About the Tarantula:
The tarantula's body can get about four inches long, with about three inch long legs. The females are slightly bigger than the males and a lighter color of brown. The males tend to have more black hairs. These colors help the tarantula blend in with the tan colored sand and rocks. The females and males have a slight tip at the end of their hairs. This can scratch other animals causing them to avoid the tarantula. The hairs can peel of and stick to your skin, which can cause irritation. They also have hairs around there mouth and feet. These hairs are called taste hairs, they can use these before eating the prey. This animal has very poor eye sight even though it has eight eyes, the hairs are pretty much all of their senses. They can see shadows and can tell if it is night or day but that's about all. This type of tarantula is a nocturnal hunter. They eat grasshoppers, scorpions, smaller spiders and lizards. Their predators are large lizards, snakes, birds, foxes and coyotes. As mention before on the "Scientific Information" page, this tarantula's venom can not harm humans, but it can kill all of its prey with its venom. Tarantula's have no teeth therefor they can't chew, so when they catch prey, they insert the venom which liquifies the animal then the tarantula will suck-up the prey. The two fangs are located parallel from each other facing down wards. Tarantula's molt occasionally, more as a young adult rather than fully grown. They shed their exoskeletons in order to grow. During this shedding period these animals can replace internal organs and can even regrow lost legs.
Western Desert Tarantula's build underground burrows made of rocks and soil to live in. They also spin webs to catch their prey. Tarantula's also spin webs in front of the burrows almost like a door. This also is used as a warning to let the tarantula know if something is intruding. Each tarantula lives alone and are usually not seem venturing far from their burrows, the only time they they do is during mating season, the males are looking for a mate, this is usually in June or July. When tarantula's reproduce, the females lays about 1000 eggs in her sac. She must guard them for at least six weeks and after that they start hatching on their own. Only about 600 out of the 1000 survive. After the male mates, he will usually survive for three more months. In the winter months this tarantula goes into a semi hibernation stage. They fill their burrows with rocks and anything they think will help prevent predators. During this time the eat the stored fat they have in their body.
The tarantula's body can get about four inches long, with about three inch long legs. The females are slightly bigger than the males and a lighter color of brown. The males tend to have more black hairs. These colors help the tarantula blend in with the tan colored sand and rocks. The females and males have a slight tip at the end of their hairs. This can scratch other animals causing them to avoid the tarantula. The hairs can peel of and stick to your skin, which can cause irritation. They also have hairs around there mouth and feet. These hairs are called taste hairs, they can use these before eating the prey. This animal has very poor eye sight even though it has eight eyes, the hairs are pretty much all of their senses. They can see shadows and can tell if it is night or day but that's about all. This type of tarantula is a nocturnal hunter. They eat grasshoppers, scorpions, smaller spiders and lizards. Their predators are large lizards, snakes, birds, foxes and coyotes. As mention before on the "Scientific Information" page, this tarantula's venom can not harm humans, but it can kill all of its prey with its venom. Tarantula's have no teeth therefor they can't chew, so when they catch prey, they insert the venom which liquifies the animal then the tarantula will suck-up the prey. The two fangs are located parallel from each other facing down wards. Tarantula's molt occasionally, more as a young adult rather than fully grown. They shed their exoskeletons in order to grow. During this shedding period these animals can replace internal organs and can even regrow lost legs.
Western Desert Tarantula's build underground burrows made of rocks and soil to live in. They also spin webs to catch their prey. Tarantula's also spin webs in front of the burrows almost like a door. This also is used as a warning to let the tarantula know if something is intruding. Each tarantula lives alone and are usually not seem venturing far from their burrows, the only time they they do is during mating season, the males are looking for a mate, this is usually in June or July. When tarantula's reproduce, the females lays about 1000 eggs in her sac. She must guard them for at least six weeks and after that they start hatching on their own. Only about 600 out of the 1000 survive. After the male mates, he will usually survive for three more months. In the winter months this tarantula goes into a semi hibernation stage. They fill their burrows with rocks and anything they think will help prevent predators. During this time the eat the stored fat they have in their body.