The Trinidad Chevron Tarantula is an arboreal spider indigenous to the tropical island climate of Trinidad. This particular tarantula was selected due to its beautiful olive or moss green coloration with brown swatches on its legs. This coloration is particularly striking on the females whereby the males tend to be a more uniform gray or brown color.
This creature is accustomed to a broad range of temperatures brought by the high humidity and tropical winds that are typical for this island region. It can tolerate temperatures in the high 70's to the mid 90's and prefers to live in silk tunnel webs in hollow branches or at the base of large trees. This is a fairly large species with adult females reaching over 8 inches in length.
P. cambrigei is a fast growing species and if kept in a warm, humid habitat and fed frequently can mature in 12-18 monthes. It should be noted that this is a semi aggressive species which can be easily provoked whereby we do not anticipate handling the spider unless absolutely necessary.
Care and Feeding
Our subadult is a female and was purchased from Michigan Arachnids. She is already showing a good bit of green coloration and has a leg span of about five inches. This is a new world tarantula and is very fast moving when startled. They are considered semi aggressive and while they do possess a reasonably potent venom, it is not considered medically significant.
This particular tarantula is not uncommon and this species is a prolific breeder often producing as many as 50-150 eggs at a time. Our female will be transferred into an arboreal enclosure purchased from Exo Terra Terrariums that features a cork/bark wall, a three inch substrate of coco husk and plenty of greenery in order to make it feel right at home. Keeping humidity levels up will be a challenge especially during the winter monthes when central home heating systems dry the air considerably.
This page was last updated: March 26, 2017
The First Pictures (2/22/16)
Pictured above are some great shots of our female Trinidad prior to delivery. You can already see a significant amount of pale green throughout her body and the characteristic splotches of brown on her tarsus and metatarsus. She has been fed on a healthy diet of crickets and hopefully is anxious to see her new home pictured below.
We have put the finishing touches on her enclosure (pictured below) which features a massive piece of driftwood and cork wall. Sadly, there is not enough room for a flat screen.
The Arrival (3/09/16)
These fantastic pictures were taken of our new Trinidad Chevron moments after she emerged from her packing container. It will take her some time to get used to her new home but we could not have been more pleased with the overall quality and apparent health of our latest arrival.
The Web (3/10/16)
Although this particular species is arboreal, it often builds its home at the base of trees or fallen logs and not necessarily high up in the rain forest canopy. Sure enough, our female spent much of the first day constructing a rather impressive web home. After briefly exploring the enclosure, she settled into the lower corner and at the base of the driftwood branch. She spun silk to construct the walls of her new home while leaving a large opening at the bottom in order to move freely in and out of the tunnel web. What's really cool is that she covered much of the silk walls with pieces of coco bark.
April 6, 2016- This afternoon we finally discovered what our female has been up to- an egg sac. Who knew?
Over the last few days, she has been very active at night working on her web cave apparently in preparation for this event. The only remaining question is whether or not the eggs are fertile. If so, we are going to have a lot of little spiderlings in the near future. Eeeek! More mouths to feed!
We contacted the Breeder, Michigan Arachnids who admitted that our tarantula had indeed mated several times in the past. In fact, our feisty female not only mated with another male but quickly ate him after they were finished.
July 18, 2016- They're heeeere! Well, as luck would have it, I was calmly eating dinner and noticed some unusual activity in the Trinidad's enclosure. Sure enough, there are at least 100 to 150 Trinidad Chevron spiderlings that broke free from their egg sac and have fully encompassed their new home. I have no idea what I am going to do with these little guys. They are being fed a diet of wingless fruitflies and we are hoping for the best.
August 30, 2016- This morning, our adult Trinidad Chevron was "caught in the act" perched outside of her silk cave at 3:30 am in the morning. She has become very active since the spiderlings have hatched and is clearly hunting for food. She appears very nervous and easily rattled. She completed her first molt two weeks ago since she arrived earlier in the year. Although she is not fully grown, her size is impressive nonetheless.
March 5th 2017- This morning, our Trinidad received a "home makeover" which was long overdue. I removed alot of silk that was covering several sides of the glass habitat. Much to my surprise, a juvenile sling appeared and immediately jumped on a cricket I just happened to have on hand. Our female, affectionately named "Groot" has started to come out a lot more since the makeover.
The Trinidad Chevron Tarantula is an arboreal spider indigenous to the tropical island climate of Trinidad. This particular tarantula was selected due to its beautiful olive or moss green coloration with brown swatches on its legs. This coloration is particularly striking on the females whereby the males tend to be a more uniform gray or brown color.
