Lolita
Arachnoknight
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 185
So i've been looking over old threads lately because i'm bored and have the abstract free time to randomly look over old threads like a nerd. And one thing i've noticed is a lot of conversation about how spiders feel pain and how owners tend to care about their spiders to the point of freaking themselves out about molts not eating ect (ahem guilty sometimes) so i thought it might be interesting to share views and opinions on the subject.
Personally i know spiders don't feel pain the way we do but my views are their lives are just as important to them as ours are to us so seeing any spider or any animal for that matter suffer kinda makes me sad (yes i feel bad for the feeders i feed my spiders and reptiles too), also even if it's true they don't feel pain i still think there should be more laws in place about spider abuse (i've heard a lot of well i don't want this spider anymore i'm gonna squish it or put it out in the snow typically with rosies) because as i said earlier their lives are important to them, just because we're the most intelligent creature on earth doesn't make their biological imperatives any less important than ours we simply have rational thought and emotions as well as instict where they have just the instict so even if they don't feel pain and their brains are tiny part of me feels like they feel like their failing their instincts when they don't pro-create before ultimately passing away.
As far as them having feelings and emotions go: am i naive enough to say i believe my spiders love me and genuinely care about me as their owner as say my dog does? No i'm not. It's like i keep trying to tell my friend who's bound and determined to "tame" his A. seemani that i had given him she's a beautiful spider (i was slightly intimidated by her attitude and would distract her with food everytime i watered her) but she's instinctual and their temperments are hard wired into them just like i've never heard of a cuddly OBT some spiders natures are just more aggressive than others and no matter how many times you try to hand tame your spider (he's been bitten by her i think 16 times now in the like 2 month span he's had her) it wont work (i'm not trying to get into a handling debate here though just so everyone knows) because they don't give a flip about us sometimes their calm sometimes their not anytime your sticking your hand in a tarantula enclosure with them in there whether to change water or pull out bolus's you run a risk of randomly making your instinctual pet mad as hell and thats a risk we run keeping pets like that (just like everytime i stick my hand in my tokay gecko tank i know theres a high risk of getting bit). But on the other hand if my favorite tarantula died right now i'd cry not because of the investment i spent (although being out money always sucks) but also because I myself am human i do use my emotions and i do love my spiders they're my little arachno babies and i've become attached to each one whether it likes to make random burrows or sit there in the corner doing nothing 27 each one has it's own unique personality. To me it's not that our spiders get attached to us they rely on us to feed and care for them yes but i don't think they realise this they probably just go "oh look theres something i can eat wiggling in the corner thats awesome" but at the same time it is hard not to try and imagine them loving us and caring about us in the way they do. Does it make it harder on the owner to imagine them feeling the same way? definitely but i personally like my little musings about my spiders.
okay sorry for my rambling hopefully that makes sense to someone other than me.
Personally i know spiders don't feel pain the way we do but my views are their lives are just as important to them as ours are to us so seeing any spider or any animal for that matter suffer kinda makes me sad (yes i feel bad for the feeders i feed my spiders and reptiles too), also even if it's true they don't feel pain i still think there should be more laws in place about spider abuse (i've heard a lot of well i don't want this spider anymore i'm gonna squish it or put it out in the snow typically with rosies) because as i said earlier their lives are important to them, just because we're the most intelligent creature on earth doesn't make their biological imperatives any less important than ours we simply have rational thought and emotions as well as instict where they have just the instict so even if they don't feel pain and their brains are tiny part of me feels like they feel like their failing their instincts when they don't pro-create before ultimately passing away.
As far as them having feelings and emotions go: am i naive enough to say i believe my spiders love me and genuinely care about me as their owner as say my dog does? No i'm not. It's like i keep trying to tell my friend who's bound and determined to "tame" his A. seemani that i had given him she's a beautiful spider (i was slightly intimidated by her attitude and would distract her with food everytime i watered her) but she's instinctual and their temperments are hard wired into them just like i've never heard of a cuddly OBT some spiders natures are just more aggressive than others and no matter how many times you try to hand tame your spider (he's been bitten by her i think 16 times now in the like 2 month span he's had her) it wont work (i'm not trying to get into a handling debate here though just so everyone knows) because they don't give a flip about us sometimes their calm sometimes their not anytime your sticking your hand in a tarantula enclosure with them in there whether to change water or pull out bolus's you run a risk of randomly making your instinctual pet mad as hell and thats a risk we run keeping pets like that (just like everytime i stick my hand in my tokay gecko tank i know theres a high risk of getting bit). But on the other hand if my favorite tarantula died right now i'd cry not because of the investment i spent (although being out money always sucks) but also because I myself am human i do use my emotions and i do love my spiders they're my little arachno babies and i've become attached to each one whether it likes to make random burrows or sit there in the corner doing nothing 27 each one has it's own unique personality. To me it's not that our spiders get attached to us they rely on us to feed and care for them yes but i don't think they realise this they probably just go "oh look theres something i can eat wiggling in the corner thats awesome" but at the same time it is hard not to try and imagine them loving us and caring about us in the way they do. Does it make it harder on the owner to imagine them feeling the same way? definitely but i personally like my little musings about my spiders.
okay sorry for my rambling hopefully that makes sense to someone other than me.