How should one transplant a 3' tall cactus

There is a cactus growing in a flower box in front of a window and the owner wants it removed - transplanted. How do I do this w/o getting pricked? Any suggestions?

Very carefully! Ropes, newspaper, cardboard, anything you can put between you and the spines will help tremendously. I've seen people use tongs, cook's mitts, and I've even used a baseball mitt to move tall cacti. You could cut it at the ground and then dig the roots out. The top can be rooted after allowing it to callus a few days in the open air. I saw hedges of columnar cacti in Aruba to keep the wild donkeys out of the yards/gardens so they must've had a good system of cutting and planting the cactus there.

Let us know how it goes for you.

Good advice. Is the flower box something that can be destroyed? I ask because it would be a lot easier to get out of the pot safely if you can cut it out of the pot it's in. I would also wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt for extra protection. Gloves would be a no brainer.

Make that thick leather gloves but try to avoid using even these (spines can still penetrate gloves if they are long enough and the force or weight is enough to push it through thick leather) for handling the cactus (folded newspaper used as a strap works nicely).

I have a nice pair of gloves specifically for handling my prickly plants. They have a kevlar palm and fingers making them puncture proof. I use them when trimming my pyracantha hedge, mahonia bealei, and other spiny things.

Take an old towel and twist it a couple of times, then loop it around the cactus. Put the ends together and twist them a couple of times, then you have a safe handle to grab. The spines will keep the towel securely in place.

Be sure to keep track of which side was facing the sun when you transplant the cactus, so you know how to orient it afterwards. That will help you avoid sunburning the other side.

Sequoiadendron4, would you mind sharing where you found the gloves with the kevlar palms?

They are made by HexArmor and used for use on oil rigs. I got them on envirosafetyproducts.com.

They're pretty great and very breathable. Be prepared to pony up some $$ though as mine were $45 shipped. It's worth it though as you can pick up anything without worrying about thorns penetrating. I was wearing them to trim our Mahonia a few weeks ago and dropping the leaf branches into a 5gal bucket. Every so often I'd have to push them down and I did so with my gloved hand and nothing stabbed me. Dry Mahonia leaves can be pretty ruthless too...

Thanks!