cats+tarantulas=big trouble

[newtots]

last night i went to feed my tarantulas and on closer inspection i realized one was missing... i have them sitting on my shelf and always have my door closed. at some point through the day someone opened my door and our newest cat(7 months old) thought it would be fun to sit on my shelf. she knocked my lasiodora parahybana (3/4") into my garbage that i use when i'm drawing and doing art. anyone who knows an artist knows that the garbage is a scary place, i had huge chunks of old clay and paint bottles and way too much stuff that could very easily hurt a tarantula..needless to say i panicked. the tarantula fell over a foot into my garbage (EEEK!!!) i spent over an hour very carefully dissecting my garbage and fearing the worst. i found him among all my old clay thankfully still alive. i checked on it this morning and it's still alive and just as fast and defensive as it's been since i opened the container when it came for the first time. i have no idea how it survived such a fall but i'm so relieved! the cat will not be going in my room from now on.. lesson learned

 

[sym]

Hi newtots.
I caught my girlfriends cat sitting on top of my B.Emilia enclosure the other day. I don't think its the spiders they are interested in . But I know they like crickets . So I feed my T's crickets and drop them infront of the T so I know the cats won't see the cricket running around....

Glad you found your T!!

Sym

 

[newtots]

the cat couldn't have been after my crickets because i just bought them yesterday, which is why i wasn't at home.. i was at the pet store getting the crickets lol

 

[Enn49]

I'm glad it was found safe and well'

This is why all my sling containers are inside ExoTerra vivs so that my cats can't knock them over. My cats are definitely drawn by the crickets rather than the Ts.

 

[sym]

Hi Enn49..
I think it's the speed of the crickets that excites the cat.. I've got a new stackable shelving unit which I'm going to put up tonight..

Sym

 

[Rbales427]

That's why I'm glad I have terrestrial species. I put at least half the tank in substrate so my cats can't knock it over cause they can get to both of them. My coloratovillosus just hides and my rosea throws up a threat pose and scares them, it's hilarious!

 

[newtots]

my cat is too young to really care.. my lp is defensive as soon as you look at it. the cat is just curious about everything. and the fact that my brother rescued a mouse from his work and put it in my old aquarium doesn't help things.... the old aquarium is set up in the room next to mine. we're just becoming a regular zoo..... cats, dogs, birds, fish, shrimp, frogs, mice, tarantulas and a whip scorpion..... i don't want to know what we'll find next

 

[HungryGhost]

I don't follow. The cat knocked the T out of the enclosure and into the garbage?

 

[newtots]

the cat knocked the enclosure into the garbage and when it hit the lid opened and the tarantula fell to the bottom of the garbage can

 

[HungryGhost]

the cat knocked the enclosure into the garbage and when it hit the lid opened and the tarantula fell to the bottom of the garbage can

Oh now I get it. By the way, this only confirms my belief that cats are evil.