Avicularia avicularia (Guyana Pink Toe Tarantula)

Avicularia avicularia (Guyana Pink Toe Tarantula)

The Guyana Pink Toe Tarantula, or Avicularia avicularia, is an arboreal tarantula found across a huge range through northern South America and Trinidad. Adults have dark velvety legs finished with pink toe tips, a dark carapace (head) and a dark abdomen, the pink toe tips being where the whole pink toe group gets its name. Spiderlings start out with a blue toned body, and the dark adult coloration and the pink toe tips come in a little more with every molt. The species only grows to about 5 inches in diagonal leg span, while females live about 10 to 12 years and males mature faster, typically living only 2 to 3 years. This species is also docile but fast, quick to retreat rather than posture, and it is the animal most keepers picture when they hear the words pink toe. A captive bred new world tarantula for sale from a trusted breeder, offered here as a spiderling.

Why do hobbyists keep Guyana Pink Toe Tarantula?

• Stunning Coloration: A dark velvety body with pink toe tips on every leg. This is the original, and the reason an entire group of tarantulas carries the pink toe name.
• Colorful Spiderlings: Slings come in with a blue toned body that darkens with every molt while the pink toe tips come up, so the animal changes steadily rather than all at once.
• Heavy Webber: Tubes off high on cork bark and keeps building, so a tall enclosure furnishes itself over the first few months.
• Docile Temperament: Fast but genuinely calm, quick to duck back into its retreat rather than square up, which is why this one has been a first arboreal for so many keepers.
• Hobby Favorite: Known across the hobby as the avic avic tarantula, usually the first hit when someone searches a pinktoe tarantula for sale, and one of the first names any keeper learns in the group.

How should Avicularia avicularia be kept?

• Adult Size: Guyana Pink Toe Tarantula spiderlings hatch around 0.5 to 0.75 inch and grow to about 5 inches in diagonal leg span as full adults, so every size below is sized ahead of where that animal is today.
• Enclosure and Rehousing: Sized in three stages as this species grows toward its adult max, from a first enclosure through two rehouses. See the size you're considering below for the exact dimensions at that stage.
• Setup Tips: Real cork bark or a real piece of wood in the enclosure is not just decoration, it is one of the most important pieces of this setup. It gives the animal somewhere real to grip and start laying web right away, and with this genus in particular, that first piece of bark makes a drastic difference in how quickly a new arrival settles in and starts webbing. We have seen a real increase in early survival success tied directly to a bark based setup versus a bare enclosure, so this is one detail worth getting right from day one.
• Temperature: 75 to 85°F, the optimal range for most tropical species like this one. Cooler temperatures are survivable, but increase the odds of trouble molting and growing, so we recommend staying in this range for the best results. Most keepers do not need any extra heating to hit it.
• Humidity: Moderate to high, with the substrate kept lightly moist rather than wet, and strong cross ventilation. Airflow matters more here than maximizing humidity, so skip a fully screened top, which dries an enclosure out too fast.
• Water: A shallow water dish is enough, and placing it up on a piece of cork rather than on the floor is more natural for an arboreal and keeps crickets from drowning in it before they get eaten. Add a light misting of the enclosure once a week to help keep humidity in range.
• Diet: Prey size scales with the animal, from pinhead sized feeders on the smallest spiderlings up to larger prey as it grows. See the size you're considering below for the exact prey measurement at that stage.
• Temperament: Docile but fast, quicker to bolt for its retreat than to stand its ground, and capable of jumping when startled. This genus is genuinely easy once one thing is right: keep the air moving with real cross ventilation, keep the substrate lightly moist rather than wet, and give it real cork bark from the sling stage.

Which size should I choose?

• 0.5-0.75", Spiderling: the lowest cost way in, and the one that lets you watch its entire growth and color change happen under your own care from the very start.
• 0.75-1", Spiderling: a size up from our smallest, already past the earliest and most delicate weeks while still priced as a spiderling.
• 1-1.25", Juvenile: a step further along with some of the earliest growth already behind it, for anyone who wants a little less waiting before the size and color really start to show.
• 2.5-3", Juvenile: our largest juvenile size, well past the early fragile stretch for anyone who wants to skip ahead to a more established spider.

Pick the size you want above. Each size still has its own care guidance suited to exactly where that animal is today, not a generic version stretched across every size.

Are there any additional notes or considerations?

• Pink Toe Spiders?: You will sometimes see these called pink toe spiders online. Tarantulas are arachnids, not spiders, and definitely not true spiders, the kind most people picture when they hear the word spider. This is one of the heavy bodied, hairy, long lived tarantulas that gets lumped in with that name anyway. If you searched for a pink toe spider and landed here, you are in exactly the right place.
• A Tautonym in the Wild: Avicularia avicularia is one of the few tarantulas where the species name repeats the genus name exactly, sometimes called a tautonym in taxonomy. Search engines and hobbyists alike often just write out the full Avicularia avicularia pink toe tarantula name for clarity, since "avicularia" alone could mean the genus or this specific species.

Looking for similar species?

• Browse our Arboreal Tarantulas and New World Tarantulas collections to explore related care profiles.