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Najakcharmer -> RE: It tried to kill me - honest!! (3/30/2007 2:58:44 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: missturbation
Thank you. I know tarantulas are kept as pets, my ex boyf had one that appeared quite friendly! Do they make goos pets and can they be like dogs etc that get attached to their owners?
Also if a black widow is docile etc are they kept as pets, would they make good pets?
Do you even agree with keeping spiders as pets?
That depends on how you define a pet. All animals have basic needs for proper nutrition, temperature, humidity and housing. Some animals have more exacting or more difficult requirements than others. A good comparison would be a hardy houseplant like a fern or a ficus compared to a rare hothouse tropical orchid that will become sick and die unless it has special potting material of a specific alkalinity, a humidity percentage kept at a constant 80-90%, stable 78-83F temperature and a 12 hour photoperiod with full spectrum lighting.
Obviously the average person looking for a decorative houseplant who is only equipped to water it a couple times a week and keep it on the dining room table next to the air conditioner had better stick to the fern or the ficus and leave the hothouse orchids for very serious and advanced growers who can keep such a plant alive under proper conditions. Critters work similarly. Almost anyone can keep a dog or a cat healthy, but there are a number of animals, insects and arachnids that need much more specialized environments and nutrition that you are not going to find in the average house or at the average pet store. It is inappropriate, cruel and frankly pretty stupid for the average person looking for a "cool" pet to try to keep an exotic species that they really know nothing about under conditions that are not healthy for that species.
However anyone who is very serious and knowledgeable about the exacting requirements of an exotic species and has the ability and the equipment to keep it healthy and safe should be able to do so. Private keepers of exotic species have contributed immeasurably to science and to the available gene pool of vanishing or endangered species, in many cases more so than "official" zoological institutions.
Spiders are capable of habituating and responding to specific stimuli, but they don't percieve the world in the same way mammals do. They can learn to recognize simple visuals and some sounds (vibrations), but they would not be able to distinguish between two humans who were not presenting identical stimulus. I doubt they are capable of "affection", but they can become habituated (docile) and pleasant to handle.
As a budding young scientist I kept black widows as "pets", and the experience was a very positive one that served me well in my adult life. I don't think I'd generally recommend the keeping of any toxinous organisms to anyone who was not prepared to take professional level precautions with their housing and handling. But if you are so prepared, Latrodectus is an absolutely beautiful spider that is lovely to work with in captivity.
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