You May Want to Think Again Before Buying a Pet Tarantula

You May Want to Think Again Before Buying a Pet Tarantula

If you happen to be one of those people who finds tarantulas cute, and think they would make great house pets, then I first want to say that I don’t understand you, and secondly, doing this can be more dangerous than you would think.  Recently a certain spider, which is kept commonly as a pet, injured his owner’s eye in a serious way.

This spider is the Chilean Rose Spider, and it is one of the most commonly imported tarantulas.  An owner of this particular spider likely rethought his decision to keep the spider as a pet after doctors told him that the inflammation in his eye was due to his pet tarantulas natural defense mechanism.  Doctors using a specialized microscope found what looked like hairs deep in the patient’s cornea.  Once the doctors told the man of their findings, he instantly recalled a moment when his pet tarantula sprayed a “mist” at him as the man was cleaning the spider’s tank.  Apparently, this tarantula thought its spider-pad was perfect as it was.

Like many tarantulas, the Chilean Rose ejects tiny hairs from its abdomen when it encounters a threat.  The doctors were unable to remove the hairs from the patient’s eye, but they believe his symptoms will subside with aggressive hormone treatment.  It can be supposed that the tarantula owner is now sitting at home questioning his decision against buying a dog.

Have you ever owned or know someone that owned a pet tarantula? Did they experience any problems like this?