Love them or loath them, nobody can deny just how fascinating giant, hairy tarantulas truly are.
With over 800 recognized species, and ever more of these being kept in captivity each year, keeping tarantulas as pets represents a fascinating opportunity to learn about these much-maligned creatures.
Be careful though – my own experience suggests that once you own more than just a couple of spiders it’s easy to become obsessed and end up with literally hundreds of them. You have been warned!
Brachypelma hamorii, better known as the Mexican Red Knee tarantula, is one of the best-known of all theraphosid spiders. Tremendously popular in the early days of the tarantula keeping hobby, it remains a staple in the trade today. Unlike the early years, where specimens were captured in the wild and shipped worldwide, a CITES listing …
The much-loved “Orange Bitey Thing” (or OBT for short) is the stuff of legends. A brilliant bright orange tarantula with a serious attitude! Also known as the Usambara Orange Baboon Spider, this is one of the smaller species of tarantula, growing to just 5″ or so. With their lightning fast movements, and propensity for attacking …
One of the most commonly asked questions about pet tarantulas relates to a bald patch on their bum, where the hair seems to have come off the abdomen. You can often see paler skin beneath, which worries many new tarantula keepers. What does it mean? Is it a bad thing? How does it happen? And …
The Brazilian Black tarantula, Grammostola pulchra, is one of my favourite tarantula species of all. While the Brazilian Black tarantula may not be as “showy” and brightly coloured as some other species are, this tarantula has a classy, subtle beauty about it. Clothed in velvet black hairs it looks sleek and glossy, especially after a …
When I first started keeping tarantulas back in the 1990’s there were only a couple of “blue” tarantulas available – and even then only rarely. These were the Cobalt Blue (Cyriopagopus lividus – in those days known as Hapolpelma lividum) and the Greenbottle Blue (Chromatomeplam cyaneopubescens). All this has changed in recent decades, with a …
Tarantula keeping has come a long way since its early days. We now have more species available, new types of cages and a better understanding of tarantula husbandry than ever before. In terms of keeping tarantulas, one of the most hotly-contested subjects is that of tarantula substrates. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses but …
The Salmon Pink Birdeater – Latin name Lasiodora parahybana – is known as one of the largest species of spider in the world. Reputedly just behind the three recognized Golith Birdeaters, the Salmon Pink is generally considered one of the largest spiders known to science. It is not unheard of for this species to grow …
Tliltocatl vagans, the Mexican Red Rump, is a tarantula very close to my heart. It’s the first species that I ever bred, back in the heady days of 1997, and was a species that I loved for some years before that. Words can hardly describe just how stunning a freshly moulted adult Tliltocatl vagans really …
If there’s one question I hear more than any other it’s whether or not I handle my tarantulas. The answer often disappoints: not all tarantulas can be handled safely, while it is generally considered better not to handle even the more docile species. The reason is simply that handling even friendly tarantulas can still pose …
One of the most challenging parts of keeping a pet tarantula is caring for it before, during and after a moult. A pet tarantula is at its most fragile when it moults, and if there are going to be complications when keeping tarantulas it almost always occurs during a moult. So the next obvious question …
Moving aggressive and/or fast moving tarantulas from one cage to another can be a difficult exercise. Do it wrong and you could end up with a nasty bite mark or a missing tarantula in reward for all your effort. If you’re therefore graduating up from “docile plodders” like Chilean Roses or Mexican Red Knees then, …
With so many different species of tarantula known to science, so choosing your first pet tarantula is no easy task. As the hobby has grown, so too has the range of spiders available in the pet trade. These days there are dozens of different tarantulas which are available to hobbyists; but which is the best …