Tarantulas as Pets

Series Summary

Owning a pet can be an extremely satisfying endeavor, so it is no wonder that millions of people around the world keep companion animals. The most common pets are by far cats and dogs; however, the rising popularity of exotic pets has led to an increase in ownership of snakes, lizards, rats, mice, and hamsters. Fish are also a popular pet for people who do not want too much responsibility. Studies show that pet ownership is beneficial to mental and physical health. In fact, medically backed studies now show that therapy animals can significantly improve the well-being of patients. In this free video series an expert on exotic animals demonstrates how to care for pet tarantulas. This exotic pet may frighten many people, but they actually make great pets. Learn the basics of the tarantula spider, what to feed them and how to handle them. Understand tarantula molting, what to do with injured tarantulas and how to transport them. Interested in owning a spider? Learn more about caring for this unique pet spider.

Video Transcript

"Hi! In this clip, we're going to decide if a tarantula is the right pet for you. Now, although tarantulas are absolutely fascinating, they do take a lot of responsibility, and so when considering a tarantula, you need to look at a couple of things. Tarantulas are very long-lived. They can live up to twenty years in captivity, sometimes even longer. So, if this is something that interests you, having a pet for the long run, a tarantula is right. If you're young and are considering a tarantula as a pet, you may lose interest, so this is something that needs to weigh heavily on your decision making. Tarantulas are also dangerous animals when handled, they're solitary animals and they don't need to be handled so if you're looking for a pet that you're going to want to handle and touch, and pet and carry around, kind of like a dog or a cat, a tarantula's not going to be a right decision for you. A tarantula is going to be more like a fish, something that you view and enjoy over many years. Tarantulas are also carnivores. Carnivores need to eat live prey, so you will need to consider feeding this animal live animals each week. Tarantulas can be dangerous if handled and you can sustain bites, things like that. So this is another important consideration when choosing a tarantula as a pet. Tarantulas are wonderful animals, great pets, but have to be for the right owner."