Let me introduce you to my little puppy, this sweetie is "Tarry" a Poecilotheria Metallica tarantula.
I've always been fascinated by the macabre and unconventional things, and some years from now I've started interesting to tarantulas.
Tarry joined the family 3 years ago, I bought her from a breeder to an exhibition of exotic animals in Italy, when she was just a 3 months old puppy and big 1 centimetre.
Tarry when she was three months old
I like breeding tarantulas at a very young age, when they are just sling, because they change colours and sizes during their growht. When she is young, her colours are dull, tending to brown but little by little her livery becomes metallic blue whit white stripes and yellow circle on the paws.
In this picture you can see how small and brown she was, after a year she has started going blue.
Tarry after an year, when she was subadult
Now she is an adult, her colours are amazing and her sizes are around 6 centimetres. Although these brilliant colours are a warning for predators, her poisonous bite isn't deadly for humans.
Tarry now is an adult female of three years old. She can live more than thirty years
She's a quiet spider, she is an arboreal and she likes holing up in the bark of the tree; as all tarantulas, even the Poecilotheria is very connected to her den and she never gets away from it, so she doesn't need a big place to live.
I breed her in my house, in a average terrarium where I simulate the climate of the rainforest.
Can you recognize her teeth?
She loves spinning the web e builds tunnels to move around in and she is very greedy for flying insects such as locusts and moths, even they are bigger than her.
This kind of tarantula is native of India, but nowadays this specie is almost extinct, in the wild only few specimens survived and they live in a Indian forest of less than 100 square kilometres. Poecilotheria Metallica is on the verge of extinction but fortunately a lot of breeders around the world are contributing to the survival of the species.
This story is very sad, especially when we think that tarantulas populate this earth for more than 300 million years, and during the eras they didn't change their aspects and habits, for this reason they are called "living daffodils".
For me this is the best tarantula ever, beyond any doubt!!
P.s. I have another puppy spider, Meggy, she is Tarry little sister and maybe I will show her in a future, if you are not afraid of spiders. :)