Is borax harmful to a tarantula?

[Tarantulas Golden]

After I got rid of most of the ants in my T-Stirmi's enclosure there were still a few left behind from plants that I reused in the enclosure. I just want to kill them off quickly. I know that she won't be eating the ants, but If the ants track any borax into the substrate my T might come in contact with it. Is a small amount of borax harmful to a tarantula? Borax kills ants by interfering with their digestive system, would the same thing happen to a T. If you have any links or knowledge on this please share.

 

[viper69]

What did your google searching reveal?

 

[Dorifto]

I would not try to use borax for precaution. The T won't eat any plant or dirt, but can suck moisture from the substrate.

Google returns that borax is used as a repelent...

 

[Goopyguy56]

I know borax kill other inverts so I wouldn't chance it. People use it to kill roaches

 

[DaveM]

Borax is not believed to be harmful to us humans in small amounts -- used to make silly putty that kids play with, to improve hard water performance of laundry detergents, and it's even an approved food additive in some countries to improve texture and shelf life. Fun fact: Caviar tastes saltier in the USA than in most European countries. Europe uses sodium tetraborate in the caviar brine, but it's banned in the US, so more sodium chloride (table salt) gets added to American caviar to compensate.

For invertebrates, it's a very different story, and bad news all around. The mechanisms of toxicity are many:
* Borates kill gut bacterial that many insects need to digest fibrous materials. Termites will die of starvation with a gut full of wood they can't digest.
* Borates inhibit metabolism of the protein chitin, which lines the arthropod digestive tract, and is a major component of the exoskeleton. Some insects [and perhaps spiders too?] die because they can't molt out of their solid chitinous exoskeletons. Trapped in their own skin.
* Ingestion of borates (e.g. from liquid bait traps) disrupts fluid/osmotic homeostasis, dehydrates the pests, makes them drink more. They die of dehydration while drinking. Drinking themselves to death.
* The tiny crystals of sodium tetraborate will physically stick to the exoskeleton of inverts if they try to walk across it, and these crystals are razor sharp. They will work their way into the joints of legs and make small cuts in the joint membranes. Ants don't even have to eat the stuff. They won't be able to walk across a dense sprinkling of Borax without getting all cut up and bleeding out (OK, not blood, hemolymph, so maybe leaking out?). It's the death from a thousand paper cuts.

SO, I completely agree with you guys that it would be bad to have Borax near Ts.