Goliath Birdeater Tarantula (Theraphosa blondi)

Goliath Birdeater Tarantula Theraphosa blondi
Name	Goliath Birdeater Tarantula
Name Lat.	Theraphosa blondi
Family	Tarantulas
Family lat.	Theraphosidae
Order	Spiders
Order lat.	Araneae
Origin	South America
Habitat	Rainforest
Diet	Live insects
Humidity	70-80 %
Behavior	Nocturnal, aggressive
Keeping	Individual
Care Level	Difficult
Housing	Humid terrarium
Breeding	Moderately difficult
Life Span	5-10 years
Protection	No
Metric Units
Size	12 cm
Temperature Day	20-24 °C
Temperature Night	18-22 °C
Housing Size	60 x 40 x 50 cm
US Units
Size	4.7"
Temperature Day	68-75 °F
Temperature Night	64-72 °F
Housing Size	25" x 15" x 20"

Distribution and habitat

The venomous Goliath bird spiders, the largest spiders in the world with a leg span around 30 cm, are primarily nocturnal ground dwellers. They are native to the rainforests of French Guiana and Venezuela, where they live in rodent burrows or self-dug burrows.

Maintenance

For 1 animal a terrarium with a minimum size of 60 x 40 cm and a minimum height of 50 cm can be recommended as a guideline. The terrarium should be placed in a quiet place without sunlight.

You need a terrarium structured with vertical cork tubes, roots and branches (hiding places), a solid, 10-15 cm deep substrate of sand-loam-peat mixture, a small, shallow drinking vessel and for decoration artificial or potted plants (e.g. Ficus repens, Scindapsus aureus). A large part of the substrate should always be kept slightly moist. Daily the inside of the terrarium should be finely sprayed with water (humidity), but better is a rain or mist system

Temp. day: 20-24 °C

Temp. night: 18-22 °C

Humidity: 70-80

The lighting duration should be 8-12 hrs. depending on the season. A conventional light source (fluorescent tube, incandescent bulb) is sufficient. Special lamps with high UV content are not necessary.

Diet

The food supply should consist of crickets, cockroaches, house crickets, maggots and grasshoppers and other arachnids. Mice can also be offered to adults. The prey animal is injected with a digestive juice with the biting tools (chelicerae), which liquefies the protein components and the prey can be sucked out (extracorporeal digestion). Young animals can be offered food 1-2 times a week, adults only every one to two weeks. Under no circumstances should they be overfed, the basic rule being that the abdomen should be no more than 1½ times the size of the cephalothorax. Unaccepted food must be removed after 1-2 days. Refusal of food may indicate a natural phase of starvation or an impending molt. No food animals should be in the terrarium during molting, they could injure the spider.

A regular and varied diet promotes health and prevents deficiency symptoms.

Reproduction and breeding

The smaller males can be recognized by their bulbs folded in towards the body. Some time after mating, the female lays up to 120 eggs in her burrow, which is lined with webs and whose entrance she secures with irritant hairs. The eggs are spun into a dense cocoon in which the larvae develop and are guarded by the female. After the third molt, the young leave the burrow and feed on their own

Species protection

Make sure to inform yourself about any regulations on keeping or bans on keeping this animal in your state or home municipality (e.g. public order office). Your pet store will be happy to provide you with further information.

Important

They react very irritably when disturbed and bombard quickly. In defense, they hurl irritant hairs with their hind legs against the attacker (bombard). These cause skin irritation and may cause corneal damage in the eyes, as well as asthma-like symptoms. Care should also be taken when cleaning the terrarium, as irritant hairs can be stirred up from the substrate (safety goggles). A bite is very painful, the poison corresponds to that of a bee or wasp.

Crushed or held legs can be thrown off at a predetermined breaking point and regenerate completely after 1-2 molts

Before purchasing, a terrarium should be prepared that meets the species specific needs. Good ventilation without drafts and equipment for measuring temperature and humidity are necessary. The lighting has to correspond to the species-specific day-night rhythm and should be placed in such a way that the animals cannot injure themselves. The terrarium should be locked in such a way that neither unauthorized persons can open it nor the animals can escape. Special attention must be paid to thorough hygiene and impurities must be removed regularly.

Further literature can be found in your pet store.

References

Text: Serena Werle; Image: Franz Lowak

Source: KLAAS (2007): Vogelspinnen- Herkunft, Pflege, Arten, Verlag Ulmer; ENGELMANN & LANGE (2011): Zootierhaltung - Tiere in menschlicher Obhut: Wirbellose, Harri Deutsch Verlag