Sensible answer (coming from me, that's a first!) - I had 2 as pets, a Mexican Red Knee and a big brown, hairy thing from S. America (can't remember what she was at this moment) - they were lovely. Octavius mentioned that a fall can kill them - that's absolutely true, so it's best not to handle them too much. My S.American lass was called Octavia, btw! She lived for 10 years. Should've been longer, but I had some guests who were a bit over the top with their spray deodorant and poor Octavia died (she suffocated), so beware & don't use aerosol sprays around your pet spider.