Tarantulas of the World

The Giant Blue Bloom tarantula or Blue Bloom Birdeater is a species found in or around Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and neighboring countries around the South-West coastline of South America. They grow to be about 7 inches in length with females growing slightly bigger then males They grow like weeds and get prettier as they get bigger. As slings (spiderlings) they have an orange abdomen with black patterns resembling a conifer/pine tree. As adults they display sexual dimorphism where not only are males smaller but also end up having superb color patterns ranging anywhere from a purple carapace to purple/blue/black legs while females tend to be more velvet black in color with pink colored hairs and pink markings on their carapace.

Habitat:

The Giant Blue Bloom Tarantula are terrestrials but as slings and juveniles they might burrow. We recommend a 5 to 10 gallon enclosure depending on the size of your tarantula filling at least half with slightly moist substrate. We use coconut fiber for ours and it seems to do the trick just fine. Your humidity should range from 70% to 85% with plenty of ventilation and a temperature of 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. This species we’ve noticed becomes a tad bit nervous if the temperature is a bit too high. As always a fresh water dish should always be readily available and on the opposite side of the hide in the enclosure.

Feeding:

The Blue Bloom are voracious eaters. As slings we feed them flightless fruit flies to small pinhead crickets. Fully grown they can eat up to 3 times a week with ease. Juveniles to Adults should have a steady diet of B.dubia roaches, crickets and locusts. This tarantula jumps sometimes when catching its prey. We do not recommend over feeding your tarantula and you should always keep a close eye on it and its prey. Any prey left in its enclosure uneaten after 48 hours should be removed just in case your tarantula is in pre-molt stages.

Attitude:

The Giant Blue Bloom Tarantula tends to flee when strongly disturbed but can be pretty defensive. It comes equipped with urticating hairs and an unpleasant bite. Their venom though strong is harmless to humans. Handling is possible but we strongly recommend you not to.

All in all it is a very nice looking tarantula that’s almost always visible. We recommend this species for someone who already has some experience with tarantulas.

Your Tarantula First Aid! Tarantulas suffer from very few illnesses and seldom get sick unfortunately there are not many exotic vets that would even take in a sick tarantula let alone help you with them. With this post we would like to share some common things you can do yourself to help your tarantula should something ever happen to it.

Creating an ICU:

The first thing you need to know how to do is creating an ICU (Intensive Care Unit). This is a must know how for any intermediate to expert tarantula hobbyist.

Step 1: Make sure you get a deli cup or plastic dish with matching lid. Make sure this is big enough to easily fit your biggest tarantula. Make sure to also puncture small holes for some air ventilation on the side of the cup/dish and a few on the lid.

Step2: Grab a few pieces of paper towels and lightly mist them with water. You are going to pack them nice and tight  at the bottom of your plastic cup/dish. This will allow your tarantula to feel nice, soft and secure.

Step3: What we also recommend is to add a small water dish filled with fresh clean water to the ICU should your tarantula need it.

Step4 (optional): In the event that you need to keep humidity levels up we do recommend you setting your ICU near a humidifier. This of course being optional is still a great recommended tip.

When to use an ICU:

There are certain scenarios where using an ICU will be your best option for your tarantula.

Dehydration: This can quite often be the easiest thing to overlook. Even desert species tarantulas can get dehydrated. A key sign of a dehydrated tarantula is a mildly shrunken abdomen. In worst cases a severely dehydrated tarantula will also have its legs curled up under him/her and even appear sluggish. Simply place the tarantula in the ICU cup and make sure the water dish is close to its mouth or even place its mouth in the water dish. You should not be alarmed as tarantulas breath from their book lungs situated on the underside of their abdomens and not mouth. Keep their abdomen away from the water source. We recommend you keep the tarantula in your ICU for about 12 hours at most while checking up on it every few hours. Your tarantula should be back to normal and make a full recovery within 24 hours.

Bad/Wet molt or trauma resulting in fluid leak: Arachnids use non muscular moving functions and rely on blood pressure and fluid (“blood”) to move limbs. Bad or wet molts happen to even the healthiest of tarantulas with no scientific explanation as to why. Should your tarantula experience a wet or bad molt immediate induction into an ICU would be your best bet. These same rules apply should your tarantula hurt itself by either a puncture wound or even a fall and starts to lose fluid. Make sure your tarantula drinks plenty of water to replace the fluid lost due to the wet/bad molt.

This will be the start of our Tarantula First Aid series as we give you other helpful tips and tricks for your tarantula in the event of an accident. Do you have questions about your tarantula? Simply ask away. We will be more than happy to help you.

The Socotra Island Blue Baboon Tarantula is a species native to the Socotra Island in the Indian ocean. It is very much loved in the hobby due to its beautiful colors which include a light metallic blue carapace with darker blue legs it also has a beige to dark brown abdomen and femur with its spinnerets being light to dark brown. Females tend to grow bigger then males reaching a size of 5 to 6 inches in length and can reach maturity after just 2 years. Their lifespan are rather short compared to other species of tarantulas.

Habitat:

This tarantula is terrestrial and a great burrower. It is a bountiful webber and will thoroughly web its enclosure. With all of this in mind your enclosure should contain at least 6 inches of substrate and should have more length and width as it would have height. Provide just enough height for your tarantula to flip so that it can molt. This tarantula likes a dry environment and you should let its substrate (we recommend some sort of coconut fiber and vermiculite mix) be dry but moist enough to allow him to create a burrow. Overfilling its water dish with clean water should keep the humidity where it needs to be as this species does not require high levels of it. A steady temperature of 73 to 81 degrees should be kept and should be enough to keep your tarantula happy. We recommend a starter hide or retreat be added to the enclosure until your tarantula created its own burrow. This tarantula has been known to be communal though females tend to cannibalize males. We recommend you keep your tarantula by itself in an enclosure unless you are breeding him/her.

Feeding:

The Socotra Island Blue Baboon Tarantula tarantula is a great eater and a steady diet of crickets, cockroaches, locusts and even meal worms. Though they can eat small rodents such as mice and or lizards we recommend you just keep feeding them insects as there is speculation that an over amount of small rodents can potentially increase a calcium buildup in your tarantula causing them to get a bad molt.

Attitude:

Surprisingly this tarantula is not as aggressive as its other old world counterparts or even its fellow baboon tarantulas. The Blue Baboon is rather shy and sometimes skittish and would rather retreat then try to attack this does not mean that we would recommend you handling them. They are still defensive as they do not come equipped with urticating hairs and chances are will bite should they feel threatened. We recommend extreme caution while handling.

The Socotra Island Blue Baboon Tarantula is most definitely a beautiful species that would be great for the more experienced of hobbyist. It is a great tarantula for any old world collection and would be great as your first Baboon tarantula.

Do you have a Socotra Island Blue Baboon? Tell us about it and comment down below!