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Venezuelan Sun Tiger Tarantula - Andy Newman Images©
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Venezuelan Suntiger Tarantula (Psalmopoeus Irminia)
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In the wild these spiders live in humid forests constructing silken tubes along tree trunks, not far off the ground, and can also be found making nests in house walls. The spiders will camouflage there silken retreats with leaves and other substrates, as mine has done in captivity, I was impressed with this behavior, for a spider only 30mm long to carry and cover the outside of the hole with wood chipping from the floor of its enclosure, all on the first night I placed the spider into its new home. A very fast spider and even very small it tries to defend its self with a threat display, and fast growing, females maturing within two years, crickets always get eaten during the night, A lovely spider to own as part of a collection. I cant wait to photograph this spider when full grown, watch this space.
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A very attractive spider, even as a spiderling and juvenile they have striking markings. In captivity the spider needs a arboreal set up and prefers a darker enclosure, with plenty of hiding places, so it does not make a good display spider. Out of all my spiders I would say this is the spider I see the least, I only see it occasionally, It now lives in a vertical placed hollow bark on Peat mixed with a fine vermiculite to help keep a stable high humidity. I add other small pieces of bark chipping and dead leaves as it will use these very cleverly to seal and camouflage the entrance. Why you may ask keep a spider you never see, well its part of my collection and always exciting when persuading it to come out, gently with long sticks or cleaning the enclosure out, as after a molt it will have increased in size with brighter colour markings. The other day my spider was so angry when placed into a temporary enclosure that it was attacking and biting the plastic container. A very fast spider with plenty of attitude and it is always exciting filming this type of spider, Andy Newman© 02/08/10
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