Arachnids This article is about arachnids or more commonly known as a spider, is part of the What Pet Do You Choose series. All pets including exotic pets are compared and matched to your personality and lifestyle. Would an arachnid be the right exotic pet for you?

An arachnid is a spider and has eight legs. In, comparison, insects have six legs. Spiders are not for everyone and they have very special needs.

All spiders can bite, and all spiders are venomous in varying degrees. Most species do no more harm than a bee sting or even less. Like a bee sting, it is possible to be allergic to the spider's venom and you can go into anaphylactic shock. Some spiders can be very venomous, two examples would be the black widow spider, and the brown recluse spider.

Any animal taken out of the wild deserves the largest enclosure possible. A fish aquarium makes an excellent enclosure. The top should be screen, cheese cloth or mesh so that the aquarium has ventilation. Keep the cage out of direct sunlight. Glass containers especially can get very hot which can kill the spider. A terrarium is also an excellent habitat for a spider. Temperatures and humidity can be controlled in a terrarium or aquarium environment. Make sure the top is secure. You don't want to lose your pet spider.

Spiders are carnivores and predators. The spider crushes its prey with its powerful mouthparts. The spider injects the venom to immobilize their prey and use its chelicerae and then inject their own digestive juices as they can't swallow whole food but suck it like you would using a straw.

A favorite arachnid of mine is the tarantula. The Grammastola Rosea, or Chilean Rose, is the most popular choice of tarantula because of its easier disposition. Tarantulas are delicate creatures. When handling them be very careful that they don't fall, they can be skittish and a short fall can injure them severely or even kill them. Tarantulas do not like roommates. They are not social critters, so they must be kept one per enclosure.

I have had several different spiders as pets. They can get quite tame and friendly. I have one spider that comes down to the kitchen sink when I am washing dishes. He waits for a tiny fresh drop of water to be placed on the counter. He drinks from the spot of water and climbs back up to where he sits on his web. I had one spider that got so lazy he'd wait for me to put a live insect on his web. Then he'd come down and wind it up with spider silk. Maybe he wasn't lazy but had me well trained. Either way, he really got to be quite big.

A spider could be an excellent choice of exotic pet for the right person. Protect your pet from other people, and protect other people from your pet. There could be liabilities in owning a venomous pet.

To give you can idea of what a highly venomous spider bite can look like this is a brown spider bites or more accurately a brown recluse bite pictures. Beware the picture are highly graphic brown recluse bite pictures

Brown recluse pictures and Black Widow pictures
brown recluse pictures and black widow pictures

Diana Geiger Exotic Pets Editoron

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Tarantulas and Other Arachnids

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