Are tarantulas poisonous to dogs?
 

I saw my first tarantula of the season on my back porch last night. Almost stepped right on it! I've seen them out on the roads but none at the house yet. Of course I hollered at my husband to wake up and get out of the recliner (it was late!) to come kill it for me. I could have managed if I had to but he has to feel needed sometimes, right?? Scary thing was it was really close to the big dog crate we have on the back porch that my MIL's kitten stays in at night (we're kitty-sitting this week). She's too young to run loose at night with our outside cats so we put her up when it gets dark. I hate to think that it could have gotten in there and hurt the kitty. But what happens if one of the dogs bites one or gets bitten by one?

Icky tarantula story..... several years ago my daughter was playing ball with my MIL in her front yard (this is out in the country close to our own house) and felt something crawling on her leg. She looked down and froze! There was a huge tarantula crawling up her leg. Freaked my MIL out more than my daughter but those things are just gross...... definitely don't want one crawling on me!! But what about the dogs? Are they safe?

When I saw this post I was nervous...
 

OMG!:eek: I HATE spiders...and freak out at the tiniest of house spiders over here in the uk...I couldn't cope with a Tarantula! I think i would pass out with fear!

i was watching a show actually and they said that tarantulas are not in fact poisionus to humans, now dogs i don't know... but i'd be careful!

I was raised with creepy crawlies (my dad bred snakes, lizards, and we had pet tarantulas). I don't mind the big ol' hairy spiders, its the teeny tiny house spiders that give me the creeps.

Anyway, as far as I know, tarantulas cannot cause any serious injury to people or larger animals (meaning larger than a mouse or tiny bird). They are venomous, but their venom is not strong enough to affect you, or your cats or dogs, and even if it was, it would only be temporary.

The biggest danger would just be the urticating hairs on the back of their legs that they "throw" at attackers in close range. They are very, very, very itchy and painful (but not medically threatening), and bound to end up in your cats' and dogs' noses. They can also bite, and while this is painful, its usually a last resort after the hairs, and I'm guessing that your little ones won't want to continue to pursue a tarantula after it has already thrown its hairs.

You can check with your vet, because I'm sure he gets calls about this a lot, and he's more familiar with the local varieties of tarantula, but there's really no serious threat.

Anna - good post :thumbup:

I never learned so much about tarantulas in my life! Very interesting.

ugh i hate spiders! check google :thumbup:

Wow, what an eye opener. I can't believe they throw their hair at you! :eek: LOL freaky!!! :D

Thanks! That's great to know. I kinda figured that since people do have pet tarantulas that they probably aren't life threatening but I wasn't sure about small dogs and kitties.

Lol, I know! Its only happened to me once...but OWW! :rolleyes:

I read the OP thread & thought,..."OMG!! Where does she live!!" then I saw Texas...when I live in the north I kind of forget there are different life styles in other parts of the country....I don't know if I could live where there are tarantulas wondering about...I would be on edge EVERYDAY looking out for them, I couldn't go to bed w/o a blanket check, I would like to know there wasn't a third party in the bed w/ me...& I would NEVER put on my shoes w/o a check in there, he better not be wearing them before me...EEEWWW!!

:eek: :eek: I hate spiders. And Anna Banana, that was nice of you to post what you know of those kind of spiders, but really I couldn't read that. Too much information for me to know. :eek:

haha.... Actually, I have NEVER seen a tarantula in the house and try not to think about them being outside BUT it's not like I see them all the time either. I might actually see a couple in our yard in a whole summer but I see them crossing the roads more often than that.

And speaking of shoe checks.... where my friend lives in Elgin (out in the country also), they DO have to do shoe checks every time because of scorpions. At an old house of mine (rent-free very old house next to my grandparents), I use to have to turn on lights before walking through any room when it got dark because of those dang scorpions. I only got stung once - he was hiding in the laundry basket - and I never want to do that again! I'd rather be stung by a wasp or yellow jacket! And I'd rather not feel the wrath of a hair throwing tarantula either!

OMG ! I've never seen one in Houston for as long as I've been here and that DEF would freak me out - I don't mind bugs but not one that BIG and UGLY !! Not to mention that nasty habit they have of biting people ....wow - Glad you saw it before it saw you and made contact. Whew....goes to show you - Husbands really ARE good for something :D :D

I've never heard of tarantulas being in Texas (other than shipped in as pets). OMG that freaks me out. I just recently found out that there were scorpions in Texas...that freaks me out too. What part of Texas do you live in? I'm originally from NE TX but now live northwest of Houston in College Station.