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Pet stores may want to consider posting signs near their tarantulas:
Warning! Caring for your tarantula may be dangerous for your eyes.
Of course, there are some people who feel that tarantula-owners may need to worry about more than just their eyes, but to each his or her own, right?
Part of owning a tarantula means handling it usually. While it may seem harmless, one man learned that this isn’t always so. According to an article in the most recent 
issue of the journal, Lancet, a 29-year-old tarantula owner in the United Kingdome sought medical help after having a red, watery eye that was sensitive to light for the previous three weeks.
An ophthalmologist found tiny hair-like substances in the man’s cornea, some of which were much too small to remove, even with the tiniest forceps available. When the man learned of the hairs, he recalled that the last time he cleaned his tarantula tank, three weeks earlier, his particular type of tarantula, the Chilean rose tarantula, released a “mist of hairs” into the air. These tiny hairs – the tarantula’s defense mechanism – have barbs on them, allowing them to burrow through tissue.
The doctors now recommend that if you own or handle a tarantula, goggles (for you, not the tarantula) would be good idea.
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Image: PhotoXpress.com
