Average Lifespan: males 7-8 years, females 20-25 years
Average Length: body up to 2.5 inches, leg span up to 4 inches
Habitat: Deserts, Central America and Southern North America
Usual Diet: Insects and other small animals
Captive Diet: Crickets
Mating: Mating takes approximately 30 seconds. The male approaches the female cautiously because she will eat him if she is not receptive. He will approach her and she will rear up and expose her fangs. The male will then rush in and use his tibial spurs to lock her fangs in the open position, if he is too slow he may get eaten. He is now safe from her, and can mate with her. He will then release one of her fangs and pacify her by stroking her abdomen with his free front leg. When he is satisfied he will release the other fang and make a hasty retreat.
Reproduction: The female will spin a web on which she will lay 50-700 eggs and wrap them in a silk ball to incubate for four months. The young will hatch and molt one time in the sack before they come out. The larger spiderlings will eat the weaker ones. Once they emerge they will leave quickly so they don't become a meal for their mother.
Special Features: If threatened this spider will rear up on its hind legs and display its red hairs.
Scarlet is very beautiful but she is also very dangerous. We never handle her because she always threatens to bite. When cleaning her cage, we must work slowly or she may think it is an attack and flick her very sharp hairs off her back and onto our hands.
Average Lifespan: males 7-8 years, females 20-25 years
Average Length: 4.5-5.5 inches
Habitat: deserts, scrubland, Bolivia, Northern Chile, Argentina
Usual Diet: small and large insects including mealworms, grasshoppers, beetles and moths, occasionally pinky mice
Captive Diet: crickets
Mating: Mating takes approximately 30 seconds. The male approaches the female cautiously because she will eat him if she is not receptive. He will approach her and she will rear up and expose her fangs. The male will then rush in and use his tibial spurs to lock her fangs in the open position, if he is too slow he may get eaten. He is now safe from her, and can mate with her. He will then release one of her fangs and pacify her by stroking her abdomen with his free front leg. When he is satisfied he will release the other fang and make a hasty retreat.
Reproduction: The female will spin a web on which she will lay 50-700 eggs and wrap them in a silk ball to incubate for four months. The young will hatch and molt one time in the sack before they come out. The larger spiderlings will eat the weaker ones. Once they emerge they will leave quickly so they don't become a meal for their mother.
Special Features: This is the most common imported tarantula.
Lucy is a very calm tarantula. Her favorite hobby is to sit on her rock and soak up the sunlight. She shares a cage with Ricki, but we kept them separated so they don't fight.
Average Lifespan: 2-3 years
Average Length: Body length 9mm + legs
Habitat: Found throughout North America
Usual Diet: Insects
Captive Diet: Crickets
Mating: The actual mating process may take hours, the male deposits his sperm in the female where they remain until they can fertilize the eggs.
Reproduction: The female spider will wrap the eggs into a sack. After they hatch the young will remain in the protective casing and the weaker ones become food for the stronger ones. Eventually about 20 young will hatch from the egg case and the mother will guard them. After about 9 days the young will shed their skin and leave to build nests of their own.
Special Features: Also know as Harvestmen, Cob-web spiders, and Invisible spiders. These spiders have developed a method of camouflage by whirling their bodies around with their legs attached to the web. This makes them seem almost invisible to the observer.
While Paul may not seem like much, he actually has a very powerful punch. Daddy Long Legs Spiders are the most venomous spiders in the world! But don't worry, Paul's mouth is too small for him to bit a human. Even so, we don't handle Paul because he is too delicate. When you visit him look at the top of his cage, he is usually hanging upside down waiting for a juicy meal.
Average Lifespan: 2 or more years
Average Length: Adults can grow to be 4 in. long.
Habitat: These critters are usually found in the Rainforests of Madagascar.
Usual Diet: Rotting plants, fruits, and vegetables and decaying animals.
Captive Diet: Wheat germ, fruits and vegetables
Mating: Courting takes place within a males territory, and females may go in and out of different territories. Males fight to win a territory. Females tend to mate with the winners before the losers.
Reproduction: Females carry the fertilized eggs in their abdomens for about 60 days till the nymphs hatch and emerge live from the mother. Nymphs molt about six times in their lives, and after the last time are sexually mature.
Special Features: Hissing roaches have thousands of tiny hairs on their legs and feet that help them climb up walls and aquariums. They are sometimes used as food for other pets like lizards and tarantulas.
Our Hissing Cockroaches at CNC have interesting stories. These animals are great escape artists and have been known to leave their tank for a time, and then appear back in their tank. They do always come back for food, and one time a roach that we didn't even know we had showed up hanging out with the other two.