Recent content by Josh's Frogs

Aphonopelma bicoloratum is commonly known as the Mexican Blood Leg Tarantula. This slow growing species from scrublands of South Western Mexico can take five to eight years to reach their full size of four to five inches, but can live twenty five to thirty years. Combine this with a gentle...

The Purple Beauty Birdeater Tarantula is known scientifically as Phormictopus Sp. “Dominican Purple”. The scientific name is written that way because it has not been properly taxonified. It is thought to belong to the genus Phormictopus. The Sp. stand for “Species”. When a species is...

The spider known scientifically as Avicularia juruensis has had a confusing history for the last 100 years. Avicularia juruensis was initially described by Mello-Leitão in 1923 as being from the Juruá River region of Brazil. In 1994 it was identified as Avicularia urticans by Schmidt based on...

Tarantulas are the masters of patience. There is not much that can lure them very far from the safety of their burrow. They wait for their food to come to them. The females stay home and wait for their males to come to them. I thought this excerpt from John Burroughs' poem, “Waiting”, described...

The Mozambique Golden Baboon is known scientifically as Augacephalus ezendami. The genus name, Augacephalus, comes from Greek roots meaning "sun rays" and "head," referring to the prominent carapace striations on this spider. The species name, ezendami, is a patronym honoring Thomas Ezendam, who...

The Mexican Rose Tarantula, known scientifically as Aphonopelma pallidum, is a north American tarantula from the highlands of Chihuahua, in central Mexico. This is a slow growing and long lived species that can take a decade to mature and could live as long as thirty years. Their attractive...

The Peruvian Orange Striped tarantula, Lasiodorides striatus, so named for the fetching orange stripes on its knees, is a larger terrestrial, New World tarantula native to Peru, although some cursory research suggests that it may be found in other South American countries as well. Its scientific...

Meet Mary, a Venezuelan Suntiger Tarantula (Psalmopoeus irminia), who lives at Josh’s Frogs as a member of the breeding team. She was born here. She was up for sale along with the sac-mates from her sac and two other P irminias that sac’ed out that year. For that reason, she was still here a...

A while back I shared pics of Bagheera, one of our Brazilian Blue Tarantulas (Lasiocyano sazimai) right after a molt and referred to him with a generic female pronoun. This is a common practice when keepers are referring to their unsexed tarantulas. I had several sharp eyed keepers point out...

Colombian Purple and Gold Tarantula also known as Pseudhapalopus sp. 'Colombia' is rumored to be found in the rainforests along the Pacific coast of Colombia. This diminutive beauty tops out at less than four inches in diagonal leg span. Their size is no measure of their value, however, because...

Ceratogyrus marshalli is known as the Straight Horned Baboon. Like a few other closely related species, they have a protrusion extending up from their carapace, where most other tarantulas have a divet, called the fovea. Biologists do not agree on why they have it or what purpose it may serve...

A shy spider?!? Believe it or not, tarantulas are actually very shy creatures. Under normal circumstances, there is not much that would cause a tarantula to stray far from its burrow or nest. They are “sit and wait” predators that prefer patience and safety to the risks of seeking out their food...

The mature males look so cool! Their front two legs pairs get crazy wide and they arrange them to form a shield!

The Togo Starburst Tarantula is known scientifically as Heteroscodra maculatum and comes from the Togolese Republic in West Africa. They start out their life’s journey as little fuzzy brown spiders. As they grow, they slowly shed the brown for a crisp, high contrast black, white, and gray...

When arboreal tarantulas pair for breeding, the male comes up from below and lifts the female up to access her epigastric furrow. When Pink Toe species do this, the female will just absolutely drape more than half of her body across the male that is trying to hold her up. This always made me...