Australian Tarantulas

The Australian Tarantulas are also called as barking spiders. These spiders are smaller in comparison to the Huntsman Spider. The body length of the spiders is 6cm and the legs are very long, i.e. 16cm. These spiders are called bird-eating spiders but rarely eat birds. These spiders feed on insects, frogs, lizards and other spiders. The female Australian Tarantulas builds web-lined burrows underground. The young spiders and males usually dwell under logs and rocks. The females build their burrows with flanges of grass and soil.

The burrows may have a thin film of web across the entrance and around the burrow. The size of the borrow may vary from 40-100cm. The spiders in this species create a humming or whistling noise when they detect any threat or get disturbed. The female lays around 50 eggs in a sack of 30mm diameter and stores it in the burrow protecting it with a tough silk cover. The females are larger in size and live longer in comparison to males. These spiders are not aggressive but if provoked can bite with their large fangs which are painful.