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Theraphosa Blondi (Goliath Birdeater)


Theraphosa blondi is world known as the largest (recorded) tarantula reaching leg spans of over 11 inches! A new world species, the T. blondi is found in rain forrest areas of Venezuela in abandoned rodent burrows. Not a very colorful spider, but makes up for it with it's massive proportions and it's don't mess with me attitude. Can be extremely defensive when bothered. In self defence they can flick severe urticating hairs from it's abdomen which are more irritating than most other tarantulas. Extremely moisture dependant T. blondi's can be more difficult to rear than other species.

My T. blondi:
I have 2 T. blondi a 7 1/2" male and a 4" female. Neither one has is really "aggressive", but the large male will hiss loudly when startled or messed with and my smaller female has shown her threat posture and bared the fangs at me when poking around her enclosure. The T. blondi urticating hairs are pretty bad, but I have controlled them pretty well by just washing my hands with cold water after being exposed to them.
They both feed aggressively. I feed my larger male just about everything, seems to do well on adult mice. My small female has been on a strict diet of crickets, but plan on giving her a small anole or roach after she molts again. Both have super growth rates of about 1-1 1/2" per 2-3 months and really gain body mass each instar.

Housing:
I keep both of them on straight peat moss with a half flower pot for a hide. I keep the humidity high around 90% with moist substrate and w/ large water dish. Temperature is the same for all of my tarantulas about 80-84F.

my male
my male front view
my male close up
my female sling