because of a "worry " about tarantulas...


HB
 

jerryme

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Feb 1, 2004
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I'm not worried about them. Somebody post there is no such thing as a "spider season" and maybe she'll read that and want to go. I heard they don't live on the beachfront anyway. :surprised
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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There Is No Such Thing As A Trantula Season

There, is that what you want.?

these animals are scarce anyway. You do not see that many even when you want to go and find them..

I was fortunate enought to once actually witness the fight between the big wasp and a tarantula. The wasp won and dragged the spider back to his hole.

Coolest nature thing I have ever seen (except for the whales in Saman?)

HB
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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It is normal tropical behaviour to shake out your shoes in the morning. Not only cacatas but centipedes (very nasty biters) like warm, muggy places to sleep.

...and also your pants. I was stung on my left calf by a centipede as soon as I pulled my pants up in the morning. For the next seventy-two hours I felt I was having a bad bout of dengue fever or run over by an eighteen wheeler semi, or both.

Mirador
 

Lambada

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Mar 4, 2004
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To jerryme's girlfriend

I have lived here 12 years, during which time I have only seen 2 tarantulas. You do get the much smaller, thinner, non hairy spiders.....they don't do any harm.
 

KateP

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May 28, 2004
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8 years in the city and "campo" (countryside), 2 cacatas. And they usually end up more scared of than you... :)
 

juanita

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Apr 22, 2004
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Larry said:
I don't know but if you look at one of the recent pictures in the Media Gallery, you will see a girl with a big spider on her arm. She is smiling in the picture so I think she is unaware of the spider. Someone should contact her in case it is still on her.

Larry

Larry,

It?s not a spider, it?s a vicious scorpion! I must have picked it up in my sankie?s shack! ;)
 

Paulino

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Jan 4, 2002
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Hillbilly said:
There, is that what you want.?

these animals are scarce anyway. You do not see that many even when you want to go and find them..

I was fortunate enought to once actually witness the fight between the big wasp and a tarantula. The wasp won and dragged the spider back to his hole.

Coolest nature thing I have ever seen (except for the whales in Saman?)

HB
I once observed the result of a similar fight, only "my" cacata had killed the darn wasp and was calmly eating away at it. Took place in my new house, not yet in use, sometime last July. Of course I left it alone - live and let live.
 

Argo

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Aug 5, 2004
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Tarantula Hawk

jerryme said:
My girlfriend does not want to go to Cabarete in October because she heard it is the rainy season and tarantulas will be everywhere and come into our house. Is there such a thing as "spider season" ? Thanks

You might enjoy this, a age about two young people in the Dominican Republic and their encounter with a Tarantula Hawk

http://members.aol.com/YESedu/best004.html
 

Dully

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Aug 24, 2007
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Spider season? Ive been here for about 10 months, mostly in the country, i see tarachulas around, but like people have said they arent all over the place, and most evey dominican i know will kill any and all on site. That being said they think they kill people, which they dont unless your allerject to bee stings, cause its similar venum. Also ive now been here just about every month of the year and i dont even remmeber time when tarachulas invaided the house. The only reason we have a few around our place is we just shoo them outside if we see them. Alot of hotels use pesticide and kill big spiders and stuff like that, and ive never seen one on the beach EVER.
The thing that helped me, is i was told to think of trannys as mamals, not spiders. Like a squirrel if you go near it or walk by it it will either sit still or run away, if you step on its tail or grab it, it will bit you and can hurt, same with a tarachula, are you afraid of squirrels? Come on over its really nice here!!!!

EDIT: i just realized this post is 4 years old,, im sorry for ressuecting it =-[
 

tinaevenunez

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Oct 3, 2009
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spider season-

I definitely notice a difference when it is about to rain, I live outside of Santo Domingo and the Cacatas are huge, and have been entering the house and bedroom lately. When it is relatively dry out they seem to stay outside and you will only see them in the evenings. My husband and I ran into a large black one- the size of a dinner plate- with huge fangs that reared up to attack just a short walk from our house. He wasn't even a little bit afraid of us. :surprised I wouldn't say stay away from the D.R because of them, i'm probably the biggest arachnaphobe there is and I still love it here. Just keep doors closed, esp when it's close to rain, and use screens on windows. I'm going to buy one of those electronic pulse emitters used to get rid of pests, to see if it repels tarantulas also.
 
Sep 22, 2009
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It is true, the cacata do their best to avoid human contact (how ironic). Sometimes, extreme conditions drive them from their homes into the surrounding areas. They rarely climb walls as well. If you have lots of plantain and/or guineo trees, you may see one or two on a rare occasion as well.

You do see, however, as Lambada indicated above, the thinner, green/reddish varieties sometimes pop in the house if you have trees/garden etc. The have long, thin legs, climb and crawl very fast. No match for a good broom though. The absolutely don't bite.

The cacata is a jumper so try not to take a swat at it. They bite, but have no venom. Most Domincians I have spoken to about this feel they will most certainly die if bitten by one. Not so.

:)
 

Manzana

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Jan 23, 2007
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The north coast seems to have relatively few insect pests (compared to the midwest US in spring and summer) I think because of a balance of insectavores. When you sit out in a cabana under a lamp at night there are few bugs attracted to the light, but you may notice one and then a shadow flickering and it's gone as a bat swoops in and gets it in midair. There are lots of little lizards (which are a bit like the Geico Gekko) and insect eating birds. Lizards, birds and bats are extremely common if you look but I've never noticed a tarantula in quite a few trips, though most residents have seen them. Chances are you won't even see one, and as others have pointed out - just leave them alone and they'll leave you alone.
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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By all means keep on posting interesting cacata info, but no need to direct comments at the OP, who experienced this dilemma over 5 years ago.

We never did find out whether jerryme managed to convince his girlfriend to brave Cabarete in October or not - and my money's on the latter, thanks to the hairy scenarios described by the posters earlier in the thread.
 

jrhartley

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Sep 10, 2008
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do they jump ? Ive never seen one jump ! Ive pick them up on dustpans and they never jumped anywhere !,,,,,,,,,they seem rather leisurely
 

Simon & Nicky

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Feb 3, 2004
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An old post but ......

JR - You are a lucky lad! The LM tarantulas can certainly jump, and HIGH too - like verticle take off jump jets! I had one do it to me once that I had placed in a big cardboard box (the only thing it could fit in). It was dark, I took it from my house back to the bush, opened the lid and boing it was gone. I was convinced it had landed on my back, I've never taken a shirt off so fast in my life!

And yes, it certainly is tarantula season - Those who want to see one should drive up the LM road at night. I can almost guarantee a sighting although it might be the special Sosua flat variety (too many of our neighbours run them down) :ermm: