|
|
Arachnida
Bernhard Grzimek, Vol. 2: Protostomes,
Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia,
Thomson Gale™
(General to Advanced Audience)
(Adobe PDF file)
|
ARACHNIDS OF IRAQ AND KUWAIT (Poster)
Entomological Sciences Program,
Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine,
United States Army,
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
(General Audience)
(Adobe PDF file)
|
Egyptian Banded Solifugid (Galeodes granti)
Jon Fouskaris & Frank Somma, petbugs.com
(General Audience)
|
|
|
ARACHNOPHOBIA (Arachnephobia)
|
|
Arachnophobia
Sean Terbeek,
Insecta Inspecta World,
Insecta-Inspecta, Inc.
(General Audience)
|
The “Disgusting” Spider: The Role of Disease and
Illness in the Perpetuation of Fear of Spiders
Graham C. L. Davey,
Society & Animals Journal of Human-Animal Studies, Volume 2, Number 1,
Society & Animals Forum, Inc.
(General to Advanced Audience)
|
The Spider Myths Site
Rod Crawford,
The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture,
University of Washington (UW)
(General Audience)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ADULT SIZE OF EIGHT HUNTING SPIDER SPECIES IN CENTRAL AMAZONIA:
TEMPORAL VARIATIONS AND SEXUAL DIMORPHISMS
Thierry Ray Gasnier, Clarissa Salette de Azevedo,
Martha Patricia Torres-Sanchez, Hubert Höfer,
The Journal of Arachnology,
Vol. 30, pp. 146-154 (2002),
The American Arachnological Society (AAS)
(Advanced Audience)
(Adobe PDF file)
|
Spider origins
Spiders, Australian Museum Online,
Australian Museum
(General Audience)
|
Spiders
Australian Museum Online, Australian Museum
(General Audience)
|
SPIDERS: An Organism for Teaching Biology
Debora Scheidemantel (General Audience)
|
SPIDERZ RULE!
Spiderz Rule!
(General Audience)
|
The World Spider Catalog, Version 9.5
Norman I. Platnick,
Division of Invertebrate Zoology,
American Museum of Natural History
(General to Advanced Audience)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Captive Care
Guy Tansley, giantspiders.com
(General to Advanced Audience)
|
|
|
|
SPIDER PICTURES,
SPIDER PHOTOS
|
|
Gallery
Guy Tansley, giantspiders.com
(General Audience)
|
Great Spider Photos
Spiderz Rule! (General Audience)
|
Spider Photos
Noah Coccaro (General Audience)
|
Spiders and Webs
PHOTOVAULT Arachnid Museum,
Wernher Krutein Productions, Inc.
(General Audience)
|
SPIDERS ON THE WEB (and other Arachnids) of
Orange County, California
Peter J. Bryant, Ph.D.,
Department of Developmental and Cell Biology,
University of California, Irvine,
& Ron Hemberger
(General Audience)
|
Tarantula Photo Gallery
Kelly Swift, Swift’s Invertebrates
(General Audience)
|
|
SPIDER SPECIES
(SPIDER FAMILIES)
|
|
Australian Spiders
|
|
|
|
|
Baboon Spider - Family Theraphosidae
|
|
|
|
|
Huntsman Spider - Family Sparassidae
|
|
|
|
Tarantula Spiders -
Family: Theraphosidae
|
giantspiders.com
Guy Tansley, giantspiders.com
(General to Advanced Audience)
|
|
|
|
|
Wolf Spider - Family Lycosidae
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SPIDERS AS PETS
Many people enjoy raising spiders as pets. Spiders (arachnids) and
insects may be suitable as pets given proper living conditions. Many
types of spiders, such as tarantulas and wolf spiders, make excellent
exotic pets and are quite interesting to observe.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to raising pet spiders.
Some advantages of raising a pet spider are:
- Spiders are clean, quiet pets.
- Spiders require little living space. A terrarium can serve nicely as
a pet spider habitat.
- Pet spiders can be fascinating to watch.
- Pet spiders require little or no socialization.
- A pet spider is far less expensive to maintain than a traditional
pet such as a cat or a dog.
- You may be able to acquire a pet spider from within your local
habitat.
- A pet spider, as is true of any pet, can serve as a valuable learning
tool for a child of proper age, teaching responsibility (if the child
must care for their pet spider) and perhaps sparking interest in nature
and science.
WARNING: Spiders are
venomous, and can, through their bite, inflict varying degrees of harm on
both human and animal. The author and owner of this website neither
advocates nor condones permitting a child to keep a spider as a pet or in
any other manner or for any other purpose. It is a parent’s
responsibility to determine whether a spider is suitable as a pet for a
child. Any parent choosing to permit their child to raise a pet spider,
and anyone (such as parents, teachers or others) keeping a spider or other
venomous animal as a pet or for other purposes in the vicinity of children
must be fully aware of that animal’s behavioral patterns and
potential to cause harm and must take appropriate measures to safeguard
against such harm.
A FURTHER CAUTION: Any
animal capable of biting or scratching is also capable of transmitting
bacterial, viral or fungal infection; this not only includes
spiders, but common household pets such as cats and dogs. Far more people
are bitten by dogs each year than are bitten by spiders (approximately 4.7
million dog bites per year in the U.S. versus over 13,000 spider bites in
1996 — Source: Children’s Hospital and Health
System Pediatric Health Information). Exercising proper care with any
animal greatly reduces risk of injury.
Some disadvantages of raising a pet spider are:
- Nearly all species of spiders are venomous to some degree. As with
venomous snakes, the severity of a spider bite depends upon the potency
of the venom, method by which the venom acts upon the body, quantity of
venom delivered, site of the wound on the body, and allergic
reactivity of the victim. A species of spider possessing potent venom
may not necessarily be able to inflict significant injury to humans if
its fangs (the delivery system) are not able to easily penetrate the
skin.
- Tarantulas, in addition to a (mildly) venomous bite, possess
urticating hairs which can be flicked when the spider feels
threatened or is stressed. These hairs can cause irritation and can
cause vision damage if they enter the eye.
- Many spiders have precise temperature, humidity, lighting, habitat or
nutritional requirements.
- Many species of spiders are adept climbers and some can escape through
small crevices. It is necessary to keep your spiders enclosure
properly sealed, enabling airflow but preventing escape.
- Most spiders have short lifespans when compared to traditional pets.
Tarantulas tend to be an exception. Given proper care, a tarantula
can live for many years in captivity, with some tarantulas living as
long as 20 to 30 years.
- Spiders, like other animals, may be susceptible to disease, fungal or
parasitic infection. Very few veterinarians will know how to diagnose
or treat your pet spider.
- Most spiders cannot be handled and do not tend to interact well with
humans or other pets. Dropping a tarantula may cause its abdomen to
rupture, resulting in almost certain death. Introducing your cat to
your pet spider will result in a dead (possibly eaten) spider or,
perhaps, a severely ill or dying cat if the cat is bitten and the
spider is highly venomous. Spiders also don’t usually interact
well with other spiders, since they are predatory by nature.
- Depending on species, mating your pet spider may prove difficult.
- Some localities may have laws or regulations restricting purchase or
possession of some or all types of spiders.
- Liability insurance may not cover injury sustained from the bite of a
spider raised as a pet, leaving you legally responsible for damages.
DO NOT decide to raise a spider as a pet because it is “cool”
or because you want to impress or shock your friends. Owning a pet
— ANY PET — requires a high level of commitment, dedication
and respect for the life and well-being of the animal for which you choose
to become responsible. Do some research, then think carefully about
whether you want the responsibility that comes with having a pet and
whether a spider is the right pet for you.
Authored by Kenneth L. Anderson.
Original article published 30 December 2003, updated 24 June
2006.
Follow links to the right to learn more about spiders and about raising and caring for spiders as pets.
At the left margin, Related Links address topics of interest
pertaining to locating a pet, protecting your
pet’s well-being and health, and maximizing your pet’s quality
of life. If you have an interest in pet ownership that goes beyond
arachnids (remembering, of course, that spiders and other pets should be
kept apart), check out
Pet
Adoption & Rescue. If you already own a pet, you may be
especially interested in
Pet
Care & Pet Health and
Pet
Products & Supplies. View the
Exotic Pets SiteMap
for a complete list of exotic pets topics.
|
|
