Spiders as pets?

Today we have many choices for pets, from the domesticated dog, cat or hamster, bird or fish to the exotic snake, turtle or lizard. Some people keep ant farms, while others like…  spiders.

Meet someone who keeps more than 60 Tarantula spiders in her office!
Dubbed by many as the real Spider Woman, Linda Rayor teaches a course all about spiders at Cornell University in Ithaca NY and is a Senior Research Associate, Entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.  

Like the spiders she studies, Linda Rayor — senior research associate of arthropod behavior at Cornell — spins webs. Her webs, however, aren’t to snag prey but to capture the scientific imagination of people of all ages. Using the mystique of spiders as a gateway to kindle an awe for nature in others, this arachnophile (spider lover) has become the hub of giant webs of learning.

What Linda says about spiders…
“Spiders are primarily solitary, readily cannibalistic and voracious predators that are the most important terrestrial predators on Earth,” Rayor explains. “Yet 1 percent of spiders are highly social, living in large groups characterized by tolerance and cooperation. Even in the most social spider species, we’re finding that individuals must balance the many benefits of group living with the strong compulsion to eat irritating siblings.”

Now I know a few kids who could relate to this…  ;-)

With email messages circulating about fatal spider bites from the Brown Recluse spider and the appearance of many other types of spiders with the warm spring weather, questions about spiders are never far from ones mind… and certainly not questions about how to keep a spider a s a pet! There is no doubt that we are fascinated by spiders despite our real or imagined fears and that many people do get spiders as pets.

People in northern regions are seeing an influx of Black Widow spiders that are apparently coming in on plants and gardening material that originates in Florida. Spiders also come from overseas by hitching a ride in transported goods. One family we know actually lost their son to the poison of a spider bite many years ago.Since then  I always take spiders and spider bite warnings to heart. The son worked in the gift store of a ski chalet and had the task of unwrapping products from their deliveries. One delivery happened to have a deadly spider that went unnoticed until it bit this lad. Sadly, there was nothing anyone could do to save him.

Very scary stuff, though Linda would say that spiders are generally good for the environment as they clean up a lot of bugs. Spiders generally like to be left alone and spider venom is not normally supposed to be strong enough to hurt people. (I beg to differ) She feels that many reported “spider’ bites that are reported are actually bites from bed bugs and mites, that are also part of the spider family.

So all this to say, have a healthy fear about spiders no matter where they are… pet or not. Be on the alert for spiders when unwrapping products and also when gardening or just out and about. Better safe than sorry as the old saying goes.

For more information about spiders please visit Linda at the university and on her site.

Before considering choosing a spider as a pet please visit Ten Spider Pets for some excellent pros and cons about spiders as pets.

If you’re thinking about an exotic pet be sure to check with your local and regional government laws. For some interesting articles about pet snakes please check our Slithering Bytes article section.