# No spiders.



## Fweet (Apr 9, 2012)

This morning Otway had a meltdown in his cage. Normally he's happy to sit covered over until he's woken up properly & chirps to indicate the staff may now bring him breakfast & polish his claws but today there was all **** breaking loose. He was squawking & flapping, hissing & spitting. If he knew any cockatiel swear-words then he shouted them all. With feeling.
Was it a night terror? A monster under the perch? Millet-thieves?
No, it was a spider. A teensy-weensy tiny little spider had DARED to put a toe into his cage & it was the end of the world. It was bad enough when a moth bumbled through his cage but spiders - no. A big fat NO to spiders.
Does anyone else have a bird that does the bird equivalent of standing on a chair & screaming when they see small scuttlers?


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## SuzieQueue (Mar 12, 2012)

lol that is sooooo cute! ... that is also me! hahahaha so sympathies to Otway


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## Dreamcatchers (Apr 17, 2011)

Not spiders but we have scorpions here and the birds go ape when they see them. I have never had a bird get stung that I know of but they certainly are aware of the threat and will raise the roof if one gets near a cage.


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## JessieBlanket (Feb 20, 2012)

Kuno saw a cockroach for the first time about a week ago and boy was he scared. xD He watches moths, and he's never seen a spider. haha


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## hanna (Apr 14, 2012)

I dunno if Joe ever seen one, but I have and I react the same, as our pidies here in the house can get as big as 3/4 of an adult hand... the Huntsman...


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

I actually had the exact opposite happen with Sunny and a spider. But he freaks out over stink bugs- these lovely critters, as the name suggests, that have taken over Pennsylvania these past few years. One was 15 feet away from Sunny- and he froze like a statue and stared and hissed at. It was so far away from us that it took me a few minutes to even see what he was upset about. Then, about 2 weeks later, Sunny was walking around on the floor and I looked down and a spider twice the size of Sunny's foot was walking along side him.  I freaked out and yelled "Sunny spider" and pointed. He looked over at the spider and was like, yay, so what, a spider. And just kept walking. I immediately, of course, killed the spider. Later, when I told my fiance, he said you killed Sunny's friend. For a second I actually felt bad and then realized that was ridiculous. :wacko:


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

lmao. grey does not get scared, but lord he will argue with any critter. when i let him look out the window- he tries to pick fights with all the bees. lol.


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## xNx (Jun 6, 2012)

sunnysmom said:


> I actually had the exact opposite happen with Sunny and a spider. But he freaks out over stink bugs- these lovely critters, as the name suggests, that have taken over Pennsylvania these past few years. One was 15 feet away from Sunny- and he froze like a statue and stared and hissed at. It was so far away from us that it took me a few minutes to even see what he was upset about. Then, about 2 weeks later, Sunny was walking around on the floor and I looked down and a spider twice the size of Sunny's foot was walking along side him.  I freaked out and yelled "Sunny spider" and pointed. He looked over at the spider and was like, yay, so what, a spider. And just kept walking. I immediately, of course, killed the spider. Later, when I told my fiance, he said you killed Sunny's friend. For a second I actually felt bad and then realized that was ridiculous. :wacko:


It's wrong to kill any living thing that isn't a pest or harmful...


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## nassrah (Feb 27, 2012)

Hi sunnysmum I can understand why you reacted like that and killed the spider-its just mommy trying to protect her baby,but try to control it and avoid doing it again,because they most of the time are harmless-they only look threatening.X x


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## nassrah (Feb 27, 2012)

Our birds here ,William and Syd dont like sparrows flying outside our window.There s also the voice of a Brazilian bird,called bem-te-vi,that scares them to death.Apart from this theyre fine.


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

xNx said:


> It's wrong to kill any living thing that isn't a pest or harmful...





nassrah said:


> Hi sunnysmum I can understand why you reacted like that and killed the spider-its just mommy trying to protect her baby,but try to control it and avoid doing it again,because they most of the time are harmless-they only look threatening.X x


I think you guys are both a little out of line.... It's a spider and I would have killed it too. You don't know if it's going to bite, build a web, etc. A spider is a pest to me and quite a few of them ARE harmful.. Even if not life threatening, just think of what a MILD spider biting you could do to a cockatiel. I was bit by a WOLF SPIDER and they are not venomous and I had swelling to the leg and had to go to the doctor for treatment

Sunnysmom did right by killing it in my opinion.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

xNx said:


> It's wrong to kill any living thing that isn't a pest or harmful...


First of all, this is a personal opinion, and it's really inappropriate to outright judge another member without considering different perspectives. We try not to make sweeping moral/ethical/religious generalizations here. Lots of people from lots of different backgrounds, belief systems, and life situations come together here to share their love of birds. Let's try to have a little compassion for individual situations and decisions. 

That said, you have no idea what kind of a spider this was, and it's entirely true that a bite from a spider can be fatal to a bird the size of a 'tiel. I hope we'd all agree that our birds' safety comes first and foremost.

And now I'm going to request that we have no more debate over personal values on this thread, and get back on topic, which is the reaction of our birds to other critters.


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

Fweet, I love your description of Otway's reaction to the spider . I haven't seen my tiels presented with such a situation but it would be interesting to see how they would react.


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## bubbleslove (May 27, 2012)

I would also freak out and kill the spider if I found it anywhere near my tiel or even in the same room. Harmless or not ! Correction : I would get someone else to kill it. We have huge 'Rain Spiders' here and much bigger than a mans fist. In that case I would have it picked it up (in a jar of course, or on a flat cadrboard) because they don't move fast and put it far away outside. I certainly wouldn't leave it (small or big) around my bird !!!!


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## Fweet (Apr 9, 2012)

'Picks fights with bees' - Haahahaaaaa! Otway does that too! And flies. He hates flies as much as spiders & attacks them if they fly into his house but if he's out on my shoulder he skitters under my hair like a big wuss. I think it was possibly the first spider he'd ever seen & he wasn't impressed.

Elwood used to get really agitated if he saw outside birds of any size but as he flew free for who knows how long it's no surprise. The resident hawk was a real bother until I put up muslins but both Elwood & Otway take the hump about sparrows. We live in sand dunes where bird life is plentiful with packs of up to fifty sparrows taking dust baths right under the window or mobbing on the window sill & Elwood would perch on the window catch & mutter at them but Oway hates them silently with just a disdainful curl of his beak. When they or the magpies dart at the window corners snatching the bugs caught in webs it's cockatiel Armageddon as if zombie birds are trying to force their way in & must be repulsed so Otway throws seeds at them. Hah! That'll teach 'em! Back you brutes, back! 

I took him into the bathroom once to see if he'd like the shower but he saw woodlice mooching about, threw another fit & had to be led out for a calming nibble of broccoli. I think it is safe to say he not a fan of insects & if he could get little claw-shaped boots he'd stomp on them all, the silly buzzard.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

This made me smile, fun thread lol. Galilea is a huntress. She saw her first insect, a fruitfly crawling along the windowsill, looked at it with some curiosity and then quickly ate it. They eat small insects in the wild, I guess our girl still has her instincts. But I bet a big enough spider would scare her out of her wits.


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## baboo (Jun 5, 2012)

Spiders arrrrg a few crickets have bug my bird. but I had a big spider on my head once brushed it off and screamed then caught it in a bottle and sent it to the neighbour's house . Maybe your tiel feels that what doesn't pay rent is not allowed in his home ...


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

baboo said:


> Maybe your tiel feels that what doesn't pay rent is not allowed in his home ...


Hahaha. That cracked me up.


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