BITTEN by a Tarantula!

Mark Vins: I'm starting my search for the largest

tarantula

in Arizona and I normally do my best to not get

bitten

by giant hairy spiders, but today I'm going to take an intentional bite at the desert blonde

tarantula

to see how dangerous it really is. . But before I can do that, I have to catch one. Let's start searching. We are searching the Sonoran Desert of Arizona to find these tarantulas. This desert is full of all kinds of poisonous creatures and the best time to find them is at dusk. The sun finally sets. The lighthouse is on.

This headlamp will be the main tool I use tonight to find one of these tarantulas. So I'm going to use my headlamp to sweep from side to side. There isn't much that reveals more than simply focusing on the tarantula correctly. And then comes the tricky part: catching one. I also have a snake hook with me tonight, which might be useful for catching a tarantula, but the main reason I have it is because this is prime rattlesnake territory. There are a lot more things crawling around here than just big spiders. These spiders are hunting tonight, but if they are close to their hole, they will quickly go back into hiding.

If I don't get close enough in time, it's practically game over and we'll have to find a new tarantula. catch. Wow, we've got a rattlesnake right there. Do you see it rolled up? Just there. Back up a little, guys. That's a western rattlesnake. Now, it's not big, it's juvenile, but it's still capable of inflicting a very serious bite. We can use a snake hook to move snakes out of our way, just like that. Release the snake and we will continue looking for spiders. Yes. It's a great sign that we're seeing all these poisonous creatures hunting. This desert is coming to life.

Asa: Wow, there's a scorpion right at your foot. Mark Vins: Look at this. Hairy desert scorpion right there. Let's see if I can grab it. The best way to do this is to just grab the top knuckle so it doesn't sting. Let's see if we can get him to calm down. Stay friend. Stay friend. Come on. There we go, that's good. Oh yeah, it's pinching me. Alright, here we go, let's show you what we have here. This is a fairly good-sized giant hairy desert scorpion, the largest scorpion species in the United States. Luckily, I've got a good grip on its stinger there, but you can see even a little bit of venom starting to come out of the tip.

If you don't grab these guys correctly, they'll give you a pretty good pop. You can see why they call them desert hairies, look at all the hairs they have all over their body. There's nothing cooler than these big scorpions. Alright, let's put it back and keep looking for those tarantulas. Scorpions and tarantulas are around here hunting for the same food. I have a feeling we're getting closer to our giant spider. Oh, I have a spider right there. Come on. Alright, I have my container. Let's see if we can catch him. Okay, his hole is right here, you'll have to enter carefully.

That's a big male. Oh no, I lost it. Wait, wait, I can convince him to come back out. Oh no. Oh, I lost it. Wait wait. He is still there. I took it back. I took it back. The snake hook is approaching. Coaxing this tarantula. See him lifting his abdomen. Well. Oh, I just took the snake's bait. Here we go guys. I understand. I understand. Here we go. Ah, friend. That is a good one. Large, male, blonde desert tarantula. After a bit of searching and a bit of luck that we brought the snake hook, we got our tarantula for the bite test.

Okay, I'll get back to it. Come on guys. Yes. As fate would have it, as we headed back to start preparing for the bite test, we saw an even bigger spider. Oh, another tarantula. This one looks bigger. Oh yeah. Well. Let's try to capture this one too. Alright, I don't know how close it is to the hole, but I'm going in to get it. Here we go. Oh my god, that's a huge fucking spider. Wow. I'm going to catch you. That's the specimen we were looking for. That's a really huge tarantula. I did not expect this.

Not one, but two huge blonde desert tarantulas. What we have here is a male and a female and unfortunately for me, I think this video went from a tarantula bite test to a tarantula bite comparison. And I'm sure you're as curious as I am about which of these two spiders has the more painful bite. It's time to find out. I'm definitely nervous. Oh man. Oh my God. Two adult blonde desert tarantulas and the table is set for the ultimate test of spider bites here in the Sonoran Desert. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, what I'm about to do is a bad idea.

Do not try to recreate what you are about to see in this video. We have two tarantulas here in front of us. We have a male and a female, which we found unexpectedly. I think it's worth doing a bite test comparison to see which is more ferocious because these spiders live very different lives from each other. In fact, females live much longer. We're talking about 25 years for a female tarantula and only five to 10 years for a male. Females tend to take refuge, remaining much more localized in their nests, while males are much more nomadic and predatory.

I have a suspicion that we have a very different bite profile than these two spiders, and we're going to put it to the test. Let's take a closer look at the largest spider in Arizona. Women first. To get some really good images of the spider, I'm going to move it into this glass dome and of course we don't want our spider to escape. Okay, here's a delicate little procedure. Wow. Here we go. Perfect, transfer. Oh my God. The fangs of these spiders are enormous. It won't just be the poison I'll be dealing with today, but we're talking about actual puncture wounds from fangs this big.

In terms of what they hunt and eat here, pretty much anything they can latch onto. They are very strong spiders and, of course, by possessing those large fangs, they can subdue a variety of prey. Even small lizards would be good food for a spider of this size. Females tend to be slightly larger than males. They are called desert blonde tarantulas, mainly because you can see those hairs and how blonde they are in the middle. But that's an adult blonde desert tarantula. Probably the best way to do this is to grab it by its shell, the top of the spider's head, and I'll try to grab it, grab it, and then I can show you the fangs.

And of course, he inflicts the bite right here on my thumb. Alright. I brought a couple of things with me today. I have a pair of large tweezers. Of course, we always bring a first aid kit. What I need most is the EpiPen. The worst outcome that can happen besides the pain I'm about to experience is an allergic reaction. I think it's time to take the first of two bites of a tarantula. Well, here we go. Now the females are known to be a little more docile than the males. Quiet girl, quiet girl. Back. Then you see how he lifts his abdomen right there.

Beyond their ability to inflict bites, they also have another defense mechanism, which consists of removing hair from their abdomen. Females are rumored to be less aggressive, but this one looks ready to bite. And what I'm trying to do now is hold the shell tight. This is the safest way to hold it for both me and the tarantula. Here we go. Oh, geez. Well. That made my heart beat. Well. The spider just wants to come to me. Oh my God. Did you find out that? That's the sound of spider fangs scraping the table. Well. Look at the size of those fangs.

And its fangs are retractable like a snake, and they are thick, and we are talking about very large fangs. I'm sure they're going to put holes in my skin. You have to have a lot of courage to do this. Okay, I have a good grip on the spider. I'll try. In three, I'm Mark Vins and I'm about to take a bite out of Arizona's largest spider, the desert blonde tarantula, in three. One, very nervous. Two Three. The spider's fangs are in my skin. Yes, you have me. You can see there's a little bit of blood right there.

Only one fang pierced him. I think I need to take a better bite, guys, it wasn't a good enough bite. Alright, I'm going to do one more. Ready? At three, one, two, three. Yes, that time he caught me. That time it did me good. Oh my god, that scared me. Oh my God. Okay wait. Let me get the spider back. Get back there, girl. Get back there. Yes, this is right there. Check it out? It definitely burns. Oh my God. My adrenaline is pumping right now, guys. I feel like my soul has just jumped out of my body.

That's the scariest I've ever been with an animal. And it definitely burns. Oh man. My neck. Yes, my neck is stiff. It's like I have a cramp right here. I don't know if it's because of the bite or if it's just because of the nerves and tension. Oh my God. I think it's nerves, I don't think it's because of the poison. It definitely burns, it's definitely a burning sensation. I had to try really hard to get that spider to bite me. I want to point out that this spider didn't want to bite, but that wasn't an aggression bite, for sure.

Okay, I think I'm good enough to take another bite. I think it's time to bring in the second tarantula and see if the male can inflict a more aggressive bite, which I have a feeling is going to happen. Males are known to be more aggressive and that's why I wanted to do a bite test here. It also has a much darker coloration than the female. I'm not looking forward to this. And my hand still burns from that first bite. Okay, come here. Come here you. Come here. I have it set. Oh my god, so much stronger.

Much stronger, much more aggressive. Look at him attacking. Got him. Oh my god, that was hard. Well, there you have it. The male blonde desert tarantula. Here are the fangs that you can see as scary as those of the female spider, and you can see that they even have poison. Okay, at three. I'm about to take my second bite, this time from a male, a much more aggressive desert blonde tarantula. At three. One two three. I'm just waiting for the bite to arrive. You see, he doesn't want to bite me. Asa: He is not as angry as the female.

Mark Vins: No. The big reaction is that these animals don't want to bite me. So while we've given this spider plenty of opportunities to bite me, you can see that he really has no intention of doing me any harm. And, frankly, she should be much more afraid of me than I am of her. I hope that after watching this video, we have all learned some important lessons about Arizona's largest spider. Although these spiders are large and certainly quite creepy, we really have no reason to fear them. And honestly, their venom isn't that strong because spiders this size tend to use their strength to reach their prey.

They don't want to bite you, and even if they do, it's actually not that bad. Alright, let's let our spiders retreat into the desert.