Species: Goliath Bird Eater Therophosa blondi
Expected lifespan: 5 - 8 (males only, females live longer)
DOB: Likely sometime in 2004
We temporarily retired Storm in the summer of 2010 when it became obvious he was about to moult. We were not expecting him to mature but mature he did and now we on the lookout for a nice female for him or we will loan him to someone who owns a female of his species.
Storm is our record breaker here at Bug's. He was used in our
"Rainforest Animals" as in the wild this species often
live in burrows on the rainforest floor. The goliath bird-eater
holds the record for largest spider with one individual having
a leg span of 13 inches. Storm can be quite aggressive and
is quite a greedy tarantula who likes his food. The hair he
flicks off is very irritating and so when he is due a clean
out we look out the rubber gloves.
The
best enclosures we have found to suit tarantulas are plastic tanks with vented lids.
In winter our tarantulas are given additional heat by means
of a large heat cable threaded throughout the shelving unit
where their tanks are placed. We use sterile choir substrate with a half buried flower pot to act as a hide. Tarantulas are very easy to
keep overall though some carry more of a punch than our
show spiders. All of our tarantulas are fed on crickets, locusts,
cockroaches and the occassional defrosted mouse.
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