Evening star., 1939-01-08
Pet of Taranua Likes Her Because She's Nice and Fuzzy
Spider
Is Reputed
Deadly
But Young Owner
Is Sure Animal
Won't Bite Him

A tarantula--a giant spider whose
bite is popularity supposed to be
deadly-is the unusual pet of War
rem D. Bowman. jr, 8, of 29l0
Twentieth street NE.
Warren likes his pet, he said, be
cause she's nice and fuzzy" And
he isn't afraid of the animal, he
added, because:
TN the first place. there's no rea-
son why Curly should want to hurt
me; I've always been kind to her.
And besides, I don't believe she's
poisonous, anyhow. If she should
take notion to bite me, it would
hurt, I guess; but it wouldn't kill
me-"
On the latter point Warren has
the support of the Encyclopedia
Americana, which says of the taran-
tuIa:
Its bite was formerly
supposed to produce kind of frenzy
in human beings called tarrantism.
The nervous actions of those victims
were supposed to be initiated in
the wild musical dance known among
the Italians as 'tirantella.' Doubt
less, in some cases, its bite produces
disagreeable symptoms. ."
X
Warren has had his tarantula
about six months.
I'D been interested in spiders
for a long time" he explained.
Then I read magazine article
about them, written by a scientist in
the Department of Agriculture. Part
Of it told about tarantulas, and I
decided I'd like to have one.
went to see the scientist and he
promised to give me the next ta-
rantula he got
He got Curly from a man who,
said he found her on a bunch of
bananas shipped to this country
from somewhere in Central America.
We can't be sure just what kind of
tarantula Curly is until she dies:
then we'll take her jaws apart and
find out by examining the glands in
them"
Curly lives In a boxlike wire cage
and feeds on caterpillars provided
by her owner.
when I want to feed Curly.
take her from her cage and put her
on piece of wood" Warren said.
Then take caterpillar from her
feed box and put it in front of her.
She crawls on top of it, kills it and
eats it.
"She likes beetles, grasshoppers
and reaches, too," Warren con-
tinued, but she has to get along
on caterpillars at this time of year.
I get all the caterpillars she needs
simply by walking out in the woods
near my home and ripping the bark
off the first dead log come to.
She only eats about one caterpillar
week in winter, because she's
alternating: but in summer have
to feed her every other day"
Warren, whose father is pastor
of the Washington City Church Of
the Brethren, 337 North Carolina
avenue Sc, has two sisters-Helen
Elizabeth, 6, and Ruth Elaine, !.
|
Ruth Elaine doesn't quite know
what Curley Is" Warren said. but
she likes her. Helen Elizabeth likes
Curley, too, and so does my mother.
because she's always been interested
in biology; but I don't think my
father likes tarantulas very much.
"Of course" Warren added. "the
whole secret Of getting along with
tarantula is in not trying to make
friends too soon. I never even
touched Curley until Id had her
four weeks; then, when I picked
her up, she knew I wasn't going
to hurt her, and she was willing
to be friends"
Until recently, Warren also had a
family of black widow spiders.
II found the mother near Har-
risonburg, Va, last August" he said.
I'D still have her, I guess, except
that she had some babies. and one
or two of them got out of the cage.
I decided they weren't such safe
things to have around the house
and killed them.
80 Curley is the only pet have
now, and-well, I'm going to keep
her as long as can"