INDIAN ORNIMENTAL

General:

Description: They are the largest spiders in the world, generally hairy, come in an incredible variety of colors and sizes, and have enormous black fangs

Distribution: from the south-western U.S.A. down to Chile in the Western Hemisphere,
and China down to Australia in the Eastern Hemisphere

Sexing: Tibal spurs or hooks appear on the first pair of legs (not the pedipalps which are on either side of the mouth). These will eventually be used by the male to help it hold the female up while it inseminates her using it's modified pedipalps which get rounded and look sort of like the tarantula is wearing boxing gloves.

Before a male tarantula matures there's another way to tell the difference between male and female tarantulas, and that's by waiting until a tarantula moults, and then sexing that left over exoskeleton. The idea behind this is simple. The female tarantula's spermathecae (or sex organs), a small pouch which the semen is stored in, are quite easily seen. Even spiderling female tarantulas have this spermathecae, which could be visible with a nice microscope, and as the tarantula grows it eventually becomes easy to see even with the bare eye, or a small hand held magnifying glass or lens. The male tarantula, on the other hand, usually has just a crease, or fold in the skin.

Housing:

Natural Habitats: Terrestrial or Arboreal

Cage: Cage should be wide for terrestrials but tall for Arboreals. (e.g. Wooden Terrarium, Glass Terrarium) Make sure it is escape-proof.

Substrate: Soil, moss (e.g. Forest Bed , Forest Moss), barks (e.g. Repti Bark, Coconut Bark), gravel, sand (e.g. Repti Sand, Calci-Sand)

Humidity: mid to high

Water Dish: Essential. A small water dish (e.g. Rock water dish) should be available all the time

Hiding Place: Essential. a place for its privacy, security and sleep by day.

Possibllites include caves (e.g. Habbe Hut, Heat Cave), etc

Diet:

Wild Diet: Carnivorous (meat-eating);

They will eat just about any animals it can overpower, e.g. insects, mice, frogs, snakes, other spiders and even bats. Some will gorge themselves on as much as they can and others will stick to an apparent diet.

Captive Diet: Insects (e.g. crickets, roaches, worms), occasionally pinkie mice or rats

Notes: Sometimes they fast for long periods for unknown reasons and they almost always avoid eating when they're about to molt.