Extremely rare! These were last seen in the U.S. hobby back in the mid 1990s in limited numbers. Todd Gearheart brought in a handful of adults 12/13/07. Overall, they are dark being blackish-gray with orange leg striping, a swirling golden carapace and beautiful, metallic blue femurs! Not very aggressive, more skittish, they have a leggy appearance. A serious collector's dream species!

SCIENTIFIC DESCRIPTION: AUTHOR & DATE:
RANGE: North Chile
HABITAT: scrub/savanna (?)
TYPE: Opportunistic burrowing species
COLOR/PATTERN/APPEARANCE: Overall, it has slender legs. It exhibits nice orange leg striping, black spines on the legs, mirror patch abdomen, femurs are black, but under natureal light, a beautiful metallic blue sheen can be seen, gray carapace with a metallic sheen under natural light and a black abdomen with short, orange hairs.
MAXIMUM SIZE: 6.5 cm body length/6" legspan
TEMPERATURE: 22C to 30C
HUMIDITY: 40% -60%
TANK SETUP: Adults can be housed in 5 to 10 gal. tanks with 4"-6" deep "Cocosoft" substrate or peat moss, shallow and wide water dish. Cork bark or resin plastic shelter.
FEEDING REQUIREMENTS: Spiderlings/juvs twice a week small cricket (1-2). Sub-adults/adults once a week medium to large cricket (2-3), roaches (1-2) or pinkie mouse or rat pup.
WATER REQUIREMENTS: Mist tank 1-2 times a week with fine water mist to keep humidity around 80%. Change water dish whenever fouled or at least 1-2 times a week.
DISPOSITION: Semi-aggressive to skittish. Do not free handle. It may kick urticating hairs, go into threat display and bite if distrurbed.
VENOM EFFECTS: Unknown. Assumed to be medically insignificant though like most tarantulas.
GROWTH RATE: Medium. Males mature in 2 to 3 yrs. Females in 3 to 5 yrs.
LONGEVITY: Males: 3 to 5 yrs. Females: 12 to 18+ yrs.
BREEDING REMARKS: Unknown. As of May 2008, this species has never been produced as captive-born in the U.S. hobby.
NUMBER OF EGGS: 400 to 600