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I was at work today and this guy comes up to the register with a Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula in an old Kritter Keeper and asks if we can take it off his hands, because it was his roommate's but got left when the roommate moved out last week (and the guy at the register was moving out today). The manager says we can't take it because we already have too many tarantulas right now (which is true I guess), so the store won't be able to take it. Then the guy says "Well does anyone here want it? If you want it you can take it". I hesitated for a few seconds before agreeing to take it home with me, but in the end it's almost impossible for me to pass up free stuff.

So anyway, now I have a tarantula. Unfortunately it's a male and appears to be nearly (if not completely) full grown with a 4-5" leg span, which means it's probably only going to live a couple more years at most. Many female tarantulas can live for more than 20 years, but the males only live for about five. Here are some pictures of the spider:

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

He is beautiful!
Can he bite?

Yes, all spiders have a venomous bite. Rose Hairs though, along with most tarantulas, are not considered highly venomous and their bite is said to be comparable to a bee sting (only a bit more painful because of the size of the fangs). It really takes a lot to get them to bite, however, I've found it's more like a last resort for Rose Hairs. First they will try to run away, and if that doesn't help they will start to flick irritating hairs off their abdomen (they produce an itching/burning feeling). If you continue to provoke them even after that, then you will probably get bitten.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Waaaay cool critter.

What will he be eating and how often?

Lovely guy.

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Adults usually eat four or five crickets a week (the larger females may eat more though).

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I'm quite afraid of big spiders & surely i wouldn't touch them, but this one looks quite nice.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

...it looks...(for lack of a better word)..plush. I mean he looks very soft.

If I owned that spider I would have so many bites from pating it all the time.

The hairs are actually quite stiff.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

They look so cool but I'll probably never own one. I'm highly allergic to any poisonous critters. A bee sting to me is potentially fatal and a bite on the hand is likely to result in loss of the nearest finger. Along with not knowing one thing about how to handle a spider I'd probably end up in the emergency room by the end of the first year.

My cousin was at my house the other week. There was a teensy little spider I purposely didn't tell my cousin as I know she isn't a big fan. Usually, no matter what the size I catch and release spiders (even if too large to fit in a wide mouth drinking glass)...... darnnit she spotted the little thing and trod on it. I was so cross.... it wasn't hurting anyone. If she was scared I would have caught it and taken it out if she was nervous having it in the house. But stepping on it seemed spiteful.

She wasn't even scared of it... just squashed it. Squashed for no reason..... and her raised a Buddhist too!

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Figured Natalie would get a kick out of our shower mate.

Sadly he left the shower and when adam was trying to catch and release him he suicided himself

Aparently huntsmen are fast, mostly harmless, and tend to play dead....me thinks they met wish-ga's cousin in their past lives!


Attached Image:

umm... cute? xD!!!! do they run fast when you hold them/ try to escape?

I saw a huntsman like that for sale at the East Bay Vivarium a few days ago. It was quite terrifying...

http://www.davelog.com/fazed/dst.jpg

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

huntsmen are rubbish, all they do is run away with their little spider legs.
i recent aquired myself an Orange Usambara Baboon Tarantula...known to be the most aggressive tarantula known...that includes t. blondi (goliath bird eater of australia) which is generally quite placid for such a large T. Other than feeding time.

It's clock spider! I haven't seen clock spider in awhile. I printed out the one without the clock, cut it out, folded the legs, and left it on my sister's bed. Was absolutely hilarious.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Clock+Spider

that includes t. blondi (goliath bird eater of australia)

Goliath Bird Eaters are from South America, along with all the other really cool tarantulas.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

yep, you're right, i just cant think of what im thinking of.

Natalie, is there any good internet sites or books about spider?

loads.
arachaboards.com (check spelling) is good, as is bugnation.co.uk

Yeah, what James said... I don't really know too much about captive arachnids.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.