Mexican Red Rump (Brachypelma Vagans)
The Mexican Red Rump is a terrestrial, burrowing tarantula that is widely found in Mexico and certain parts of Central America. These creatures derive their name from the striking red urticating hairs on their abdominal region. But that’s not the only thing that makes them attractive! Their entire carapace is dark black in color, serving as a perfect contrast to these copper colored hairs.
Like many other Mexican tarantulas, the Red Rump spends plenty of time burrowing. They usually create these burrows in the wild to stay safe from any potential predator. In fact, such is the extent of their burrows that an average hole dug by these species can range between 40-45 centimeters.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Mexican Red Rump is their gregarious nature. These are one of the rare species of tarantula whose young roam about in herds. In most cases, you’re likely to find the young spiderlings wandering in long, winding columns. The adults follow them and remain pretty close during their growing years.
The Mexican Red Rump is widely found in Mexico, Florida and certain parts of Central America.
Preferred natural habitat
The Mexican Red Rump prefers living in open areas with relatively little to no vegetation. The lack of vegetation helps them in creating their burrows. Ideally, you’d find them burrowing in loose, clay-like soils with significantly less sand. The lack of sand prevents their holes from collapsing. Their burrows can range up to 40-45 cms in depth. So if you’re planning to pet them, make sure you have enough loose substrate for their holes. The Mexican Red Rump typically thrives in a temperature between 21 degree Celsius and 29 degree Celsius. Their preferred level of humidity is around 60 to 80%.
Preferred food in the wild
Like many other Mexican tarantulas, these species too, love devouring any other creature that they can easily overpower. In the wild, they usually survive on a meal of crickets, grasshoppers, small lizards, and small mice.
The Mexican Red Rump is a feisty, semi-aggressive tarantula with frequent mood swings. So there’ll be certain days when it’ll be docile and friendly and on other days, they’ll be aggressive and defensive. Once you happen to pet them for a while, they will stop kicking the annoying urticating hair.
Feeding as a pet
You can start off by feeding fruit flies to your Mexican Red Rump. Once it grows and assumes a size of a half to one inch, you can start introducing baby crickets and small roaches. After they mature and develop into full-grown adults, feed them, seven big crickets, two small roaches, and one small rodent (for variation). Although these species are voracious eaters, you should only feed them once a week.
Lifespan both male and female
While the males have an average lifespan of 5-7 years, the females can reach almost 15 years of age when held in captivity.
Pet enclosure type
An ideal enclosure for your Mexican Red Rump would range between 8”x10” (minimum) and 12” X 12”. While choosing the tank, make sure it comes with a front opening door. This will make it easier for you to pet and feed the species. You can keep the temperature anywhere between 22 degree Celsius to 30 degree Celsius. However, the ideal temperature here would be somewhere around 24 degree Celsius to 25 degree Celsius.
Pet enclosure habitat layout
Since these tarantulas are active burrowers, make sure you have plenty of loose substrate to make them feel like home. Your substrate should be at least four to five inches in the vial and around six inches in the terrarium. You can come up with a regular mixture of clay and peat moss for their substrate. Try adding lots of loose clay to keep their burrows strong and firm.
Mating / reproducing
If you breed them under the right temperature, these creatures can produce massive, silky cocoons that have approximately 250-300 eggs. In the wild, the spiderlings stay with their moms and eventually disperse after a couple of weeks. At this point of time, they start building their very own burrows.
The Mexican Red Rump has a steady rate of development, with the males reaching their maturity within seven years and the females doing the same in around nine to ten years. Within one year, they will assume a leg span of one and a half inches that can reach up to six inches by the end of ten years.