Spot On Flea and Tick Products & Tarantulas

[kelly mcdougall]

I am wondering if BTS has thoughts on this . . We would never apply a flea product to our dog/cat and then service our tarantulas - but what about the days afterward? We interact with our companion animals without thinking - its automatic and part of daily life . Although I dont use the stuff , i do know that the few seconds of breaking open a tube and putting it on once a month is an easily forgotten action . What of simple environmental proximity? It may not even be our pet , but a housemates .These products are engineered to target invert physiology in ways that are chilling . My concerns are a subclinical downgrade of health condition that would be bioaccumulative and could factor in as culprit in say , mysterious molt problems with no discernable husbandry deficit . I posted this topic on a US forum and only one person deemed it worthy of discussion . I am very curious what input fellow BTS members might have on the subject

[ralfkonen]

Hi Kelly,
most of the spot ons will kill spiders on direct contact, except for advantage (Bayer), which should be safe as it is an insectizide. However, Adcocate (Bayer) and Frontline (Meriel) will be safe once absorbed according to the manufacturers (personal comunnication). Would assume the same is true for Stronghold (Pfizer), though have not spoken to them. Some supermarket dog spot ons can kill cats as well, by the way, if licked.
Hope this helps
(Not speaking for the BTS by the way)

[kelly mcdougall]

How many days does it take for the product to become absorbed ? And also I would be more confident in opinion of an outside entity other then the manufacturers themselves ; although your interest and time spent addressing this I truly appreciate ! . . It is not out and out obvious death of an exposed tarantula that worries me - but the effects on general flourish , etc . Death in ectotherms is sometimes greatly delayed , and distanced from its causal factors - they Linger . . sadly and conveniently enabling humans , the pet industry , etc to keep them in less then optimum or even ethical living conditions . This is rampant in US

[Phil Rea]

As for Frontline, which has fipronil as an active ingredient :

Fipronil is reported to be non-toxic to spiders by Rhone-Poulenc researchers, who stated that even foliar spraying did not reduce populations of these predators (Bostain & Long, 1997). However, results from barrier spraying in grasslands in Madagascar showed evidence that relative abundance of immature spiders was reduced in the short term following application of fipronil (Tingle & McWilliam, 1998; 1999). Subsequent studies in Madagascar have also shown adverse effects of fipronil on spiders (Peveling 2001). Toxicity of fipronil to spiders was reported in field trials in Siberian grasslands, where fipronil caused more severe non-target impacts than chlorpyrifos (Solokov, 2000).

• Tingle, C.C.D. et al. (2001) Health and environmental effects of fipronil, Pesticide Action Network UK Briefing.

I find the above claims of complete non-toxicity difficult to understand, given the effectiveness of fipronil against fleas, ticks, and mites. Of course, once it's absorbed then toxicity is a non-issue unless the spider bites the animal, and I would suggest that in the case of canines and tarantulas, then dogs would have more to worry about where the venom is concerned, rather than the spider having potentially adverse effects from any ingestion.

[kelly mcdougall]

Thanks so much to both of you , for such specific info and hard data !