Haitian Brown Tarantula
Phormictopus cancerides
Reptiles Alive Name: “Charlotte”
Hissstory: Charlotte was transferred to us from another wildlife education organization in 2004.
RA Diet: Charlotte eats 1 or 2 crickets every couple of days.
Natural Diet: Tarantulas will eat insects, birds, lizards, and even small mammals.
Range: Haitian brown tarantulas naturally occur in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and other parts of the Caribbean .
Habitat: Haitian brown tarantulas enjoy hiding under rocks, in burrows, and under debris.
Size: Haitian brown tarantulas are big spiders – they sometimes grow 7 to 9 inches in diameter!
Lifespan: Male tarantulas may only live 18-24 months, but females can live much longer, sometimes, over 20 years.
Reproduction: Tarantulas construct a golf ball sized egg sac out of silk. The female tarantula will care for her eggs by turning the egg sac on a regular basis. One egg sac may contain over two thousand eggs.
Conservation: Tarantulas biggest threat is habitat destruction. Human fear is also a danger to tarantulas, however, tarantulas rarely harm humans. Like most wild animals, tarantulas actually fear humans, and will only bite as a defense. Most species of tarantulas have venom that is no worse than bee venom, so, most tarantulas are harmless to people.
Cool Facts: Spider silk (the stuff spiders make into webs) is stronger than steel. No, really, it’s true! Scientists have been trying for years to manufacture enough spider silk to manufacture items such diverse items as clothing and cable to make bridges out of. So far, no one has figured out how make enough spider silk to make anything other than a really expensive scarf. But maybe someday you could be wearing spider clothes while driving over a spider bridge!
Its true! didn’t know exactly what type they were until i checked the site. Spent some time in Haiti, whilst there i used to kill one of these almost every night! They are huge!
Ive kept spiders on and off for a while….just purchased a Haition Brown….quite fiesty…18 mths old….i think its a female,though not confirmed yet…nice looking Tarantula.
My sister does some volunteering work in Haiti at the moment and mentioned killing those big ‘mamas’ every day. Is there any way of preventing from them? Any kind of repellent or something which would just ‘put them off’ from entering their little houses?
Unfortunately, there is no repellent that works against tarantulas. The best advice is to seal up all the cracks and crevices leading into any building so that critters can’t get in. I know how difficult that must be, but the less access they have, the less chance you will have of encountering them in your home.
just got back from haiti, did earthquake relief work. brought back a haitian brown. about a 3 inch leg span, and quite aggressive. a beautiful spider. i have experence with pink toes and chilean rosehairs, but im still learning about this little fellow, if you have any experence, please share, cheers