Spiders in our aviary!

BirdyMomma

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Aug 4, 2013
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Long Beach, NY
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Lilac Crowned Amazon (Bacci- Forever on my shoulder, forever in my heart.)
Yellow Collared Macaw (Loki the Monkey Bird)
Military Macaw (Wingnut)
Citron Crested Cockatoo
(Knuckles)
Hello All,

I'm freaking out a little bit, because not only do I hate bugs & spiders, (I'm not kidding. I would rather fight a greased crack head, than tangle with a bumble bee) I'm now terrified for my birds.

I went out to the aviary this morning, as I usually do, to inspect it, and make sure it is clean and safe for the birds, before they are allowed to go in it. I usually find a few small spider webs, that I knock away with the jet spray on the garden hose......not today..... It was TREMENDOUS. The web stretched from the power lines, ten feet down to the top of the aviary. The interior whorls were larger than bicycle tires. A seagull could have gotten tangled in this gargantuan net of sticky, glistening horribleness. NOT IN MY AVIARY!!!! I extended the hose, like it was a hand gun, took aim and blasted the sinewy nightmare, full force, bulls eye, directly in the middle......... And to my utter dismay, it moved......slightly. Yep. Our hose is basically a power washer in a benign home & garden hose costume. (Birdy Daddy has issues, and everything has to be three times larger, stronger, faster etc. than it needs to be) I could strip the paint off the house with this thing, and it barely budged this spiders feat of engineering.

TO BE CONTINUED....SORRY.
 
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BirdyMomma

BirdyMomma

New member
Aug 4, 2013
626
1
Long Beach, NY
Parrots
Lilac Crowned Amazon (Bacci- Forever on my shoulder, forever in my heart.)
Yellow Collared Macaw (Loki the Monkey Bird)
Military Macaw (Wingnut)
Citron Crested Cockatoo
(Knuckles)
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Ok, I'm back.
So..... In a fit of frustration and terror, I grabbed a length of wooden dowel which was laying nearby, and went to swipe it down.......and that's when I saw IT......... And by IT, I mean the volkswagon sized arachnid that was responsible for spewing ropes of clingy grossness all over my aviary........I think I may have blacked out, had an out of body experience, something like that, cause all I remember is saying "Holy S$#%+, is that a TARANTU-". Then I took off screaming into the house, calling for my mom. I have never seen a spider this large in real life before. I didn't think they existed in my part of the world. Big, fat, HAIRY, ugly saber toothed spider, SITTING ON TOP OF MY AVIARY.

I do remember hitting it with the stick, which only succeeded in making it angry, because when I came back with Birdy Daddy's 15' fishing rod to swipe down it's viscous web of death from hell........there it was.....sitting there, fat, hairy, ugly and angry.....glaring at me......I think it had a lump on it's head.

I was paralyzed with fear, and apparently rendered dumb, because I was seriously considering spraying Raid or Bleach, or something on it......but I came to my senses, and thought of the birds.....SpiderZilla could probably hurt them, but those chemicals definitely could.....

So... I reached for my trusty hose, with all of the stealth of a sniper in a blind......I knew it was watching me....I didn't know if it could propel it's nasty, hairy spiderness at me, but I was sure it would try, and perhaps cocoon me in a suffocating stranglehold of stringy, viscous web......my poor mother would walk out and find me wrapped in a sleeping bag sized tangle of web, lifeless, depleted of blood and other vital fluids... I raised my weapon, and fired.....a relentless, hard jet of ice cold aqua hatred at the eight legged demon. I kept firing until I was sure it was gone.......

Or is it?
 
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BirdyMomma

BirdyMomma

New member
Aug 4, 2013
626
1
Long Beach, NY
Parrots
Lilac Crowned Amazon (Bacci- Forever on my shoulder, forever in my heart.)
Yellow Collared Macaw (Loki the Monkey Bird)
Military Macaw (Wingnut)
Citron Crested Cockatoo
(Knuckles)
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Oh, and my original intention, was to ask, are spiders, and spiderwebs dangerous to the birds?
 

JerseyWendy

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Jul 20, 2012
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I assure you, it is/was NOT a tarantula.

THIS is a tarantula (I LOVE spiders...and yes, that was my "Flicka" :D)


...and as for your question, whether spiders and/or spiderwebs are dangerous:

ALL spiders are venomous. Spider WEBS are not. :)

Any spider that feels threaten will try and bite.
 
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BirdyMomma

BirdyMomma

New member
Aug 4, 2013
626
1
Long Beach, NY
Parrots
Lilac Crowned Amazon (Bacci- Forever on my shoulder, forever in my heart.)
Yellow Collared Macaw (Loki the Monkey Bird)
Military Macaw (Wingnut)
Citron Crested Cockatoo
(Knuckles)
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Aaaaaaaackk!!!!!!
 

labell

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Feb 17, 2014
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As a "sister-in-arms-against-arachnids" small they are dead, larger then a nickel and I scream in utter terror so this one you are describing would have had me freaking out. There was one on my porch earlier this year the size of a silver dollar, it was terrifying. I love Charlotte's Web and try to tell myself, "look it's Charlotte" but it never works!

Wendy if you still had those in your house I would NOT be planning a visit, I love you woman but OMG I can't believe you are holding that hairy thing!:eek: Not even if you paid me!!!
 

PanZon

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Tucson
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Military Macaw
there is not enough fire on the sun to destroy that spider. i'm sorry Birdymomma, you will have to not just move but go into witness protection, because i am positive that when you try to kill a spider and fail, they find friends and come looking for you
 
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BirdyMomma

BirdyMomma

New member
Aug 4, 2013
626
1
Long Beach, NY
Parrots
Lilac Crowned Amazon (Bacci- Forever on my shoulder, forever in my heart.)
Yellow Collared Macaw (Loki the Monkey Bird)
Military Macaw (Wingnut)
Citron Crested Cockatoo
(Knuckles)
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I'm sure she is lovely!

Forgive my ignorance, but Do they bite?
 

labell

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Feb 17, 2014
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there is not enough fire on the sun to destroy that spider. i'm sorry Birdymomma, you will have to not just move but go into witness protection, because i am positive that when you try to kill a spider and fail, they find friends and come looking for you

That's what I have heard as well. Once I missed killing one in my bedroom..the next night I walk in ready for bed and there are 3 of them in the corner directly over my bed it looked like a spider town meeting and I was sure I heard them discussing ways to kill me! I applied my most effective weapon.....HONEY... GET IN HERE!!!
 

JerseyWendy

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Jul 20, 2012
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As a "sister-in-arms-against-arachnids" small they are dead, larger then a nickel and I scream in utter terror so this one you are describing would have had me freaking out. There was one on my porch earlier this year the size of a silver dollar, it was terrifying. I love Charlotte's Web and try to tell myself, "look it's Charlotte" but it never works!

Wendy if you still had those in your house I would NOT be planning a visit, I love you woman but OMG I can't believe you are holding that hairy thing!:eek: Not even if you paid me!!!

But...but....Flicka was small compared to Betsy.



Flicka was just a gentle giant...and yeah, I'm slightly nuts. :52:




BELLA, on the other hand, had a little of an attitude problem. :54:
 

JerseyWendy

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Jul 20, 2012
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I'm sure she is lovely!

Forgive my ignorance, but Do they bite?

Yes, they do. I was very lucky to have never been bitten 'wet'. My Avic avic (Pinktoe Tarantula) bit me when I handled her, but it was a dry bite - no venom.

And, I should have probably said this in my first reply, I WAS DUMB AND IGNORANT for handling my Ts (tarantulas). They are truly wild animals, and should NEVER be handled.

I would never do it again. Handle them that is. I'd keep them again in a heartbeat. :D
 
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BirdyMomma

BirdyMomma

New member
Aug 4, 2013
626
1
Long Beach, NY
Parrots
Lilac Crowned Amazon (Bacci- Forever on my shoulder, forever in my heart.)
Yellow Collared Macaw (Loki the Monkey Bird)
Military Macaw (Wingnut)
Citron Crested Cockatoo
(Knuckles)
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What's making me crazy.....besides the fact that it's probably waiting for me to get home......... Is that two weeks ago, I woke up with THREE spider bites. Ever get a spider bite? They hurt like HELL. The same morning, i found a dead spider in one of my birds water bowls. I freaked out. What is going on?
 

weco

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Hey BM, was wondering how far you are from Kings Park?
 

JerseyWendy

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Jul 20, 2012
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What's making me crazy.....besides the fact that it's probably waiting for me to get home......... Is that two weeks ago, I woke up with THREE spider bites. Ever get a spider bite? They hurt like HELL. The same morning, i found a dead spider in one of my birds water bowls. I freaked out. What is going on?

Are you SURE they were all spider bites? A spider wont' just come down at night to seek you out and to bite you. If one WAS in your bed, and you rolled on it, swatted it while sleeping, then yes, it's likely that it bit you - repeatedly. Normally house spider bites aren't much of a problem, unless you are allergic, THEN it can be a bit of a BIG problem.

Last year I had an unfortunate encounter with a Black Widow.
http://www.parrotforums.com/off-topic/36212-black-widow-bite.html
 

SilverSage

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Sep 14, 2013
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Columbus, GA
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I think she is pretty :)
 

PanZon

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May 9, 2014
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Tucson
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Military Macaw
What's making me crazy.....besides the fact that it's probably waiting for me to get home......... Is that two weeks ago, I woke up with THREE spider bites. Ever get a spider bite? They hurt like HELL. The same morning, i found a dead spider in one of my birds water bowls. I freaked out. What is going on?

When i lived in San Diego I was bitten by a Desert Recluse (cousin to the brown but not as deadly), when i went to the hospital 1 day later, the admitted me cause it was already turning gangrenous. I had to stay in for 3 days and now (a decade later) I have what looks like a giant cigar burn scar on the back of my shoulder
 

Kiwibird

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Jul 12, 2012
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1 BFA- Kiwi. Hatch circa 98', forever home with us Dec. 08'
We used to get tarantulas in Arizona (not as big as yours Wendy! Did you have to lock your birds up when they were out?! They look big enough to be a bird-eating spiders lol). If I saw one in the road, I would gently nudge them out of the line of danger with a stick:) They are actually really good, as they eat other insects.

Harmless spiders, I just catch in a little jar and release outside where they belong. Dangerous ones get smashed (don't want those around!). In regards to birds, my moms birds would actually eat spiders (and crickets) any chance they got:rolleyes: Of course she tries to prevent that and it doesn't happen very often, but if they spy one before she does, they'll grab a bite of protein:54: They have never got sick or anything. Parrots do eat spiders and insects in nature, and I think the scaly toes and thick feathery bodies probably keep them better protected from bites than us. Unless you have black widows or some kind of serious infestation in your aviary, I really wouldn't worry about the odd house spider....
 
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