Tarantulas are the heaviest, hairiest, scariest spiders on the planet. They have fangs, claws and barbs. They can regrow body parts and be as big as dinner plates. But there are many people who call these creepy critters a pet or a passion and insist their beauty is worth the risk of a bite.
"They are fascinating to watch. They have eight beautiful slender legs," said Dee Reynolds. She has more than 50 tarantulas at her Los Angeles home.
Reynolds doesn't consider her tarantulas pets in the traditional sense. She says a lot of people do and will name them, talk to them and show them off.
Plus, in terms of being pets, they have lots of benefits, she said. "They don't need daily walks, they don't have to be fed special diets, they don't claw furniture or bark, and you don't have to find somebody to take care of them when you go on vacation," said Reynolds.
But, unlike Fido or Whiskers, you can't cuddle with them, dress them for Halloween or play catch. They can cost hundreds of dollars, but they can also live for 30 years.
Ken Macneil, 38, known as "Ken the Bug Guy," has about 7,000 tarantulas at his exotic pet shop in Tucson, Ariz. He sells everything from scorpions and cockroaches to ferrets, lizards and snakes, but nothing is as popular as the tarantula, and not just around Halloween.
His biggest tarantula is a mature male Goliath bird-eater that measures 10 inches long from front leg to back leg. The most expensive one Macneil has ever sold went for $900.
Macneil said his customers include museums, scientists and teachers and up to an estimated 20,000 pet owners and hobby enthusiasts.
The tarantula starts life as a sling — short for spiderling — so they can be as small as a fingernail and grow as large as a dinner plate. It eats mostly live crickets, cockroaches and some mice. The spider turns prey into stew by pumping in venom through its fangs.
When you hold a tarantula, some feel like velvet, some like pipe cleaners and some have really bristly hairs, Reynolds said.
Many tarantulas are docile. Macneil has a 9-inch spider named Tess who is "extremely docile and loves you to hold her. They don't like to be petted. Their barbs or hair would come out and make you itch," he said.
All tarantulas can bite, but most owners say it's no worse than a bee sting, unless you are allergic. If you are, it can be fatal, Reynolds said. Although there is no documented case of a fatal bite, some of the spiders have more potent venom than others, and there is no anti-venom, so you treat the symptoms and hope for the best, he said.
Reynolds has never been bitten, but Macneil said he's been bitten five or six times. He said it hurts for a few minutes, then goes numb.
So why do people keep and study tarantulas? For expert Stan Schultz, it's about the exotic.
When asked to describe the most interesting thing about the spider, Schultz said recognizing the "basic aspects of learning and, dare I say it, intelligence in tarantulas. But, before you get your hopes up, they're still closer to a cabbage than the family dog in smarts."
Critical thinking challenge: Why do tarantulas make better pets than cats or dogs?
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