Parrots and Spider Bites

[Zookcan]

Okay fellow bird lovers, newcomer to the forums here with a question currently boggling my mind.

I'm relatively new to the parrot keeping world. As of right now I just have my beloved female GCC who I have owned for almost a year now. She's only a year and a half, but she's been a blessing to our household and her most recent vet check-up about three weeks ago shows that she's perfectly healthy.

I live in northwestern PA, and in my particular area, the notable 'dangerous spiders' aren't really an issue up here. I've never even seen a Black Widow or a Brown Recluse in person (knock on wood,) but we still get a lot of little to medium sized spiders.

These days I try not to kill them and try to move them outside, but with winter rolling in and it becoming colder, I know that most spiders have begun to nest in the walls and that forcing them out in the weather we get at this time of year will probably just make them freeze to death.

The most common eight-legged visitors to our home are yellow sac-spiders, which are tiny little suckers but can bite unprovoked, and dotted wolf spiders, which will not bite unless provoked. Both of species are wanderers, and I've never had to worry about spider webs but my main concern is in the scenario where they happened to crawl into Pikachu's cage and bite her. Would bites from spiders that size /species be dangerous to my bird?

I'd rather not kill the spiders I come across but I also don't want risk my parrot's safety.

Cheers!

 

[Laurasea]

Hello,
I'm impressed with your level of parental worry!!! You have foraged into new ground !!
I'm a worrier myself, a poop watcher, weight checker, feather analyst ect.

I haven't read if any issues..i do have wondering wolf spiders ...i haven't had issues

 

[Zookcan]

Hello,
I'm impressed with your level of parental worry!!! You have foraged into new ground !!
I'm a worrier myself, a poop watcher, weight checker, feather analyst ect.

I haven't read if any issues..i do have wondering wolf spiders ...i haven't had issues

Thank you! It's definitely new territory for my mother and I, but make a point to research a lot of stuff for the birbo's safety. Even gone to the point where I've tried calling the manufacturers of the space heater in my room to ask if there's teflon in it, but unfortunately said manufacturers apparently closed their doors so I don't have a definitive answer. Might need to get a new one that's guaranteed teflon free.

Back to the subject, anyways I haven't had many issues with the wolf spiders in our house either. If anything, they seem to be doing their job because its November now and I haven't seen anything in our house apart from them and maybe one or two ladybugs. In the past I've had stinkbugs crawl inside my room, but ever since I've stopped killing the spiders, I haven't even seen those!

My point is, the spiders are probably behind the lack of other pests in our house, so I'd like to avoid removing them if they aren't overtly harmful. But, I certainly don't want my little girl getting sick if one happened to bite her.

 

[bug_n_flock]

I have been wondering this as well. This year we have had a biblical influx of spiders, and many have decided that the toasty warm bird room is the place to be. We have fewer hangups about killing the things(there are literally thousands in the house, no freaking joke *shudders*), but I have been worried about them biting the birds.



Kinda gross, buuut I think the budgies eat them. There are spiders that build webs in the empty bird cages like crazy, and on the corners of Boomer and Alex's cages. Rin's and the budgies' NEVER have spiders or webs in them. Yikes!



I don't like spiders. At all. Hubbs is the designated spider killer around here, but really we have little hope of winning this horrid war. *shudder* freaking forest living. There are some things I love about it, and some things I do not. *shudders again* freaking SPIDERS!

 

[riddick07]

I wouldn't be all that worried. The chance of them going after a bird really isn't all that high. In PA at least. Yes some venom would be an issue in some species we have at least but again doubt the likelihood of a bite occurring. Other parts of the world (even just other parts of the US haha) with bigger tarantulas & huntsmen & centipedes & things of that type have something more to worry about. The bigger they are the more confident they would be about going after large prey like a bird. We really don't have much that is big enough or likely to be actively looking.

I own some vnomous tarantulas & centipedes. I wouldn't be too worried about them eating the birds or biting them if they got out. Most of the time they just hide & wait for something to pass by them. I'd be more worried about me lol. The humans would be the ones sticking our hands inlikely hiding spots....

 

[Scott]

I wouldn't be all that worried. The chance of them going after a bird really isn't all that high. In PA at least. Yes some venom would be an issue in some species we have at least but again doubt the likelihood of a bite occurring. Other parts of the world (even just other parts of the US haha) with bigger tarantulas & huntsmen & centipedes & things of that type have something more to worry about. The bigger they are the more confident they would be about going after large prey like a bird. We really don't have much that is big enough or likely to be actively looking.

I own some vnomous tarantulas & centipedes. I wouldn't be too worried about them eating the birds or biting them if they got out. Most of the time they just hide & wait for something to pass by them. I'd be more worried about me lol. The humans would be the ones sticking our hands inlikely hiding spots....

That's comforting! I've wondered about spiders as we have a lot of "daddy longleggers" in my area. Have heard they have highly concentrated venom but inject tiny amounts as needed.

 

[Laurasea]

Space heater!!! You must find out if is safe!!! We have had parrots die from tge off Gass if fumes!!! In seconds!!! There is no safe way to check by using the heater you. Fo not use it until you know !

 

[Noahs_Birds]

I'm from Australia and we have some of the most deadly spider in the world, but I've never had a problem with any spider bites whatsoever. The only spiders you need to worry about here are the massive Huntsman Spiders that can get to the size of your hand, although they aren't very venomous I have heard them eating Finch chicks out of the nests in large outdoor aviaries that aren't properly secure.

My King Quails and Doves love snacking on little spiders in their aviary as well!