Tarantulas: The Delicate Cannibal

As the victim juices out from it's own carcass into the spider's esophagus, the spider pierces the body over and over again to keep the juices flowing into below the fangs. And will stop once the spider is full to its liking. Spiders don't particularly have taste buds nor tongues so, how would they be able to taste prey? As a substitute for teeth, tarantulas have fangs to make the body of the victim juicy enough to slurp it into the stomach instead of having to chew it meaning, if food isn't in the "mouth" for long then why have taste buds? Well their "taste buds" are centimeters towards the face where the pedipalps are located. These pedipalps are areas to store sperm in males but in females, it's only to sense.

Essential Question: How do you care, mate, feed, etc  for a pet tarantula properly and appropriately? Foundation Question: In what ways could you care for a tarantula appropriately? NOTES (In own words; one line long) SOURCES (Author’s Last Name or “Full Article Title”) Main Idea 1: Supplies Heating lantern above enclosure to apply heat onto specimen All specimen need a different temp & humidity in enclosure Depends on species - temp around 25 degrees c Use heat map on cage/bulb on top of cage NO direct light! - it’ll be too hot Depends where they usually lived in wild Humidity is given by spraying water in the enclosure Moist dirt is key for the tarantula Tarantulas are used to these environments Like rain forest tarantulas especially 60-70% humidity level Have a thermometer to know (Videojug). Get different species of bug to feed pet weekly/monthly - give variety Feed them twice per week or more/less -

I decided to go out into the spider community to get more information on what it's like to own a tarantula (before I get one) to see the pros and cons of a pet tarantula. The person who I interviewed was Ms. Domingues Murphy who has had past experiences with owning a pet tarantula (Chilean Rose-Haired) from the Science Center where she had also had past experience with tarantulas along with many other animals like hissing-cockroaches. She has taught me multiple things when owning a tarantula like: Getting crickets from a pet store every month Around 3 crickets a week Be careful during the process of feeding  Crickets might escape and can infest the house Always handle tarantulas close to the floor Get rid of infestations especially mites from substrate People who want to own a tarantula needs to be informed At the Science Center: She taught groups of kids basic information on each animal The kids needed to handle the tarantula on the floor They needed to be cal

All 8 topics I picked to talk about on how they relate to tarantulas. Back in the first trimester of senior year of high school, I had to go through a class called Grad Project where every student had to choose a topic and go with it for two trimesters in conducting various types of research, interviews, presentations and action projects. For my presentation on tarantulas, I presented to a panelist of five for thirty mins straight about 8 subtopics of my choosing within my tarantula topic. Overall, I did fantastic and cracked so many jokes to liven up the crowd since I've known they've been sitting almost all day listening to kids reading from their note-cards (I could tell by their faces) so, I've tried my very best in order to do so. I was going to pick the vision board version so it'd be more of a creative presentation but instead, I had decided that I would have to pick the slideshow instead because of how my topic has a lot of  information I have to go through

Essential Question: How does fangs, senses, sexual dimorphism and signals affect the mating & courtship of tarantulas? Foundation Question: What are the main contents of courtship in tarantulas? NOTES (In own words; one line long) SOURCES (Author’s Last Name or “Full Article Title”) Main Idea 1: Mating Hooks & Fangs Hooks beside pedipalps Holds up fangs wile pedipalps transfer sperm Also is used to push her body up to be able to transfer (NatGeoWebisodes). It’s 50/50 the hooks will keep him alive during mating The fumbling of pedipalps and legs may result to death From overstaying his visit during contact He must try his BEST to accurately slide in bulb and inject fast (NatGeoWebisodes). Males escape as fast as possible to survive, dads don’t help offspring Only a meet and greet then leaves forever (might mate again) (NatGeoWebisodes). Once Ms are desperate, they’ll proceed even if the F doesn’t want sex M