Vensulean Suntiger Tarantula
The Venezuelan suntiger is an arboreal tarantula native to Venezuelan and can be found in parts of Brazil and Guyana. They get to be around 5-6 inches in length and can live between 5-20 years. Females live much longer anywhere between 10-20 years while males only around 5-6. They also have beautiful orange and red markings on their legs, and stripes on there abdomen, giving them the name suntiger.
As slings(babies) they can be kept in small film containers or any small plastic container, however because this is an arboreal species it should be taller then longer, so the tarantula can climb, as it molts and grows you can continue to increase the size of its enclosure until it is fully grown and at this point a large plastic food jar like a pretzel jar or a similar container will work well. Alternatively you could use a glass enclosure that is for an arboreal species. Make sure there are plenty of air holes to allow for air exchange, but not so many that you have trouble keeping the humidity high.
They will not spend much time on the ground so a vermiculite/peatmoss substrate works very well to hold humidity in the cage. You should have a piece of cork bark or some type of structure in the cage going up so the tarantula can web around it and climb on it. You will see them spend most of their time n the side of the bark or in a web they made. They tend to make very elaborate webs.
Keep the temperature between 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. They are nocturnal, so providing them with a shaded or dark spot is good as they do not like the bright light.
No water dish is needed especially since they are arboreal they rarely would come down to drink. However you want to keep the humidity high around 80-90%. The easiest thing to do is spray them once to twice a week. It is good to let the enclosure dry out before spraying again as constant high humidity conditions can cause bacteria growth. They also get a lot of moisture from there food.
Feed crickets, mealworms, and dubia roaches. If it looks too big for them to eat them you probably should feed smaller. When they are slings small pin head crickets or small crickets work well and once they are a few inches in length they can easily eat large crickets. They can eat a pretty large meal considering their size, as adults they can eat large roaches and crickets and some can even eat small mice!
It is not recommended to hold this species, they move very fast and are very skittish. A bite from them, although not deadly, is very painful. The toxin released activates the same neuroreceptors as that of capsaicin which is found in peppers. The reactions can include burning, nausea, dizziness, and muscle spasms. For this reason I suggest observing them from afar, and only handling them when you need to rehouse the tarantula or clean its enclosure. When this is done be sure it is in a space where if the tarantula gets away it can be easily caught with a small net or a container. Usually the best way to rehouse tarantulas is to place the old container inside the new enclosure and gently cox out the tarantula with a soft tipped pair of long forceps or a small wooden stick of some sort. Then carefully remove the old enclosure from the new one.
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