House Tarantula

[BOD]

I was watching TV when I saw this fellow crawl across the floor.



The missus is a country girl from outback Western Australia and she came out looking for something, pointed and said "Spider" then carried on asking about her misplaced things all in the same mild tone without missing a beat.

Vastly amused, I caught him/her and put him in to a cup to show the kids in the morning.



Fangs



Unfortunately, I did not get around to it till later in the day and our furry friend was not feeling too good and did not jump and threaten and attack like it did in the evening. I think it may have over heated or dehydrated.

I released it onto a tree stump but the red ants got it before it went far.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplopelma

http://www.xnism.com/xnspi2/Ha_vonwirthi.html

Do any tarantula fans know which genus or species it is?

[Harvestman]

Sorry, my claimed spider expertise only applies to UK species. I haven't a clue on that one.

Nice beast though!

[Ph34r]

I reckon thats a Theraphosid ( not sure which type, but not dissimular to the Selenocosmia crassipes ( this would fit perfectly with the photoos/ your area) It does bear some features of a grammostola pulchra - or Brazillian black tarantula in culchie speak ( but they are rarely found in australia, more of a brazillian thing (hence the name). From the defensive behaviour you described, I would say it is more likely to be the first type. I could identify it for sure if I knew what size it was, however I would not think it is the latter, because I have only ever heard of them in S.A.

The first is about 6-8 inches fully grown, and the latter is about 5 inches.

FRom the fangs in the photo, it is most likely a female.

[JonathanD]

It's not blondi. Although, what it is, I have no idea.

[Ph34r]

It's not blondi. Although, what it is, I have no idea.

yeah, scratch that, i got confuzzled, read my post again!

[JonathanD]

yeah, scratch that, i got confuzzled, read my post again!

I agree with you. However, was this found in the UK? The post isn't quite clear, but sounds as though it was. In which case, I'd certainly go with a South American species.

Imagine if you did see T.blondi run across your front room, that would be something special.

[BOD]

Apologies. I'm not in Australia now in West Java, Indonesia.

The reference to Western Australia was simply that Aussie country girls raised on redbacks etc. are used to spiders and blase about them.

This is an Old World tarantula. A juvenile with 7-9 com leg span.