SSusanSanderSS wrote:
>My ferret likes to eat spiders he encounters around the house.  Is there any
>danger to him if he finds a black widow?
 
One of my little ones hunts wasps (the big blue carpenter wasps) - and she
never seems to hurt herself. That is not to say that we didn't get rid of
the wasps at the first opportunity...
 
As for dangerous spiders, your biggest worry should probably be brown
recluses - they are far more common than black widows in most places, and
they hide in places ferrets like to hide (drawers, under beds, etc.).  Black
widows are more likely to be encountered outside the house, whereas brown
recluses simply love houses, the nasty little arachnids!  If you are worried
about widows, the best solution is to sweep in all of those little dark
corners (e.g.  in back of the refrigerator, dishwasher, in the basement,
etc.) where they might lurk.  They don't take kindly to having their webs
destroyed (they aren't what you would call efficient web builders), so with
a little vigilence, you can basically eliminate the possibility of your
little one encountering one.  Sweeping in those areas also cuts down on how
filthy your little ones get when they go wandering in those areas :-)!
 
As an arachnophobe, no spider is welcome in my house.  However, most are
pretty harmless creatures to a big mean ferret, so I don't think I would
worry over much about the fuzz beans...
 
Gwen
 
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Gwen M. Daley
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Department of Geological Sciences
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Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0420
[Posted in FML issue 1770]