Green Bottle Blue Tarantula

A beautiful green, blue and orange tarantula.

Green bottle blue tarantulas are vibrant green and burnt orange with bright blue legs. Their carapace is covered in greenish bristles/hairs and their abdomen is covered in orange bristles that look almost like fur. While you can barely see some tarantula’s eyes, green bottle blue has two prominent black eyes that make them look somewhat cartoonish. The other six eyes are also present but not as large. Exotic pet owners like to display the green bottle blue due to their bright coloration.

Amazing Green Bottle Blue Tarantula Facts

• They can have a leg span of 6 inches.
• They are from a northern peninsula of Venezuela.
• Green bottle blue tarantulas are one of the few naturally blue animals.
• They will flick their urticating hairs in self-defense.
• Females can live to be 14 years old.

Green Bottle Blue Tarantula Scientific Name

The scientific name of the green bottle blue tarantula is Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens. They are actually the only member of their genus. Chroma means “colored” in Latin and pelma means “fur”. Cyan refers to their coloration being greenish-blue. Sometimes they are just called by their abbreviation GBB or their location, Venezuelan green bottle blue.

Green Bottle Blue Tarantula Appearance

These colorful tarantulas have a greenish carapace (head section) and an orangish abdomen (back section). Their legs add even more color with eight bright blue legs. Their bodies and legs are covered in bristles that look like fur, especially on their abdomen. Two of their eyes are larger than the others and clearly poke out of the top of their heads.  

The spiderlings also have a very unique look. When they are born they look very different. They are not born green, blue and orange. They are born with dark brown abdomens and have pink legs. Their bellies have alternating red and black stripes. Their coloration changes with each moly until they match the adult green, blue and orange version.

As adults they can get to be around 2.75 inches with a leg span as much as 6 inches or more. In comparison, according to a study by NASA, the average adult hand size for men is 7.6 inches and women 6.8 inches. So these are about hand-sized spiders.

Green Bottle Blue Tarantula Behavior

Green bottle blue tarantulas are skittish and are observed scurrying around their enclosures when captive. They are fast and capable of climbing trees quickly. They spend most of their tim on the ground but are considered semi arboreal so they can spend time on lower branches or in bushes.

Some tarantulas do not spin webs to catch prey, but GBB’s are webbers and often fill their enclosures with multiple webs. In the wild they will often create a burrow filled with webs and a web “door” covering the entrance.

 To make room for their growing bodies they must molt their exoskeleton. Prior to their molt they stop eating and get lethargic. After a molt is when you see some of the most brightly displayed colors.

As New World tarantulas they use the similar technique as other tarantulas and can flick the urticating hairs off their back. These bristly hairs can cause pain and irritation in the victim or predator.

Green Bottle Blue Tarantula Habitat

Green bottle blue tarantulas are from South America on the Paraguana Peninsula in Venezuela. They are terrestrial but also semi-arboreal, meaning they spend most of the time on the ground of the forests but can also climb and make webs in lower branches of trees and shrubs.

Their homes are burrows around downed tree branches, stumps and brush. They create many webs both inside and outside of their burrows for protection and to catch insects and other small animals for dinner. The funnel shaped webs also help protect the spiders from the elements.

In captivity owners keep their enclosures between 75°-85° and relatively humid to mimic the tropical climate of Venezuela.

Green Bottle Blue Tarantula Predators and Threats

The main predators of green bottle blue tarantulas are larger spiders, lizards, snakes and birds. Venezuela has an enormous variety of animals that live in the hot humid forests and deserts. Green bottle blues need to protect themselves from predators by hiding in burrows during the day and creating large webs to deter predators.

If threatened they will either flick their urticating hairs at a predator or they will flee…quickly! They have options of burrowing, finding a web to hide behind or hightailing it up a nearby tree. Their unique coloration actually provides great camouflage when mixed in with the flora of their surroundings.

As a last resort they can use their fangs to bite in self-defense and they are venomous, however they mainly use their fangs and venom to subdue prey before eating.

What Eats Green Bottle Blue Tarantulas?

The main animals that eat Green bottle blue tarantulas are arboreal snakes, birds and larger spiders.

What Do Green Bottle Blue Tarantulas Eat?

Green bottle blue tarantulas eat insects, small birds, worms and small mice. Whatever happens to wander into their webs and get caught. In captivity they can be fed crickets, meal worms or dubia roaches. They may eat 5-7 large crickets every 2-3 weeks or 2 dubia roaches ever y 2-3 weeks. Before they molt they may refuse to eat altogether and go for weeks without food.

What is the Conservation Status of Green Bottle Blue Tarantulas?

Green bottle blue tarantulas are not listed by the IUCN as a threatened species.

Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan

Reproduction for tarantulas is a delicate dance with the main goal of the males to pass on their genes without getting eaten. In captivity female green bottle greens are very picky and will not mate with just any male put in their enclosure. It is assumed that females in the wild are also choosey. Their unique coloration may play a role in mate choice. If a male green bottle blue finds a receptive mate he will spin a sperm web and then transfer his sperm to the female. They then know to immediately get away to avoid being eaten. After they mate the males do end their life cycle and die within a few weeks to months.

Female green bottle blue tarantulas lay around 100 eggs. They wrap them up with their webs to create an egg sac. About 10 weeks later the little spiderlings hatch. They are not green, blue and orange, but dark brown with pink legs and red/black striping. The spiderlings only stick around for a couple of days before instinctually knowing the mother will eat them. They take off to make new homes of their own.

The life span of female green bottle blue tarantulas is 12-14 years while males have a much shorter lifespan. Males live for 3-4 years.

Population

It is uncertain the population of green bottle blue tarantulas. They are not listed by the IUCN. They are allowed to be kept as pets in the US and are a “display pet” as handling is not recommended.

Related Animals

• Red Knee Tarantula
• Wolf Spider
• Goliath Birdeater

1. American Tarantula & Animals, Available here: https://www.atshq.org/gbb-tarantula/
2. The Tarantula Collective, Available here: https://www.thetarantulacollective.com/caresheets/chromatopelma-cyaneopubescens
3. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Available here: https://msis.jsc.nasa.gov/sections/section03.htm
4. Tarantulas, Available here: http://tarantulas.com/