The Brazilian Whiteknee Tarantula or as many call it, the Giant Whiteknee Tarantula, is a tarantula of Brazil known for its fast growth, great size and awesome colors. Your typical Acanthoscurria geniculata will grow to be about 8 to 9 inches in length and will reach that big size in only 2 to 3 years. They have great coloration with striped black and white knees/legs. They are rather fast for their size and are semi aggressive.

 

A.geniculata

 

Habitat:

Your Brazilian Whiteknee Tarantula is a terrestrial tarantula though some do burrow most of them will not. Simply having a hide big enough for it to fit under in your enclosure should be fine. As for size of your enclosure will want to have a 10 to 15 gallon tank. The Brazilian Giant is a poor climber due to its large size therefor it is key to have a tank that is more long and wide then it is tall. The height should be just enough to allow your tarantula to easily flip over should it start a molt. This will prevent your tarantula from climbing up the enclosure and prevent any injuries it might undergo should it fall. A full shallow water dish should also be readily available with fresh clean water at all time. Your substrate should be about 3 to 4 inches and should be relatively dry. A nice mix of vermiculite/peat moss and coconut fiber should be just fine. As for temperature you will want something between 75 to 80 degrees with a humidity level of about 70 percent.

 

Feeding:

Your tarantula will pretty much eat anything from insects to small lizards and mice. We would recommend a steady feeding of only large crickets, cockroaches and locusts. Ideally they should be only fed once a week . As always though they can eat small mice and lizards it is not recommended. The amount of calcium it consumes might end up hardening its exoskeleton which can make it harder for it to molt and in cases can cause a bad or wet molt.

 

Attitude:

The Brazilian Whiteknee Tarantula is semi aggressive and should it get startled will easily assume a defensive position showing fangs. They do come equipped with urticating hairs which can be quite irritating. At full grown size they pack a powerful bite with fangs that can easily be an inch in length which can easily cause severe damage should they pierce human flesh. Their venom is semi potent and a bite can surely cause muscle cramps, pain and swelling. We recommend minimum tampering with its enclosure as they do not like to be bothered much.

 

Handling should be done if you have been handling it since little so that he/she is accustomed to it. Due to their size we normally would not recommend handling. Due to size it might be hard to properly hold your tarantula which can result in it biting you or worse case scenario falling from your hands which will certainly result in serious injuries or death of your spider. It is a great species that should be respected and set as more of a display tarantula for your collection. It is excellent specimen for an intermediate to expert hobbyist.

 

Tell us about your Brazilian Whiteknee Tarantula, we’d love to hear from you. Do you have questions? Comment down below!