“People who say, ‘There’s nothing to fear from spiders’ have clearly never been to Australia.”
Cate Blanchett, Actress
Pros and Cons of Owning a Spider
You think about getting a spider but are not sure whether spiders make good pets for you or not?
Then this article is exactly for you!
Stick with me since I show you all the pros and cons of keeping spiders at home in the following article.
Table of Contents
Advantages of Getting a Spider
- Spiders are small pets
- You don’t need a big home for keeping spiders
- Spiders are quiet pets
- You can leave them alone for an extended period of time
- You can go on short vacations without having any problems
- Not that many people keep spiders as pets
- Your friends may be fascinated by your spider
- You don’t have to go for a walk with your spider
- Spiders don’t live that long
- You don’t need to clean your home more often than normal
- Good in case you suffer from pet allergies
- Owning a spider is relatively cheap
- You can become a real spider expert in the long run
- People may ask you for your expert advice
- You can build a side hustle around spider-keeping
Spiders are small pets
One advantage of spiders is that they stay rather small.
While other pets are small in the beginning but grow quite rapidly, spiders don’t grow to the same size as most other pets.
In turn, while many other pet owners have greatly underestimated the size their pets will reach, they will often give away their pets to shelters since they don’t want to have those big pets at home anymore.
You will not have the same problem with your spiders since spiders only grow moderately and you will not encounter bad experiences in this regard.
You don’t need a big home for keeping spiders
Since spiders stay rather small, you also don’t need a big house to keep them.
Even if you currently live in a small apartment and don’t have that much space, you will still find a spot for a small terrarium where you can keep your spider.
While dogs and many other pets would not become happy in those small flats at all, your spider will not care that much and will still have a good life inside its terrarium.
Thus, getting a spider can also make quite a lot of sense for you in case you are currently space-constrained and are not able to keep other pets that need more space to exercise and to be happy in general.
Spiders are quiet pets
Another benefit of owning spiders is that they are also pretty quiet animals.
In fact, you will often not even hear your spider moving around in your terrarium.
This can be pretty helpful, especially if you work from home and have plenty of important things to do.
You may also be under time pressure and may need to focus 100% on your tasks to get as much as possible done.
In such a case, it will be much better to keep pets that are quiet and don’t need your attention all day long since you will be able to really focus on other things that are important to you and spiders therefore also make quite good pets in this regard.
You can leave them alone for an extended period of time
Spiders will also not be that demanding.
Of course, you have to provide good living conditions to them so that they stay healthy and content in the long run.
However, your spider friends will just need the same level of attention as dogs, cats or most other pets.
This gives you a great level of flexibility since you can do whatever you want during the week but still have a pet to care for at home that needs your support from time to time.
You can go on short vacations without having any problems
Even if you go on short vacations, your spiders will not care at all and you can just leave them alone for an extended period of time without having to worry about any unpleasant surprises when you come back.
Of course, you should make sure to close the cover of your terrarium in a proper manner so that your spiders can’t escape and frighten your neighbors 😉.
Not that many people keep spiders as pets
Another upside to getting a pet spider is that you will have something special at home.
In fact, not many other people keep spiders at their place and if you are the one who does, you will be in the spotlight quite often since your family and friends will often ask you about your spider and how it’s doing.
Moreover, keeping spiders can also make quite a lot of sense for you in case you want to stand out from the crowd and want to make a statement for more tolerance and a more diverse culture in society.
Your friends may be fascinated by your spider
While some people will not like your spiders at all, others may be really fascinated by them and will often want to come over to your place to see how your spider is doing.
Some of them may even want to get their own pet spider once they have seen your spider-keeping project and you can therefore also contribute to making spiders as pets more popular in general.
You don’t have to go for a walk with your spider
Another advantage of keeping spiders is that you also don’t need to go for a walk with your little friends.
While dog owners have to go for a walk on a regular basis and dogs don’t care about whether the weather outside is good or not, you can stay inside your four walls during times of bad weather and can rather enjoy a quiet morning or evening in a cozy environment on your couch instead.
Spiders don’t live that long
You will also not make a real long-term commitment by getting a spider.
In fact, many spider species don’t live that long and will not make it more than 2 years.
While some people may consider this as an issue, it can be great for others since it means that you will not have to care for spiders for decades but can rather see spider-keeping as short-term project from which you can move on after a while.
Hence, while you have to care for other pets for many years or even decades, you will not make the same commitment by owning a spider and this will give you greater room of flexibility in the future.
You don’t need to clean your home more often than normal
Since your spider will live in your terrarium most of the time, you will also not need to clean your home more than normal.
Sure, from time to time, you will also have to clean your terrarium to make it look good and to provide good living conditions for your spider.
However, while you have to clean your home much more often if you have cats or dogs at home since they lose hair and also bring plenty of dirt inside your four walls, you will not have this issue with spiders and this means that you can use your time for other things you enjoy more than cleaning your home.
Good in case you suffer from pet allergies
Keeping spiders can also be great if you suffer from pet allergies that are related to the hair of pets.
For instance, many people suffer from cat or dog allergies since those animals lose plenty of hair and many people are allergic to this hair.
Since spiders don’t lose hair, you will likely not suffer from those issues and spiders can make great pets for people who are allergic to many other pets.
Owning a spider is relatively cheap
While you will have some expenses for your terrarium, keeping spiders is usually not as costly as keeping most other pets.
You will just not have to spend that much money on feed and you will also not have to get any vaccinations for your spiders.
You will also not have to see the vet and this can save you lots of money in the long run.
Thus, getting a spider can also make quite a lot of sense if you are on a budget right now and can’t afford to get other pets.
You can become a real spider expert in the long run
If you are willing to invest plenty of time to learn about your little friends, you can also become a real spider expert in the long run.
This can not only be pretty helpful for your own spider-keeping project, but you can also help out your family and friends in case your loved ones want to get pet spiders as well but don’t know what they have to be aware of.
People may ask you for your expert advice
Not only your circle of friends may be thankful for your support, but you can also support many other people who struggle with keeping spiders in a proper manner.
For instance, you could join forums or social media groups and answer the questions of people.
In turn, you will become a real pillar in your industry.
Consequently, this can also greatly boost your level of confidence and you may also feel much better since you know that you do something to help people out.
You can build a side hustle around spider-keeping
Having spiders at home can not only be quite interesting since spiders are quite fascinating animals, but it can also help you make some money.
For instance, you could start a YouTube channel or a blog around your spider and answer various questions of your community in those videos.
After a while, you may be able to build a big group of people who follow you and chances are that you will be able to monetize those people with ads or other income sources.
Some people even make a full-time income by talking and writing about their pets all day long and if you are willing to learn about digital marketing, chances are that you will be one of those people sooner or later if you are willing to work really hard on it.
Now that we talked about all the good things that come along with keeping spiders at home, it is time to also talk about the issues that may be implied by having pet spiders at your place.
Disadvantages of Owning Spiders
- Your spider may escape
- People may think you are weird
- Some spider species are poisonous
- You will be liable for accidents
- You will have to invest some time
- Hard to cuddle a spider
- You will not develop a deep connection
- Time to say goodbye pretty soon
- You may get bored of your spider sooner or later
- Spiders don’t listen to your commands
- Spiders are selfish pets
- You will not be able to teach your spider tricks
- Spiders don’t make good pets for kids
- Many people don’t like spiders
- Many people don’t know how to keep spiders in a proper manner
Your spider may escape
One problem with owning spiders is that they may escape sooner or later.
While you will not have any problems if you keep the cover of your terrarium closed, you may forget to close your terrarium sooner or later.
Depending on the spider species you keep, this may be enough for your spiders to escape.
In turn, you will have a hard time finding your spider again and it may even be on its way to scare your neighbors.
Hence, if you really want to get a pet spider, make sure to take appropriate safety measures so that your spiders will not be gone without any notice sooner or later 😉.
People may think you are weird
Spiders are also not the most popular pets out there.
While you may be fascinated by your spider, other people will not share your excitement and may just think you are weird.
In fact, spider-keeping is still associated with some sort of stigma and people are often not as tolerant as they often claim to be.
Hence, make sure that you are able to deal with snarky comments in this regard in a proper manner and don’t let people discourage you.
Some spider species are poisonous
You should also make sure to keep spiders that are not poisonous.
In fact, if you don’t know what you are doing, your spider may bite you and you may end up in hospital.
Hence, make sure that you only buy spiders in an official pet store instead of getting them from a dodgy source.
Moreover, also make sure that you don’t get spiders that are forbidden by law to avoid any trouble in this regard.
You will be liable for accidents
Another downside of keeping spiders is that you will also be liable for any damage or accident that may occur from your spider-keeping project.
For instance, if you are not careful and your spider escapes, your neighbors may call the police and you may have to pay for it in some states.
If your spider bites someone and the wound gets inflamed, you may also be liable to pay for proper medical treatment which can add up to serious amounts of money.
You will have to invest some time
If you have never kept spiders at home before, you will also need to invest some time into your project to learn about your little friends to provide as natural living conditions for them as possible.
Also in case of problems, you will have to invest some time researching things.
Overall, you will have to spend plenty of time on your pet spiders and you should therefore make sure that you are willing to make this time-commitment before actually getting one.
Hard to cuddle a spider
Spiders are also not good pets when it comes to cuddling. Of course, you could try your best.
Yet, spiders will just not be comfortable with cuddling and cuddling spiders will also not feel that good.
Hence, if you search for a nice pet for cuddling, make sure to get a cat or a dog instead of spiders.
You will not develop a deep connection
Since spiders are rather quiet animals and will not care about your presence that much, chances are that you will also not be able to build a deep connection with your pet.
While this may be good since it makes it easier to say goodbye, it may also let you question the whole project since you may just see no sense in keeping spiders in the long run.
Time to say goodbye pretty soon
Since spiders will just not live that long, it will also be time to say goodbye to your little friends pretty soon.
Most spiders don’t live more than 2 years and some of them even live less than 1 year on average.
This means that you will have to replace your pets quite quickly and this is just not for everyone, especially if you are the emotional type of person who really cries over your loved pets.
You may get bored of your spider sooner or later
Another disadvantage of owning a spider is that you may get bored with it pretty soon.
While keeping spiders may be interesting in the beginning, your initial excitement may be gone rather quickly.
In fact, since spiders are rather slow animals and don’t do that much, you may just want to get other pets that are more active in the long run.
Spiders don’t listen to your commands
You should also not expect your spiders to listen to you at all.
In fact, if you command spiders to do something, they will just ignore you and do what they want instead of what you want from them.
Spiders are selfish pets
In fact, spiders are also rather selfish pets. To be honest, I don’t think that they care for you at all.
Instead, they just make sure that they maximize their chances of survival without caring for your well-being at all.
Hence, you will keep a pet at home that will not care about your feelings and this may just not be fulfilling at all.
You will not be able to teach your spider tricks
While it will be rather easy to teach other pets tricks, this is not true at all for spiders.
In fact, spiders will just ignore all your efforts to teach them tricks. Instead, they will just sleep or spend their time with other things they prefer more.
Spiders don’t make good pets for kids
You should also not expect your kids to be excited about your spiders.
Especially when your children are still young, they will not like your hairy friends and may even be afraid of them.
In such a case, it would be far better to get a cute little cat that they are happy to play with.
Many people don’t like spiders
Spiders also have a certain stigma in society. In fact, many people don’t like spiders at all due to their strange appearance and some people also think that spiders bring bad luck to your home.
Consequently, your friends may no longer want to come over to your home since they fear the presence of your pet spiders.
Many people don’t know how to keep spiders in a proper manner
Before getting a spider, you should also make sure that it is in fact the right pet for you.
Many people out there are just not willing to put in the effort that comes along with keeping spiders in a proper manner.
In turn, they don’t offer natural living conditions to their little friends and those spiders often cannot develop in a healthy manner due to that.
Top 10 Spiders Pros & Cons – Summary List
| Spider Pros | Spider Cons |
|---|---|
| Spiders don’t need much space | Spiders may escape |
| Spiders are quiet pets | People may think you are crazy |
| You can leave them alone | Problems with your neighbors |
| Short vacations are not a problem | Not the best pets for kids |
| Spiders are exotic pets | Spiders are selfish pets |
| Spiders are rather cheap pets | Spiders will not follow your commands |
| Not a long-term commitment | Many people don’t like spiders |
| You can become a spider expert | You may be liable for accidents |
| You can start a side hustle | Spiders can be poisonous |
| Spiders are small pets | You can’t cuddle your pet spider |
Should You Keep Spiders At Home?
As you can see, there are indeed many advantages and disadvantages of owning a spider.
In the end, it is on you to decide whether you still want to get a spider or if you rather want to keep turtles, snakes, dogs, cats, mini pigs, rabbits or guinea pigs.
If you still want to get a pet spider, make sure you don’t get a venomous one to keep yourself out of any trouble in this regard.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/group/spiders/
https://www.britannica.com/animal/spider-arachnid
About the Author
My name is Andreas and I’m really passionate about our environment and also about growing plants. In fact, I have grown several different plants over many years. I love to see my plants grow and also always try new things to improve my overall conditions at home.
In my blog posts, I want to share my experiences with you so that you can become successful in growing various different plants and improving your home as well, even though you might still be a beginner right now.
