Cyriopagopoeus schmidti

This is by far one of the most impressive Asian Tarantulas and possibly largest of all Asian Tarantulas. It is a heavily bodied species and is different shades of gold and yellow (depending on colour form) and is a real beast. It requires a rather spacious terrarium with deep substrate to establish a burrow in. It is very important that you avoid overheating the enclosure,
room temperature is preferable for this species. In nature at the Tam-Dao (Northern Vietnamese studied population) H.schmidti excavates burrows in clay soil slopes on very humid forest areas at the higher elevations, where at the
cool period the night temperatures drop below zero.

Females have been found with eggsacks in the middle of Summer months to late Autumn. An eggsack usually contain 180 – 200 spiderlings which are surprisingly large (1cm) with huge appetites and are fast growing. Females reach maturity at about 2 years and males even quicker. A very interesting feature of this particular tarantula is maternal care, rarely seen and recorded among
Theraphosids in nature. The females not only defend the offspring but also feeds them with pre-killed prey (E.Rybaltovsky, 2002).

There are two main color forms of this species: The “Gold” and “Dark” clearly separated by colour. The “Gold” one is
overall yellow / Gold / brown and the “Dark” that have some yellow hairs on an overall dark colouration. A closely related species Haplopelma hainanum from Hainen Island is sometimes mistaken as the dark
form or sometimes sold as a “black form” these are in fact a different species. This species is a must for any Asian Tarantula lover. But be warmed it is very aggressive and fast spider.