7 Goliath Birdeater Tarantula Facts | Pet Tarantulas

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Here it is. Arachnophobia in a box. This is the animal that conjures up the willies in most people, most people period, but anyone who has an innate fear of spiders. Wow, is this the one that gives them nightmares. The Goliath bird-eating tarantula is the largest species in the world. There are many types of Goliath bird-eaters. What I have here is one from South America. They get about 10, 11 inches across. We always describe it as "as big a dinner plate." That's a formidable animal. The fangs are gigantic on this creature, and the venom that it can deliver is toxic, very, very bad venom. And it delivers a lot. Like all tarantulas, not a deadly venom, but a venom that's powerful.

And there's a lot of it. It's going to be extremely painful, and you are not going to be happy if this tarantula gets a hold of you and bites you. So we're going to leave him in the box for today. But the thing we're most concerned about with this tarantula, and all the species from North and South America, is the way they defend themselves. They may rear up and show you their fangs and say, "Check this out." They may confront you and stand up on their hind legs almost and say, "Hey. Back up." But if they're really in danger, they actually turn around and use the other side of their body as a defense mechanism. And that would be this large round piece here, which of course is the abdomen on the tarantula. The abdomen is covered with hairs, the hardest word to say today, the urtocating hairs, which are on the back of a tarantula, which to me are just the irritating hairs.

They'll take their hind legs and they'll flick those hairs. They'll chop them off the back. You can see this tarantula actually has a little bit of a bald spot on its abdomen, because it's so used to flicking those hairs whenever danger come around it. If those hairs get airborne, if you looked under a microscope, they have like little arrow tips on them. They stick into everything that they encounter. That's your eye, your skin, your nasal passages, your mouth. It irritates, and it's almost like having fiber glass in your face. Very, very irritating item. In the old day, they had a gag gift called itching powder in which they would mix talcum powder with those hairs from these types of tarantulas and deliver an irritating gag gift called itching powder. So we want to be very careful we don't disturb the animal too much. If you keep one of these, please be an advanced keeper.

They can be picked up, but they are immediately going to flick those hairs. The hairs are going to come off its body naturally. They're going to get into your skin. They're going to get all over everything. Sometimes you look in the cage, it almost looks like it's hairy because the tarantula's kicked off so many hairs inside of his enclosure. It's a great animal to look at in a terrarium, or very heavily planted vivarium would be my way to do this. But it's not one you want to handle a lot or mess with at all. The Goliath bird-eater. Do they eat birds? There's another myth about the animal. I think when they found this animal it was on top of a bird carcass. But contrary to popular belief, their favorite food is not birds. They will eat small mammals for sure, but large insects make up the majority of its prey and its food. So the Goliath bird eater is an advanced keeper. You need a good sized cage for this animal, hiding spots, and a lot of plastic gloves to keep a Goliath bird eater. Good luck with that one.

[klljy]

is it weird that although im scared of the small regular spiders, i actually find these big tarantulas to be perfectly fine?

[Perfectvalor]

So did anyone else notice the spider on the left "pillar" throughout the video?

[Tigerpuffer]

Heh... really not that scary. Look at it hiding its face under its legs and palps. It's scared, just wants to be left alone.

[tessaparker]

1:07 There's a Chilean rose hair T on that piece of wood, look carefully lol

[Caparco]

Oddly enough, this is the CUTEST species of spider imo

[DoTheFamine]

did anyone else BARELY even notice the Chilean Rose Hair T on the bark to his left??

[alandallas]

My Mexican Redknee on my shoulder right now doesn't seem impressed by this Goliath. :) Then again, she's napping, as usual... she's so lazy.

[lololmanidek]

Thank you for all of your educational tarantula content!!! I’ve slowly but surely got over my fear of spiders (watching YouTube vids) and I really want a pet tarantula now, your channel definitely helps. :-)

[scarletsabbath]

3:06 - 3:09
I find it cute how it scrunches up like that ❤

[creaturecation]

This Spider is so cool! I think I got a picture of one of these at a kid's learning/play place. I loved her! She was AWESOME! Big, but awesome and quite pretty, just like this one!

[scastro]

I like this guys voice.  I hate spiders but after listening to him for awhile they don't seem so bad.

[forestpepper]

I recall an article in a medical journal, which documented a number of cases of people with permanent eye damage caused by pet tarantulas. Those little "hairs" they kick off are like tiny porcupine quills. If they get in your eyes, those little hairs actually keep drilling deeper and deeper, the same as porcupine quills. There is no effective way to remove them from the eye, and they can cause serious harm to your eyesight. So always wear eye protection when handling a tarantula Fair warning to anyone who is considering getting a pet tarantula.

[fabiapickering]

Here it is arachnaphobia in a box...I'm crying 😂😂

[richnieh]

So it is not recommended to grab them by hands? Even if they don't bite you.

[disabledvet]

and a side they flick hairs at the entrance to their burrows to keep predators out too. 

[cackys]

Hmmm I've been told, that while the bite is unpleasant, the venom isn't that toxic. Comparable to a wasp sting.

[justinsai]

This massive tarantula looks less terrify than regular spider

[mooniemcmoonface]

I saw a couple of these at a recent reptile expo. They were pretty young slings, according to the guys selling them. They were apparently younger than some Arizona Blonde slings that were also for sale, yet they were still bigger than them. Absolutely blew me away.

[kroakie]

They will flick their hairs on you if you disturb them. Especially if you pick them up. The best way to handle one is to hold your hand out and let the spider walk onto it.

[trnta]

A few weeks ago i was scared of all insects and now i want a tarantula...