Spiders find their way into many homes, making webs and catching prey. However, you might be concerned about their impact on the hamster’s well-being.
Large spiders can hurt hamsters by biting them, but smaller spiders can’t penetrate the skin.
Spiders usually stay away from hamsters as they’re significantly larger and see them as a threat. Most hamsters will eat any spiders they see in their cage.
Spiders are a source of fear for many people, but this doesn’t apply to hamsters.
Do Hamsters Attract Spiders?
While spiders commonly live inside homes, hamsters and spiders rarely come into contact with one another. Spiders are attracted to a home’s warmth, but they’re not drawn to hamsters or their cages.
Spiders are disinterested in the foods hamsters eat because they can’t chew and eat meat. While other insects, such as ants, may be tempted by the fruits and veggies in the cage, spiders aren’t.
If you feed hamsters insects, larger spiders are more likely to be attracted to the cage.
Spiders enjoy eating living or recently deceased insects, preferring to eat prey they’ve caught in their webs. Dried insects are unlikely to tempt a spider, so feeding them to your hamster is safe.
Are Hamsters Scared of Spiders?
Hamsters are prey animals, so they’re wary of unfamiliar things in their environment. If a spider gets into its cage, sudden movements may cause alarm, particularly if it makes a noise as it scurries around.
However, a spider is likely to be more afraid of the hamster. Spiders have strong survival instincts and see anything larger than them as a threat to their existence.
That’s why they’ll stay out of the way, building their webs high on the ceiling, in wall cracks, or in a dark corner where they can’t be found.
Are Spiders Harmful to Hamsters?
As most household spiders are small without strong enough jaws to pierce through the skin, they don’t pose a danger to hamsters.
However, larger spiders, like false widow spiders and woodlouse spiders, can inflict pain through their bite. Given that hamsters are only small, a painful bite will affect them more than it would a person.
Spiders too close to a hamster’s cage could be a stressful experience. Stress is dangerous for hamsters because it causes bacteria, triggering health conditions like Tyzzer’s disease and wet tail.
Do Spiders Bite Hamsters?
Most spiders are harmless and are unlikely to bite a hamster. Even if they do, the hamster probably won’t feel it. While all hamsters bite, the fangs are too small to penetrate the skin.
Another thing is that spiders will only bite a hamster if it feels threatened by it.
Unfortunately, some spiders have fangs that can pierce the skin’s outer layer. This is an issue for hamsters as all spiders are venomous, which allows them to subdue their prey.
Depending on where they manage to bite the hamster, toxins could enter the body and cause problems, such as a cheek pouch infection or gastrointestinal damage.
The main signs of a spider bite include:
- Inflammation and swelling.
- Pain and discomfort.
- Loss of appetite.
- Lethargy.
The hamster will remain in its burrows for longer to hide the pain. According to Companion Animal, it’s in hamsters’ nature to protect themselves from predators by hiding any signs of illness.
In many cases, once you realize something’s wrong, the symptoms are already in the advanced stages, causing pain. Rest assured that spider bites are rare, even if you notice spiders around a hamster’s tank.
Do Hamsters Eat Spiders
As Live Science describes, hamsters eat mealworms, crickets, frogs, lizards, and other small animals in the wild. Therefore, it’s safe to assume they’ll eat the occasional spider.
However, captive hamsters get the food they need provided to them, which includes the following:
- Pellets (lab blocks).
- Seeds and nuts.
- Fruits and vegetables.
- Store-bought treats.
Therefore, pet hamsters don’t need to eat spiders for food. Instead, most will leave spiders that have strayed into their enclosure alone.
Another thing to remember is that hamsters have poor eyesight, relying on their sense of smell and hearing to detect what’s happening within their environment.
Most household spiders are relatively small, so most hamsters won’t notice they’re there.
Can Hamsters Kill Spiders?
While hamsters are cuddly and cute, they actively hunt insects in the wild and catch, kill, and eat a spider that strays into their environment.
Hamsters are larger than spiders, so they can crush a spider by stepping on it. However, hamsters and spiders rarely come into contact, so spiders aren’t affected by hamsters and vice versa.
How To Keep Spiders Away From a Hamster Cage
Spiders enter homes from September to mid-October, which is around the time when the males come out to mate. You can take the following steps to keep them away:
Seal Entry Points
Spiders are experts at getting into homes, but you can make it more difficult for them by sealing entry points into your home. This includes closing windows and doors and ensuring gaps and cracks are closed.
Natural Pest Repellents
Natural pest repellents, like essential oils, are an effective way of keeping spiders out of a hamster’s environment. The most effective include:
- Tea tree oil.
- Lavender oil.
- Eucalyptus.
- Peppermint oil.
- Citronella.
Be careful where you place your essential oils so that your hamster isn’t affected by them.
Other people swear by placing conkers in the corners of a hamster’s room to keep spiders away. While the effectiveness is unproven, it’s thought that conkers contain a toxic chemical that repels them.
Spiders hate citrus fruits, so you can make up a natural repellent using half a lemon or orange and mixing it with water. You can also dry citrus fruit peels in the sun and grind them in a food processor, sprinkling the powder around the house once the smell dissipates.
Diatomaceous Earth
You can deter spiders from getting too close to a hamster’s enclosure by sprinkling diatomaceous earth around the vicinity.
The powder is pet-friendly but harms insects’ exoskeletons once they come into contact with it.
Spiders don’t pose much risk to hamsters and are unlikely to cause harm. However, monitor the hamster’s behavior for signs of stress and use preventative methods to keep spiders away from the cage.