Spiders are considered scary creatures. This might be due to the concepts shown in movies, especially Hollywood. But an interesting fact about spiders is that some of them make excellent pets. They do not need to be looked after like larger pets and can be taken care of very easily.
A very less popular fact about spiders is that almost all the species of spiders can produce silk. These are near-sighted animals. One of the types named a jumping spider that can jump as long as 50 times its length.
Not many people find spiders a safe and entertaining animal, but the research shows that spiders are entertaining. And they can also prove useful for the kids who want to learn about wildlife.
Different Spiders to Keep as Pets
The most famous type of pet spider is tarantulas. It is a large-sized spider. There are a large number of species of tarantulas in the world. These are not harmful, and only some of them give out a deadly bite. They have a longer average life span than others. Tarantulas are the most common spider species to keep as pets and people love having them in their homes.
Tarantulas are not the only species to be kept as a pet. Many other species have now become the center of attention for people who want to keep spiders as a pet. Here is a list of some of the best spiders to have as pets other than tarantulas:
1. Wolf Spiders
Wolf spiders are giant-sized. Some of them can be as large as three inches in maximum leg span. They are not rare and are found all around the world. They are easy to maintain and taken care of. They do not demand much food. Most of the wolf spiders eat only once every two days or once per day.
These spiders live in a hole instead of webs. They do not need a vacant space for living. These spiders are comfortable in the dark, so you do not need to arrange proper lighting for them. Besides these simple demands of a wolf spider, make sure that the place where your spider resides is escape-proof.
Wolf spiders can bite human beings, but their bite is not dangerous at all. The venom in its bite is harmful to allergic people only. A healthy person only gets a darker side at the area of spider’s bite because of necrotic death of the nearby tissues.
2. Jumping Spiders
Jumping spiders are relatively small in size. Most of them hardly grow larger than half an inch. As the name indicates, these spiders have an exceptional ability to jump. Jumping spiders have very bright colors. The average life span of spiders is not more than a year and hardly two. The spiders show many differences in different stages of life.
They are so small that they can be kept in jars easily. These spiders are entertaining and are fun to keep as a pet. These are intelligent species and make you learn a lot about nature. They can improve your insight into nature. And are also considered the friendliest species of spiders.
They do not have unpleasing tantrums when it comes to feeding. The jumping spiders need to be fed once every two to three days. Flies and small insects like crickets are good to feed but avoid giving them ants to eat. To feed the pet spider, drop the insects into the jar, and the spider catches it.
3. Fishing Spiders
Fishing spiders are large, and they have remarkable fishing abilities. If you have some fishes in your house, you can keep the fishing spiders with them. They can captivate the insects very conveniently. These species are fast; hence you need to be careful while capturing them. Try to keep them in a moist place.
If you keep them with the fishes, be careful to check that there are no small fishes because your pet spider might eat them as a part of their food. If you keep them with the large insect-eating fishes, they might get eaten themselves by the fish. These spiders have a unique ability to walk on water, and they can take care of their eggs by themselves.
Most of them have about one-inch body length and three inches’ leg span. Fishing spiders are not rendered as poisonous species, but because they are fast and hunting species, they do not hesitate to bite the person trying to catch them. They can live in small places, but the ones given a vacant space enjoy themselves much more than the others.
4. Grass Spiders
As the name indicates, grass spiders reside in grassy areas. They make funnel-shaped webs in the bushes or grass and sometimes even in the buildings. They can be caught easily. They do not require a very fancy environment and can be kept in low-maintenance conditions. They are great entertainment and can improve a sense of responsibility in you.
These spiders need to be kept in places with a tiny enclosure. They can be kept easily in a spider aquarium, which is available online. These spiders vary in size and do not need much space to stay. The aquarium should have a tight lid to avoid the escape of the spider.
A grass spider does not demand a large amount of food. A spider can survive for a week after having one large cricket or 2-3 small crickets. They require a very little amount of water. These spiders are very sensitive and cannot stand much contact with humans. A pet grass spider makes an excellent animal that can observe.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Having Pet Spiders
Some advantages of keeping spiders as a pet are that they are clean and do not make unnecessary noise. They do not need a vacant space to live in. It does not take a lot of money to keep spiders as pets. They are inexpensive.
Unlike other pets, spiders are not very much social, and hence you can easily keep one spider at a time instead of keeping them in pair. Spiders are common creatures, and you can also catch one by yourself to keep as a pet instead of buying one.
Along with the advantages, keeping a spider as a pet can be dangerous too. One of the disadvantages is that these creatures are poisonous. Although the venom is not much harmful in most spiders, it can still damage the tissues of the body.
They can quickly run away and need a ventilated, escape-free environment. If you keep a spider as a pet, it will be nearly impossible to keep another pet because they are not acceptable towards other pets. Moreover, the possession of pet spiders is strictly forbidden in some countries for safety purposes.
Conclusion
If you are eager to keep a low maintenance pet, you can easily keep any of the spiders mentioned above as your pet. You can observe exciting things about the animal as well as nature. They are economical and sound entertainers. Just be careful while dealing with them and research the type of spider you want to keep to avoid any mishap.