Recently, tarantulas have become common household pets. There are several types of pet tarantulas in the market. The Chilean rose hair tarantula is known in short as the rose hair or Chilean fire tarantula.
It is arguably the most common tarantula species in the European and American stores. Their popularity can be attributed to the fact that the wild specimens are exported cheaply from Chile, their native, into pet stores.
Chilean rose tarantulas are also popular in Bolivia and Argentina. It is the best type of pet tarantula for beginners because they are easy to take care of, inexpensive, and relatively docile.
Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula Appearance
The Chilean rose hair is a medium-sized tarantula. According to studies, the tarantula grows at a slow rate, which means that it takes up to three or four years to mature fully. Note that it only grows to about five or six inches.
The Chilean rose hair tarantula features a variety of colors and has several small, urticating hairs on its abdomen. It kicks off or releases its spine-like hairs when it is threatened or in danger. This is because they display beautiful reddish-brown, pink, and grey colors.
Why The Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula Is A Great Pet
Below are some factors that make the rose hair an incredible pet;
- It is attractive.
- It is docile, calm, and peaceful.
- It is easy to maintain
- It does not feed a lot. It only needs a few meals per week. Sometimes it fasts for a couple of weeks to months!
- It can survive in relatively low humidity.
What Do They Eat?
Chilean Rose hair tarantulas eat live crickets. Note that these tarantulas are predators. Therefore, if you decide to own them, you should think about providing them with plenty of bounty.
If you plan to get this type of tarantula, it may be wise if you started collecting a gut load of live crickets in advance so that they can have something to eat as soon as they get home. They also eat locusts, cockroaches, mealworms, wax worms, and moths.
Note that rose hair tarantulas do not eat a lot. They need around four to five crickets a few times a week. They also take a small amount of water. Therefore, you may want to leave out a small container of water that they can access.
They usually go through a couple of weeks of fasting. The fast can extend to a month. They do this before their molting stage. However, before the fast, they usually gorge on a lot of food to prepare for the process.
Final Word
The tarantulas can become aggressive if they are handled too frequently. They are also usually very skittish. They run away from danger instead of acting defensively. Sometimes they raise their front legs and fangs as they prepare to defend themselves.
They get incredibly defensive a few days after molting (the process when tarantulas shed their old skin for a fresh one). They are also known to become moody from time to time, especially when approaching molting.
