You’re reading a story from Sidelines 100, a project showcasing a century of student storytelling at Middle Tennessee State University. Sidelines 100 plans to highlight 100 stories from the newspaper archives this fall and spring.

This story originally ran in the Oct. 17, 1986, edition of Sidelines. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay on top of all things Sidelines 100.

The story has been updated for current basic AP style, but the wording in the story has not changed. Any ideas, perspectives or opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Sidelines.

Sheba is light and graceful, with soft blond hair, and although she is quite docile, she occasionally indulges in a live baby hamster for lunch.

Sheba is a tarantula.

Andrew Turman, a 20-year-old junior at MTSU, bought Sheba for $30 two years ago in Texas. She lived in Andrews’s dorm room until recently, when University Housing officials forced Andrew to find her another home.

“She had to leave my dorm, and now she has to live a friend’s house,” Andrew said. “She did not bother my roommate. He liked her.”

“I do not get to see her very often,” Andrew said. “I only see her once or twice a week.”

“I was real made when they told me I couldn’t keep her in the dorm,” Andrew said. “I was made because she is my baby.”

Sheba lives in a large aquarium. The floor of the aquarium is covered in dried corn litter. There is a three-side box in Sheba’s aquarium, and she likes to get inside it.

“She goes into it [the box’ because it’s dark,” Andrew said. “She likes the dark.”

“She crawls up the glass walls of her aquarium,” Andrew said. “She could spin a web, but she doesn’t.”

“When the top was left off once, she crawled out,” Andrew said. “Nothing can freak you out more than coming home and not being able to see your tarantula in her cage.”

Sheba is about seven inches long when she stretches out. Her eight legs are each about three inches long. She had two mandibles, or feelers, at the very front of her body. Sheba has black, beige and blond hair, and her legs are accented with little strips of burnt orange hair. The blond hairs stand straight up. They are poisonous.

“The hairs are poisonous, but they only cause a rash,” Andrew said. “It goes away real fast.”

Sheba has two small eyes and two large eyes. They are on the top of her head.

“All the eyes do is sense light,” Andrew said. “She just sees shadows. She finds and kills her prey by vibrations or motions in the air or on her.”

Sheba has never bitten anyone. Andrew has tried unsuccessfully to make her angry. He says he gets curious and wants to know how it feels when she bites.

“I tried one time for about 15 minutes to get her mad,” Andrew said. “I poked her with the dull end of a pencil. She would not get mad. She’s real docile.”

A tarantula’s bite feels like a bee’s sting. They have fangs in their mouths which they use to latch onto their prey.

“When they are going to strike, they stand on their back for legs,” Andrew said.

Tarantulas only bite as a last resort. They will use their poisonous hairs to frighten off enemies first.

Sheba has a bare spot on her back. Andrew has pet her in that spot, and the fur just rubbed off.

“Once a year, she will shed her skin like a snake,” Andrew said. “She steps out of her body through a crack. When she does this everything is already there.”

This process is called molting. When a tarantula molts, she acquires a new, dark-brown coat. If a tarantula is wounded when molting takes place, the would will be healed. For instance, if Sheba lost one of her legs, the leg would be replaced the next time she molts.

Male tarantulas stop molting when they reach maturity, but the female continues to molt annually for as long as they lives. With the privilege of molting, she retains the advantage of replacing appendages and rejuvenating herself.

Sheba’s menu consists mainly of crickets and tap water. Occasionally, Andrew will give her a baby hamster for a treat.

Sheba will not eat anything that is dead. She likes to kill her own food.

Sheba eats approximately 10 crickets every two weeks. Andrew feeds her every two or three days.

“It takes her about 10 or 15 minutes to eat a cricket,” Andrew said. “She can rip a cricket apart. She does not eat the entire cricket, she just sucks out the insides and leaves the shell.”

“She can go without food for two years, and she can go without water for three months,” Andrew said.

Andrew buys Sheba’s crickets at a local bait shop. Crickets cost about $1.50 for 40.

“Sheba doesn’t do any tricks,” Andrew said. “She’s not real intelligent, but she’s graceful. Just to look at her is aesthetical. She’s intriguing and beautiful.”

“When people crowd around her, she gets real startled,” Andrew said. “I don’t like that. The more upset she gets, the more likely she is to strike.”

Sheba is a loner. She likes to keep to herself. She’s very laid back.

“She doesn’t mind contact with things — people, for instance — but she doesn’t go looking for it,” Andrew said.

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