Tamara and Tarquin

This group have different mouth parts than other spiders, and the fangs have to stab their food and fold under the head when not in use.

There are over 37,000 species of spider in the world, in 109 families.

Spiders have 8 legs (so are strictly not insects, which have 6); they have multiple eyes; bodies in two parts; they spin silk web continually all their lives. Some spiders even live under water and catch fish!

Spiders appear in the fossil record, along with flies and other insects, long before the dinosaurs were fossilised.

Curly haired Tarantulas are from a grouping of very large spiders. This group have different mouth parts than other spiders, and the fangs have to stab their food and fold under the head when not in use, whereas other spiders have jointed fangs that enable them to be pointed in any direction.

But Curly haired are friendly spiders and do well as pets. They eat crickets and meal worms. They shed their skins two or three times a year and lie on their backs to do so. They must not be touched at this time, or they will die. Their new skins take 4 or 5 days to harden.

After mating, female spiders lay eggs that hatch into spiderlings.