The Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula is a relatively large tarantula that reaches its adult size after about 3 to 4 years. When fully mature, such a tarantula would have about 6 inches in its total leg span. The base color usually differs from dark brown to grey and black, usually covered reddish-orange to pink hairs all over the body.
They are often referred to as “rose hair” because of the subtle rose casting on the hair. They also have eight eyes that are very small and generally poor. While the male ones have a lifespan of about 5 years, the female ones can live up to 20 years. When it comes to their diet, they feed on a wide array of invertebrate prey, including the occasional pinky mouse.
Native habitat: They are native to the shrublands and deserts of Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia. They are nomads, just like other tarantulas that live in similar areas, and fend for themselves throughout their solitary lives. They are nocturnal so they are usually out at night looking for potential mates and preying, while in the daytime, they hide away in moist, cool burrows.
Reproduction
Between the second and the third years, that is when the Chilean rose hair tarantulas reach their sexual maturity. They have a gestation period of 6 weeks and their mating period is usually September and October. Generally, spiders lay eggs hence are categorized as oviparous.
When a female is successfully mated, she produces an egg sac with between 80 to over 1000 eggs. The mother carries the egg sac protecting it from intruders until the spiderlings are hatched, they can be anywhere between 200-500 babies.
Behavior
When compared to most tarantulas, the rose hair tarantula is recognized as one of the most docile. On the other hand, they can be very aggressive and when left together for a long time, females fight each other. In fact, they can also eat males when left in the same closure for a long time span.
When attacked, they can flick the hairs in their abdomen which are irritating as a means of defense. A dark bald patch often shows on the abdomen in high-strung specimens because of flicking away their hairs.
Fun facts
- When they lose a leg, tarantulas can regenerate one.
- Most tarantulas can survive on water without food for weeks.
- The tiniest species of tarantula discovered up to date was as small as a fingernail.
- All spiders are venomous, although this is only effective on small arthropods.
- From their skin, stomach, mouth linings, sexual organs, and respiratory organs, tarantulas undergo shedding and molting as they outgrow their current skin.
- Tarantulas’ abdomens can easily rapture when dropped.
- There are more than 800 species of tarantulas.
- Tarantulas are not harmful to humans but their bite is painful. Also, dropped hairs can be irritating which is why most handlers wear gloves.
- While most spiders catch spiders in webs, tarantulas stalk and attack their prey just like jaguars do.
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