Feline vs tarantula

[Matt W]

(I tried to search the forum for this topic, but can't figure out how since "cat" is too short.) So I have a few T's in enclosures on some bookshelves. And my daughter has pestered me enough that I might be relenting to get a cat for the house. My only real worry is how to keep the cat from knocking over T enclosures. Does anyone have tips/experience with this?

 

[fcat]

Cat*

 

[catboyeuthanasia]

Unfortunately, it all comes down to the personality of the cat you may get. Some cats show absolutely no interest in tarantulas while others would jump at the chance to kill one. You'll never know until you meet the cat and spend a good bit of time with it.

Some things can improve your chances though:

• Tinfoil on ledges can stop cats from jumping up onto them. This can be used to teach your cat to avoid jumping on things (not foolproof, but I found that it works)
• If your cat has enough stimulation, it will be less likely to want to knock things over. Lots of nice toys and climbing areas, as well is walks if your cat is the type, can help make them more chill
• If you can put your tarantulas, especially light enclosures in their own, closed room, that can also work
• In extreme cases, it might be the right call to keep a spray bottle next to your Tarantula enclosures and let your cat know what it can do
• A other thing to worry about are flea/mite medications. Some types can easiely kill a spider. I use revolution plus, a liquid that you drop on their skin, and keep my cat away from my tarantula enclosures for about a day after. My tarantulas never showed any negative side effects, and neither did my centipedes, velvetworms, and isopods in case this is relevant.

 

[Matt W]

• A other thing to worry about are flea/mite medications. Some types can easiely kill a spider. I use revolution plus, a liquid that you drop on their skin, and keep my cat away from my tarantula enclosures for about a day after. My tarantulas never showed any negative side effects, and neither did my centipedes, velvetworms, and isopods in case this is relevant.

Wow, thank you! All of your suggestions are great, but it's good to be thinking about these medications early.

 

[viper69]

(I tried to search the forum for this topic, but can't figure out how since "cat" is too short.) So I have a few T's in enclosures on some bookshelves. And my daughter has pestered me enough that I might be relenting to get a cat for the house. My only real worry is how to keep the cat from knocking over T enclosures. Does anyone have tips/experience with this?

Yes!
No cat

 

[Matt W]

No cat

I had a suspicion this would be your advice Don't change!

 

[kingshockey]

ditch the book shelves(they are not quake safe) and buy a harbor freight tool cart. house your ts in storage boxes that cant be toppled over when it jumps onto em. house all your slings into a large vented storage box.my cart has a wide wheel base so it would take a pretty major quake to tip it over

 

[SpookySpooder]

My advice is train it.

This is my street cat, pulled from the streets at 2.5 years old with literally no sense of obedience or social conditioning. He is now 6.5 years old and in that time he has not harmed a single one of my other animals.

Despite him wanting to be pet and to sit on my lap, he understands I do not want him near me when I'm working with my T's, and so behaves exactly how I've conditioned him to respond. He won't even come over if I beckon and call him because he understands I get very displeased with him when he does. Even looking at my T cabinet is enough to get me to verbally warn him, so he's decided for himself it isn't worth the trouble.

I feel bad for him but I need time to feed my slings too.

If you can't train your cat then you got your work cut out for you trying to cat proof open shelving. As mentioned above, aluminum foil works wonders at discouraging jumping onto surfaces.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

(I tried to search the forum for this topic, but can't figure out how since "cat" is too short.) So I have a few T's in enclosures on some bookshelves. And my daughter has pestered me enough that I might be relenting to get a cat for the house. My only real worry is how to keep the cat from knocking over T enclosures. Does anyone have tips/experience with this?

You don't want my advice on a cat

 

[viper69]

I had a suspicion this would be your advice Don't change!

Cats: Predators or Prey? - Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

And tons of others about what excellent killing machines they are

 

[Gilligan]

I second training. I have 3 cats and they haven't bothered my T's, they know to stay far away from them. Putting plastic chicken wire over your shelves can keep cats off them as well.

 

[fcat]

Don't tell Viper I said this but I love my cats more than my Ts because my Ts can't communicate their disdain as well as cats can.

For my cats protection, once we blend households the Ts will be in their own room.

Back in my early keeping days when they did live together, I put them on shelves that were already cat proofed...over 5' tall and no space for them to land on if they make the ascent. That included ceiling space under the next tier. It only takes a inch to hook a claw. Far from a corner, they can ricochet to jump higher.

Then, Velcro the tank down. This will be useless if there is space on the shelf for the cat

I can't tell you how many times I found my boy sitting in the roach tank. In that meatloaf position. Cozy. Pulled the attention from the Ts though

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

My current cats never found my Ts yet. Although my sisters cat snowy killed my fireleg a few years ago by jumping ontop my tv stand which I was very sad and angry over 🥲. Sadly the cats gone too from old age ..

 

[kingshockey]

its easy just to confine your cat into a bedroom when its t feeding time thats how i ensure safety for all since my cat is really only interested in the crickets. doesnt help that i let her hunt and eat one or two now and thenthey "escape" now and then atleast thats what i tell the gf

 

[ladyratri]

I love my cats more than my Ts because my Ts can't communicate their disdain as well as cats can.

Perfection

I keep my T's in a room with a closed door. Cats are allowed in that room only when supervised by an adult (human). So far we are incident free.

Same as some other folks said above, my cats are more interested in the feeders ....I call it cricket TV

 

[jbooth]

Feline Wins!
Flawless Victory!

 

[Matt W]

Follow up on this topic. We've had the cat for several months now



She's been fine with the spiders. She definitely notices when they move around, but has so far never tried to jump up and get them. I put end-caps on the bookshelves as well that make it hard for her to jump up there. I also wrapped some velcro straps around the shelves and then stuck velcro strips to the bottom of the enclosures so they are velcro'd down. I have trouble removing them, so I'm pretty sure that although my 10 lb cat could terrorize the spiders inside by rocking the cage back and forth, she probably couldn't knock them on the floor. So far it hasn't been a problem even when the cat is left alone for a couple of days.

BUT, last spring I was feeding the spiders from my roach bin full of a couple of hundred B lateralis. I turned around for a second and the cat used the opportunity to jump up onto the counter and knock the roach bin to the floor. This was far far worse than a loose spider. I live in San Diego so these insects can potentially survive here, though they've apparently been in Southern California for awhile and are already well established. I never expected that I would ever be kneeling on my kitchen floor scooping handful after handful of roaches into a bin, but so goes the life of an arachno-hobbyist. It's been several months since the incident and I have miraculously so far not seen a single roach in the house since.

 

[Gevo]

Glad to hear you found some solutions! I have some museum wax to hold things down onto shelves, and it can work for enclosures too, as long as you don't need to move them frequently for feeding or anything. Stay vigilant with the cat. I've had my Ts for over a year, and just last night, I caught one of my cats showing some interest for the very first time that I've seen. She wasn't in attack mode, and the tarantulas are in a safe spot, but it was a good reminder that some cats are disinterested until they're one day not. It was during a feeding, and both Ts missed their crickets the first time they were dropped in, so they were slowly moving around and stalking them for a while, which is what caught her attention.

 

[ladyratri]

See also: reasons the cats always get evicted from the spider room before I do any feeding or maintenance.

 

[Brewser]

Cats are Curious Creatures.
Curiousity can cause calamities. Caution, Cat on the prowl.
Take Care,