Tarantulas come in a variety of sizes with dwarf species at under 3 inches & the largest being the Goliath birdeater. They can be anything from black, to red, to blue, to pink, to purple. With some being truly beautiful.
Lifespan varies. Males live a shorter life with some species living 2 years, others 5-6 or slightly more. Plus males are often eaten during mating. Females can live for 25 years plus in captivity.
Food. Cockroaches, crickets, locusts & some even give a dead muse once a year as a treat. For slings (spiderlings.) I use beheaded mealworms, as mealworms bury themselves if whole.
Are they poisonous? Is a common question & the answer is no, in some countries they eat Tarantulas.
This is my Thai Edible.
All arachnids are venomous. But unlike real spiders. No tarantula has medically significant venom. Some Tarantulas are exceptionally fast & use that as a first line of defence & thus try to escape. Others flick irritating hairs at you. And some like the goliaths & the Australian barking Tarantula, can make a loud hissing type noise. It is called stridulation & one of Goliath birdeaters can be heard from several feet away.
I once went on a bus trip into the Yucatan in Mexico to see Chichén Itzá and I was amazed at the number of spiders I saw and the range in size and colour.
We have a close friend that keeps Tarantulas and I quite like them, but there is absolutely no way would the rest of the family allow one in the house as a pet.
And this is one of my species of Cockroach. I have several species of Cockroach & this is one of the species of Madagascan giant hissing cockroach. As I understand it, all hissing cockroaches come from Madagasgar. With several giant species & many smaller.
Oooh - those are gorgeous! Thank you for sharing the photos. I never knew there were so many different Tarantulas or that they could live for 25 years - that is amazing!
I have met a Giant Bird Eating Goliath one - it walked up my bare arm and tickled!
Would not dream of eating one - but am told they taste a bit like prawns.
Mantids are very sociable & seem to respond really well to be handled & socialised. Unlike Tarantulas, which gain nothing from being handled & can very easily be harmed by the practice.
Very impressive Gee, you must be proud of them??
Tell me is that pink one with the black toes in the first picture a female ??
You didn’t say ?
How do your neighbours feel about this??
Just asking!
Donkeyman!
I became involved in Tarantulas via snakes. A friend of a friend was a Herpetologist & kept & rescued snakes. It was just after the Dangerous Wild Animals Act & he kept venomous snakes & being a Herpetologist helped the Police, RSPCA etc with rescues of potentially dangerous reptiles & a snake is an elongated limbless reptile. He also occasionally helped with Tarantulas. But had no real interest in them. But discovered that I did.
There is nothing exotic about my dancing, Donkeyman, I can assure you! These spiders are better co-ordinated than I am and they have more legs than me!
That is so interesting, Gee! Its becoming a more popular hobby nowadays, especially where I live. A few snakes have been found wandering (not wandering, slithering!) outside or down peoples loo’s. There’s a man across the way who breeds spiders…I haven’t found the need to chat to him about it though…
