Pets are so lovely

[grannywils]

Calliton, I'm sorry you're pet spider passed on. I didn't know how long they lived, but that sounds like a good long time. As LoloPinky said I'm a little leary of spiders, but nonetheless when one is a pet it is very sad to lose him. And besides I know that spiders are very good for the environment overall, so I try never to hurt them, even the little local ones. I do try to encourage them to leave my house though. Sometimes it can be rather amusing to watch me try to do that I'm told...

[Vindekarr]

Calliton, my condolences.

 

But it's nice to finaly see that I'm not the only bugman here.

 

And Granny, the spiders kept as pets arent your garden variety crawlers. They're almost always Tarantulas of a particular genus from South America.

 

This particular genus is made up of mostly burrow dwelling spiders that are large, colourful, but also sleepy and gentle.

 

The reason they're such good pets compared to other spides is that they already possess a number of traits that makes them extremely easy to domesticate. Firstly, most spiders are extremely agressive, to the point of eating their own kind. A few special tarantula species are gentle enough that you can actualy keep a pair in one vivarium, though you'll need to introduce them first and make sure they've got their own territory. You wouldnt just reach into the tank and grab one, but they're much more calm than say, Wolf Spiders, which may panic and bite if handled, I've just recently got a young Texas Brown, Molly, who is quite content to sit on my hand and eat crickets/snooze.

 

Secondly, they live a long time, some theraphosi Tarantulas can live as long as 40 years, are colourful, and easy to maintain. Females benefit from an open area to moult, but otherwise mostly just need a place to burrow, a regular supply of insects, and a regular nest cleaning. They do present some odd challenges-spiders have a hard outer coating, but shed that periodicaly, they also reduce their prey to liquid before eating, and tend to be a bit hard to predict.

 

Probably the biggest diference between a garden spider and a pet tarantula though is that the tarantula species sold at pet shops has a fairly unique behavior: instead of attacking or fleeing if they feel threatened, spiders of this type hiss loudly and show their fangs as their first response-this gives you time to placate them or move away, a handy feature.

 

Some examples of the sort of spiders kept as pets, from the most common species: the Pink Toe, colourful and sleepy, but requiring of a hot climate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Avicularia_versicolor_9_Fh.jpg The mighty Mexican Red Knee, huge, terrifying, and astonishingly, very docile and calm: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brachypelma_smithi,_adult_female.jpg The Texas Brown, though this one is much bigger than my Ms Molly http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chilean_Rose_Hair_Tarantula_2.jpg And finaly, the Stripey-Knee'd spider, not a very good image though since this one has launched her urtication barbs and thus has a bald backside: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aphonopelma_seemannii.jpg

[grannywils]

Wow, thanks Vindekarr for that lesson. I did in fact realize that there was a difference. I have seen some tarantulas in zoos, etc. And I think there may have been some in Arizona when I lived there. I'm not absolutely certain. But your very vivid description and the links were fascinating. The interesting thing is that although I give spiders a wide berth in general, I have always found them most intriguing, especially the larger varieties, and particlarly the hairy ones like tarantulas. I have no idea why that is. I had heard before that tarantualas made good pets, and that some of them were in fact quite gentle. I liked what you said in an earlier post about keeping yours in as wild an environment as possible. That must be very good for them and help them to live longer,healthier lives. When you mention she has launched her urtication barbs, do they grow back, or are they gone forever? I was just curious, as they seem to be a defensive device for the spider, and I wondered if one shot was all she had. Well, thank you again for the lesson. I, for one, found it quite interesting.

[Vindekarr]

The barbs are basicaly really stiff sharp hairs, and they do grow back fairly quickly.

 

She throws them by kicking them off with her back legs-which are really strong as they also are what they use for burrowing. Some actualy rub their abdomen directly onto the target, the barbs themselves really, really itch when you get them in your skin, but the clever thing is, the skin isnt the target. They're designed to target animals that sniff at the tarantula, when inhaled, they cause a terrific sneezing fit, and really, really hurt, since the inside of the nose is much less resilient than the skin.

 

What I like most about spiders is that all diferent types have evolved to a particular specialisation, and at that specialised niche, they're pretty much perfected predators. Jumping spiders are specialised for crawling up walls, on ceilings, and up pipes, to helpo with this, they've got molecular friction barbs on the tips of their feet, eyes arranged to give them a near 360 degree dome of vision, and an incredible leaping ability. Tarantulas, though almost blind by comparison, have extreme sensitivity to vibrations-they usualy live in burrows just under the soil, and wait for other creatures to wander past, the inside of the tunnel is covered in silk, which acts like RADAR. the spider can tell the size and overall type of pray just from the vibrations and then gets plenty of time to hide or ambush.

 

Others use their silk to bungie-jump, by leaping off a surface and shooting out a cord of silk to swing on. Other, like netcaster spiders, weave an elastic net between their four forelegs, then hide, when prey comes near, they lung forward and entrap the prey in their bag for transport in a single fluid motion, while Wolf Spiders rival humans for vision, and are nomadic, wandering land predators, somewhat like an eight legged cheetah.

 

Keeping them wild-ish is a good habit to get into. They need exercise like any creature, and though the big burrowing Tarants are rather sleepy by nature, I would feel aweful if they didnt have anythign to do. They're almost perfectly evolved killing machines, it's cruel not to let them live their lives as nature intended. To accomplish this, I keep them in an environment with living plants, but also give them live crickets and roaches, and occsionaly ants. I only give pre-killed bugs to Spiderlings, since they arent yet fast enough to catch them.

 

It's the same with my assassin bugs, they're genius hunters, pretending to be the ants they eat then ambushing them with incredible cunning-it would be horrible to cage them and force feed them pre killed bugs. I wouldnt be able to forgive myself if I did.

 

That said, keeping a distance from them is a good idea. For the most part, spiders from the southern parts of the US arent too bad, with the exception of Recluses, and Black Widows, but they all can inflict about a wasp strength sting and that isnt fun. Let alone some fo the bigger tarantulas, they arent potentialy lethal, but the bite doesnt feel nice-a full day of dizzyness, nausea, and and shaky knees-ouch.

 

Likewise for insects-Assassin Bugs have sharp biological spears, Bombardier Beetle spray bio-fluid that heats to boiling point on contact with the air, and could burn you very badly over a small area-they can cook an ant in it's shell almost instantly, Sunspiders, though not actualy a spider species, have a bad attitude and horrid, unholy quad-pincered rock-grinders for mouths and Rhino beetles have sharp pincers and horns that can give you a nasty cut.

[grannywils]

Man, you certainly are a wealth of knowledge. I love this stuff. I just soak it up like a sponge. We have The Discovery Channel over here. I'm not sure if it is the same over there. But anyway, it is one of the only tv channels we ever watch, that and sometimes the History Channel. Anyway, I watch all of this nature stuff, and I have seen some of what you are talking about. I've seen some of those spiders and insects that you mentioned. I believe that Australia also has some pretty wicked smaller spiders as well. I have seen a wolf spider over here. It was huge. I have also seen a Rhinocerous beatle. Quite incredible. Well thanks again for the information. You certainly know your onions, as Peter Mayle would say. I don't know if you ever read A Year in Provence, but it was a favorite of mine which he wrote. It was an expression he used. Anyway, thanks again.

[brokenergy]

I don't have a pet. The closest things I had to a pet were goldfish and that usually happened during the Persian new year. After the celebrations were over, either the fish died or we released it as a sign of good luck. Of course we don't buy fish anymore because you are introducing a pest into the wild in Australia if you wanted to release for good luck. So my pet is a...

 

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/thesearch/2626.TravelingRoundRockDSCF4041_2D00_719173.jpg

 

Yep a rock. It's name is rock and it's nerves are as hard as steel!

[XanAlderon]

Ohmygod, I always wanted a pet rock! Its a pity that I simply can't care for something like that. Instead I've got a chocolate labrador, Murray. He also loves rocks and makes it his mission to remove every single rock from the creek near my place, one by one.

 

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2126/67/50/1249022451/n1249022451_30106334_3673.jpg

 

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs240.snc3/22732_1217708203377_1249022451_30562114_5117340_n.jpg

[Balagor]

@XanAlderon

That´s a lovely dog, and a very good pic where he shakes off water :biggrin:

 

btw, I had this age old fear for spiders too, but I overcame it. I can touch them now, even the big ones. I also let them stay in my bedroom when I go to sleep, thats part of my self made therapy, lol. and I wood never hurt them. They are so precious.I even help them when they are cought in the sink or the tub. Did you know that their web are some of the strongest materials in the world? Scientists are trying to figure out how it´s made. Fantastic animals. :thumbsup:

[Vindekarr]

That they are.

 

Funny you say that though-I started keeping them to get over my own paralytic fear of them, ended up coming to love the things.

 

Spider silk of some sorts is actualy stronger than steel in terms of tensible strength, if we could make a woven mesh out of it, the possibilities are enormous.

 

The only problem is that spiders only seem to hate on thing: eachother, and while a few species peacfully co-exist in small environments, those are mostly large south american Tarantulas, who dont make large webs. The ones useful for spinning web en masse are cannibles. Right now the closest we've gotten to web farming is a virus injected into a goat that alters the goat's milk into a web-like substance. In theory. In the real world, all we've done so far is to make sticky milk the consitancy of gelo.

 

And that's a really cute dog Xan, reminds me a of a much much thinner version of the labrador I grew up with.

[Balagor]

I don't have a pet. The closest things I had to a pet were goldfish and that usually happened during the Persian new year. After the celebrations were over, either the fish died or we released it as a sign of good luck. Of course we don't buy fish anymore because you are introducing a pest into the wild in Australia if you wanted to release for good luck. So my pet is a...

 

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/thesearch/2626.TravelingRoundRockDSCF4041_2D00_719173.jpg

 

Yep a rock. It's name is rock and it's nerves are as hard as steal!

 

What´s wrong with large pets, lol

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz88/Balagor/AyersRock.jpg

Photo: NetSpirit