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Goliath birdeater
The Goliath birdeater, with the scientific name of Theraphosa blondi, is the king of spiders that inhabit northern South America upland rainforests. The different spines on the 3rd and 4th pair of legs are present in these tarantula species. Their overall body is of russet-brown to black-colored. In addition to this, the Goliath birdeater family is Tarantulas and are the largest arachnids on this planet. The females have a lifespan of up to fifteen to twenty-five years, while males can live up to almost three to six years. Here, we are going to discuss many exciting facts about them.
Goliath birdeater size
These tarantula species with a fist-sized body have a length of up to 47 inches. The Goliath birdeater weight is only 0.38 pounds, thus having a legspan of up to twelve inches. Their legs, bodies, and abdomens also have hair on them. They use two different types of hair for their defense mechanism. These massive spiders appear to grow up to a maximum diameter of about 11 inches.
Goliath birdeater location
Their location includes under rocks and roots, silk-lined burrows, and deep rainforests. They are also found in the Venezuela, Northern Brazil, and Northern South America, Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, and Northern Brazil upland rainforests. The terrestrial Goliath birdeaters appear to live in the Amazon rainforests, marshy or swampy areas, and deep burrows. Furthermore, these spiders dig holes in the moist and soft soil, thus hiding within them.
Goliath birdeater diet
Like all other animal species, these spiders also require a proper diet for their survival. As their name shows, they can eat birds. But they also feed small-sized creatures, i.e. lizards, frogs, mice, and other invertebrates. The Goliath birdeater diet also includes giant insects, amphibians, worms, snake, cockroaches, and small vertebrates. They have also been observed to feed on rodents and toads in the wild.
Goliath birdeater adaptations
There are present many adaptations of these massive spiders, some of which are as follows:
- These tarantula species have bad eyesight, unlike other jumping spiders.
- By choice, they depend upon their modified leg hairs, vibration-sensitive, for warning them about the danger.
- These spiders use specialized harpoon-shaped hairs named urticating hairs in that situation where the predators get too close to them.
Goliath birdeater breeding
The Goliath birdeaters have a gestation period of about six to eight weeks. The females lay 100 to 200 eggs after mating, and males die after this process. After laying eggs, the females make a web to keep their eggs in it. The eggs are then wrapped and converted into egg sacs, containing almost 70 spiderlings in them. These spiderlings undergo the molting process for growing and become sexually mature at the ages of two to three years.
Goliath birdeater predators
The animals that eat other species are known as predators. The Goliath birdeaters are eaten by some of its natural enemies, i.e. snakes, wasps, and other tarantula species. In addition to this, small insects can also kill them very quickly during the molting process when they are fragile and cannot move well. Sometimes they also bit a person, if provoked, but do not cause severe harm.
Goliath birdeater bite
Although these spiders are poisonous, they are harmless to humans. Researches have shown that they do not use their venoms on humans but sometimes can bite due on threatening. However, their bites do not cause severe harm but will give some pain and selling. Although their long fangs can easily get penetrated to human skin, the death will not occur.
Goliath birdeater facts
Some of the exciting Goliath birdeater fun facts include that their bodies’ hair can cause severe irritation to humans’ skin. Furthermore, they can quickly regenerate their lost limbs or body parts by the process of molting. The male ones appear to die after fulfilling their biological functions and mating with females. They detect prey’s presence by sensing their vibration on the ground and usually hunt at night time.
Goliath birdeater communication
These spiders use to hunt rather than sleeping at night time. The Goliath birdeaters also produce hissing sounds by bristles rubbing on their legs together for frightening the intruders or other predators.
Goliath birdeater behavior
They are nocturnal spiders that live in burrows and other upland rainforests. Like other animal species, they are also eaten by other small animals on this plant that are their natural enemies. They defend themselves by producing warning sounds and are very aggressive. These spiders also appear to throw off barbed hairs from their abdomen during the alarming situations.
Goliath birdeater as pets
The Goliath birdeaters can be made as good pets to only those people who have some experience to adopt them. These are not for beginners because they are quite aggressive. There is the requirement of a vast habitat because of their maximum sizes. Also, due to their large fangs and other characters, there must proper research before buying them as pets.
Goliath birdeater care guide
There must be proper care of these spiders after buying them. For example, they should be kept alone because of their aggressive nature. Although they can be kept in glass or plastic containers, the tanks with 45 centimeters lengths and 30 centimeters depths must be used. The Goliath birdeater care sheet also includes that they should be feed with larger insects, cockroaches, and locusts. It has been shown that earthworms make a very portion of their diet in the wild.
FAQ’s
Sometimes the people get confused and raise some questions about these spiders even after knowing the interesting facts and information about them to make their minds clear. So, the answers to some of those raised questions are as given below:
Do Goliath birdeaters bite humans?
These birdeaters rely on birds, locusts, toads, rodents, lizards, snakes, small vertebrates, and other invertebrates to survive. If we talk about their bite, they do not cause severe harm to humans. Unlike other spiders that can cause death, the Goliath ones are not so dangerous. Their bite will only cause pain, swelling, and irritation, but a person will not die.
Do Goliath birdeaters eat birds?
As the name shows, these spiders eat birds and some other species as well. For example, they eat giant locusts, rodents, toads, small vertebrates, amphibians, worms, small insects, lizards, snakes, mice, and other smaller creatures. Researches have shown that cockroaches make a considerable proportion of their diet in the wild.
Can you hold a Goliath birdeater?
Most of the people want to touch these creatures but cannot do that. They have very dangerous fangs, and their hairs can cause severe irritation. There also present many of those spiders that produce hissing noise. They do this by rubbing their legs together, and these tarantula species are also one of them. So, you must hold them very carefully.
Are Goliath birdeaters good pets?
Although these spiders are suitable to be kept as pets, there must be proper precautions while handling them. They sometimes become aggressive and start biting, but their bite is not so dangerous. However, the people who want to keep them as pets, must read care guidelines for adopting them.
Are Goliath birdeaters aggressive?
These solitary spiders become very aggressive during territory situations. Due to their anger and frustrating behavior, they must be kept alone. You cannot keep more than one of these spiders in the same cage because they will start fighting with each other. Instead of all this, they can be susceptible and fast tarantula species.
Do tarantulas like light?
It has been said that there should be no bright light near or on tarantulas’ cage. The regular room lighting is sufficient for them because they neither enjoy heat nor this bright light.
Do pet tarantulas recognize their owners?
Researches have shown that the tarantulas do not recognize their owners. They mostly change their behavior depending upon the keeper. Although some of them have developed unique behavior patterns, they still do not know about the personalities’ definition.
Conclusion
As we have discussed many exciting facts and information about these tarantula species, they also do biting to humans. Researches have shown that they will bite only during the threatening conditions. The good thing is that they are not as harmful to humans as the other spiders. Their bite will only cause some pain and irritation. There are present many people who want to keep them as pets. It is not bad, but there must be proper guidelines for having them as pets. For example, they must be kept alone and supplied with proper diet and care. These Goliath birdeaters also have some predator threats, i.e. snakes, lizards, toads, rodents, and small vertebrates. Even tiny insects also kill them while they are in a molting process, the process in which they are fragile and cannot move well.
