The Big Hairy Bug

By:Nicoli Scheuers

Imagine this. You are hiking in the woods and get tired. You sit on a mossy log to catch your

breath and drink some cooling water. Then you feel something very hairy on your hand and you jump off the mossy log. Then you

look at the scary bug.

You're terrified to see that it has 8 legs and claws on each leg and

it is very hairy and big. Is it going to

bite you? Is it going to kill you? Are there more of

them?

Actually, yes it could bite you, but this rarely happens. It could kill you if it bites you a lot of times or if you die from the poison. Some do have poison in their

fangs. This big hairy bug is called a Tarantula (TUH-ran-CHUH-luh). These hairy spiders can live for 3040 years in the wild. The females live for only 30 years in

the wild. There are 900 species of tarantulas.

The Tarantula lives in deserts and tropical places such as the jungle. They also don’t spin webs, they

use silk. They defend themselves by throwing needlelike barbed hairs at their attackers, like porcupines. But don’t be scared if one’s above you because a

fall can be fatal to them. If these spiders lose a leg they will regenerate a new one. This spider eats flies, crickets, lizards, birds, and cockroaches.

This bug does bite, so take caution. If you wish to have a tarantula for a pet, be willing to feed it crickets or cockroaches.

This bug is a bad bug so don’t let this one in your home.