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Tarantula as an Exotic Pet
Tarantula as Pet
Tarantulas can make wonderful pets. They are exotic, noiseless creature and need little space. And keeping tarantulas as pets can make a fascinating hobby.
These pet spiders are hardy enough to require minimal care and easy to feed. However, tarantulas aren’t the best choice as a pet to handle very much, mostly due to stress and danger to the spider than to the handler. There are many species available in the pet trade, reptile shows and online breeders and dealers. If you want a unique, and interesting pet, a tarantula would be a good choice.
Tarantula is the common name for a group of hairy and often very large spiders belonging to the family theraphosidae. Tarantulas are arachnids that are found in North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Southern Asia. There are approximately 900 species of tarantulas have been identified. The greatest concentration of tarantulas can be found in South America and they have a variety of habitats. Tarantulas hunt prey in both trees and on the ground. There are tarantulas that burrow and build silk lined tunnels in the ground. Others live in trees and make aerial nests out of silk.
Tarantula’s main diet includes insects and other arthropods, using ambush as their primary methods. The biggest tarantulas can kill animals as large as lizards, mice, or birds. Most tarantulas are harmless to humans, and some species of tarantulas are popular in the exotic pet trade.
Some new world tarantulas have a dense covering of irritating hairs called urticating hairs on their abdomen, which they can release by vigorously rubbing their abdomens if threatened. These tiny hairs are barbed and designed to irritate and can work their way into the skin and cause itching and rashes at the site. Exposure of the eyes and breathing system to urticating hairs should be strictly avoided. Be very careful not to rub your eyes after doing anything with the spider and it’s cage until you wash your hands, and don't get in too close to look at your spider.
It is true that tarantula’s bites are venomous. However, for most species, the toxicity of tarantula’s venom is much like that of a bee or wasp. It is most likely to cause a local reaction including paid, redness, swelling. However, people can have an allergic or anaphylactic reaction to tarantula bites in the same way that some people react to bee stings, and this reaction can be fatal.
Also there are few tarantula species which have stronger venom that potentially fatal, or at least the bites are to be very painful. Even tarantula bites are unlikely to be fatal, you still want to avoid being bitten, and the best way to do this is by learn about spider behavior and treat the spider accordingly. As a rule, however, most spiders would rather retreat than bite.
Here are the facts that you should know when you intend to get tarantulas for an exotic pet. In general the best pet tarantulas for beginner are the ground dwellers or burrowers, as they tend to be a little slower moving.
