AS PETS go, Doris is not the most companionable you could wish to meet. She doesn’t move a lot, doesn’t make a sound, is a bit on the shy side, doesn’t really like being handled and prefers her own company. She also has a very restricted diet.

But if anything happened to this cherished creature, her owner Rev Diane Cookey who is vicar at St Nicholas Church, Warndon, would not hesitate to have another one. After all, she’s had Doris – a Mexican red knee tarantula spider – for 11 years.

Diane says as a youngster she had always said she would like to keep a pet spider. “I always liked spiders. But when I was young these exotic pets were not very popular. I remember a man coming to school with animals for us to see and I felt myself warming to the spiders – I was just drawn to them.”

Diane, who was a primary school teacher before moving into the clergy, said an animal man came to the school where she taught in the Black Country and he had a pet tarantula. “I asked him about how to keep them and he said they were very easy to look after. I bought Doris from him.

“He had a lot of different spiders but he said the Mexican red knee was the best for a beginner and one of the most attractive.”

It is worth mentioning that while Doris cuts a magnificently dramatic presence with her long hairy legs and beautiful brown and red markings, she is not a killer. In fact Diane says if challenged she might bite but would probably scurry away. “You would have to do something really horrible to her for her to bite and her venom is not dangerous to humans.”

Like most New World tarantulas, her first line of defence is to kick irritating hairs from her abdomen and her back legs if disturbed, rather than bite. Her bite is only slightly venomous to humans and Mexican red knee tarantulas are considered extremely docile though, as with all tarantulas, allergies may intensify with any bite.

“If she bit you, the area would just swell and be quite sore for a while but I believe their fangs are very strong and sharp.”

What Doris - originally named Boris after The Who’s Boris The Spider song until Diane realised she was female - may lack as a companion, she certainly makes up for as a talking point.

Diane says when people see or hear about her it acts a real ice-breaker. While some people may find it difficult to approach or talk to a person wearing a dog collar, as soon as they see or hear about Doris the conversation starts to flow.

“She is definitely different and she is a good talking point,” says Diane. “Sometimes people find it awkward talking to a vicar, but when they hear about Doris, it breaks the ice.

People are curious and smile and think it is a bit bizarre having Doris as a pet. She is one of the most tame and docile tarantulas.”

Doris sheds her skin about once a year and over the years Diane has kept the discarded skins, carefully encased in frames, to take into schools together with her pet arachnid. She talks to youngsters about fear and the process of change in life and illustrates it with the way Doris sheds her skin.

“When a tarantula is in the process of shedding its skin it takes about two to three hours and they are entirely vulnerable. They turn onto their back and they are unable to defend themselves.

“But if the spider is going to grow it has to risk shedding its skin and if a child is to grow, it has to shed its old skin. Fear can stop people from doing things in life.”

Diane even used the example of Doris shedding her skin to grow in the presentation for her interview when she applied to train to become a vicar.

She has visited many toddler groups, nurseries, primary schools in her previous parish and in the past 12 months since she has been in Worcester, and earlier this year took her along to Bishop Perowne School, Merriman’s Hill Road, Worcester.

She says Doris’s presence stimulates a range of reactions – many of the really young children are curious and show no sign of fear, while older children and teenagers can sometimes go into a dramatic fearful frenzy.

She says one teenager wouldn’t go anywhere near Doris and kept at a distance. However, later on he returned and came a little closer. After doing several disappearing acts and returning, he eventually ventured close enough to get a good view.

When I rang Diane to arrange the interview, she said: “You don’t mind tarantulas do you?” I replied: “I don’t know. I’ve never met one.” In fact, although a tad apprehensive at first, I didn’t find anything remotely threatening or frightening about Doris. Placid would be a very good description for her.

Doris doesn’t actually come out of her tank very often – preferring the peace and quiet of her own enclosure. “When I first had her I would get her out and put her on my hand but if you start stroking her, she will move away. She is not a companion,” says Diane.

Another advantage of this low maintenance pet is that she can be left on her own for a few weeks without needing attention. Tarantulas only eat live food – locusts in Doris’s case – because it has to be moving, says Diane. “She does not eat a lot and she stays in her tank. If someone comes to the house, I introduce them to her but that’s it.”

In captivity, tarantulas tend to live for 30 years and Doris is now 15 years old. But as and when anything happens to her, Diane says she will definitely get another one.

Doris will be high in Diane’s thoughts during the church’s harvest festival season. “I love creation, so harvest time is about us giving thanks for what we have. It is just thanking God for creation – including all creatures great and small.”