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Comment by assbuttbuttass | Hacker News Reader

I keep several spiders as pets, so I'm a bit biased.

The greatest threat to these rare species isn't the pet trade, it's rather the destruction of their habitat. You'll find that most tarantula keepers prefer to buy captive-bred specimens, both for conservation reasons, but also due to risk of parasites.

Mexico handles this issue better than most countries: they let licensed breeders breed these animals in captivity and export them for the pet trade. This strategy reduces the pressure on the wild spiders, while not banning it entirely (which just leads to poaching)

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Do you find that they interact with you/recognize you?

I can't speak toward tarantulas, but some jumping spiders definitely recognize, acknowledge and seemingly even appreciate individuals. Honestly, they sometimes look excited to see you as a dog would -- though that's likely just a basic recognition that you act as their food delivery service. They even appear to understand the concept (if not reasoning) behind their enclosure.

Some folks who spend a lot of time with their jumping spiders will actually leave the enclosure door open, as the spider will happily stay there unless it lacks water or food for a long period of time, and typically only leaves when its human stops by. It will come to the door when you get close, jump on your hand and hang out very calmly (some people even go on walks with them), then gladly jump back into the enclosure when you're done and patiently wait for you to bring it food.

When hearing annecdotes about the intelligence of jumping I’m always reminded of and David Attenborough’s narration of Portia

https://youtu.be/UDtlvZGmHYk

Well worth the watch if it’s new to you! Quite the perspective shifter

> they sometimes look excited to see you as a dog would

What does that look like?

They make movements which are easily anthropomorphized, probably because of their jumping nature. Imagine a dog seeing its human after a long vacation, where its quickly moving back and forth, and doing little jumps, etc. It may just be the spider preparing to jump or exhibiting some other behavior, but they'll even exit the enclosure when you're close, looking up at you with those oversized eyes, seemingly hopeful that you'll let them hang out and watch whatever you're doing.

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