Do pet tarantulas grow to "love" or become "fond" of you?
Do pet tarantulas grow to "love" or become "fond" of you?
52 comments
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I’m not an expert, so take my findings with a grain of salt, but the current scientific consensus seems to be:
We don’t know.
Recent studies suggest that the behavior of spiders is more complex than previously thought. They show behavior that can’t be explained by simple automatisms, such as the development of hunting strategies depending on their prey.
Keep in mind that these findings do not indicate any capability to love or to grow fond of someone. But there is an ongoing discussion about whether invertebrates should be considered sentient.
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They show behavior that can’t be explained by simple automatisms
This has been long debunked and is also obvious to anyone that even dabbled in Entomology or adjacent fields. There are certainly very complex behaviors at work. But if it qualifies as sentient is a philosophical debate and not one of arachnology.
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Only to people that think the mind is mystical and not biological in nature.
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shit I'm not even sure if the cat who's been living with me forever gives a shit about me, I bet a spider can't either
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Probably no more than a goldfish I suspect.
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No, but they're objectively the best pet. Basically a walking plant who's bffs with a hole in the ground and hunts crickets by staying absolutely still until it's not.
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...objectively...
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An objectively peer-reviewed hyperbole.
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Long anecdote short; no.
Short anecdote long; nooooo. I had a Selenocosmia Crassipes (from north-east QLD, Australia) for a year or so, and she never seemed to .. 'warm' to me.
I had to get her out in a cup regularly to change her substrate, and/or attempt to give 'pats' after a few beers, but she'd always rear-up to strike :/ But I was her cricket and pinky-mouse dealer!
I didn't research it. I don't have studies to cite. I didn't approach it constructively.
I just hoped one day we'd click, before going on adventures together.
I miss Fluffy.
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Tarantulas are insects ferchrissake... They have the nervous system of a guitar amplifier.
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Tarantulas are insects
You wanna fight?
They have the nervous system of a guitar amplifier.
I recommend this video. You can do amazing things with the nervous system of a guitar amplifier, it turns out.
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Bumblebees can do simple math problems and like to play, which happens to be one of the current (as far as I am aware) scientific signs of intelligence.
Just because its a bug doesn't mean its stupid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghws6YFsPJA
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same way that because someone has a brain, doesn't make them intelligent
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More like the nervous system of a noise musician's pedalboard so complex it might be able to talk to aliens.
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Insect claims aside, this…
They have the nervous system of a guitar amplifier.
is a great line.
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The oldest common ancestor between arachnids and insects lived in the water.
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Hence the scarequotes
52 comments
Tarantular keeper for over a decade here.
No.
Yeah, I had a friend who kept a tarantula. It was a dick.
It's really the other way around. You get to learn the personality of the spiders (and may become fond of them).
But yeah, some species are just like that. We had a bunch of Pterinochilus murinus or "OBTs" (orange bamboo tarantula ... but also orange bitey thing). They are nasty. Always on edge, no chill. Just feeding them was a pain because you had to open the enclosure and they would come at you.