handling tips for chronic pain?

[emmett]

(anyone who had difficulty handling at first, medical conditions or not, please feel free to reply with what worked for you!) i am not really one for holding my pet roaches, i prefer just to watch them going about in their own little world, but i really miss the occasional novelty picture. 

i handled my first few hissers a few times but the pain in my hands made it difficult for awhile and i kind of just gave up. it makes me wish i wouldve tried more to fight through the pain lol. my dubias didnt hurt as much but it still was a really uncomfortable sensation. i also got kind of nervous that i would dropped them by accident because my fingers get stiff, plus i cant really bend down quickly, move furniture, etc to find them before the family cats do. if i saw one of the cats eating my roach i think id have a heart attack.

does anyone with chronic pain or joint stiffness as symptoms have any tips to get used to handling them? or maybe and tips to further prevent accidentally losing them? i want to buy an archimandrita tesselata or two since they are so beautiful and really big, but i reaaaalllyyyy want to hold it/them! when i held my dubias, it was always one at a time and in a plugged up bathtub so they wouldnt escape immediately. i know a.tessellata can

if anyone who used to be scared of them has any tricks that made it easier to tolerate (i know when people i know have tried to hold them the sensation is weird and it freaks them out at first), maybe i could alter your skills to fit my situation?

im really happy to be back active in the community, it always makes me feel like i can get good information in a short period of time rather than trying to search through google a bunch for nothing. im probably going to be asking a lot of noob questions about archimandrita tesselata and their care if i get some. lmao i cringe at some of the stupid stuff and misunderstandings of what was happening back then, but like some people im here to be a better roach parent! i think relearning how to handle them despite my pain would be very rewarding for me, i wish it was as simple as "just pick them up" :^(

 

[Hisserdude]

I'm very sorry to hear about your chronic pain, I wish I could be more helpful, but I don't have any experience in this particular field... Is it the skin contact in particular that causes the most discomfort? If so, perhaps wearing gloves could help? Maybe just let them crawl over your hands in their enclosure at first, to acclimate yourself to handling them more?  

[emmett]

On 2/4/2020 at 6:35 AM, Hisserdude said:

Maybe just let them crawl over your hands in their enclosure at first, to acclimate yourself to handling them more?  

its more of an issue with mobility but sometimes skin on exoskeleton contact can be overwhelming. this is actually a great suggestion, im just an idiot who didnt think about this lmaooo. its always a treat hearing your advice

[Hisserdude]

16 hours ago, emmett said:

its more of an issue with mobility but sometimes skin on exoskeleton contact can be overwhelming. this is actually a great suggestion, im just an idiot who didnt think about this lmaooo. its always a treat hearing your advice

Ah OK, well with limited mobility I'd just be slow with your movements and stick to slow moving species, (which Archimandrita are if handled with care), and be sure to hold them over substrate or a soft surface, in case of accidental falls.

Hope the gloves work to help with the skin contact problem, I'd use the thinner surgical gloves, the yellow thick rubber gloves smell weird and I feel as though it'd be bad for your roaches to be in consistent contact with them.