Avicularia purpurea

Another beautiful arboreal Tarantula that is purple coloured when adult and absolutely shines under the proper lights. It has nice cute blue spiderlings like A.versicolor and A.letae. This species is one every Arboreal keepers wish list due to its beauty, docile nature and lack of availability. In the wild it lives in arboreal silken retreats made of web beneath the bark and hollows of tree in humid rainforests of Ecuador.

This is a typical arboreal Tarantula which needs humid keeping conditions, a vertical arboreal type terrarium with plenty of arboreal retreats like Cork Bark or Bamboo and a water bowl for adults. Such an enclosure must be provided with good ventilation and they like light from above. The enclosure can also be decorated with Artificial plants and a deep layer of substrate to help keep the humidity high enough.

Though this species is docile it also very fast moving and spins a lot of web in it’s enclosure, so it is hard to see during the day but can be seen crawling around the enclosure at night hunting for prey. Unlike many other Avicularia spp. in the hobby it is a definite species and can be easily separated from others, so you will have no problem finding a mate for further breeding projects. Having said that it is not as easy to breed as other Avicularia which is why it is not often available.

This species has urticating setae but do not tend to use it. It is also interesting to note that they do not have sexual dimorphism in adult stages – the ultimate male has the same colouration as the female. These are one of the nicest Tarantulas to keep at home even by a novice as it is a docile species and not aggressive at all.