Asian Blue Smokey – Chilobrachys sp Vietnam blue
Widely popular as the ‘Asian Smokey Earth’, Asian Blue Smokey and the ‘Burma Chocolate Brown’, the Chilobachys Sp Vietnam Blue is a spectacular bird spider that’s native to the Burmese and Malaysian regions. According to experts, this spider derives the stunning coloration on its carapace from the Asian regions of Burma, India, Vietnam, and certain parts of Malaysia. While they are usually chocolate brown in nature, the colour is likely to change to black and a darker shade of blue, post their molting sessions. Typically, these spiders are sexually dimorphic in nature, as the females are relatively larger when compared to the male counterparts. There usual temperament is nervous and defensive and in certain cases, they might also bite you if provoked. Due to this reason, we will advise you to keep this spider only if you’re experienced in handling similar tarantulas.
Scientific Name
Chilobrachys sp Vietnam blue
Geographical distribution
The Asian Smokey Earth tarantula is native to the Burmese and Malaysian regions. In some cases, however, they have been observed to charter along some parts of India and Vietnam.
Preferred natural habitat
These spiders are usually found in tropical warm and humid regions with relatively dry winters. In their natural habitat, the precipitation lasts for hours during the months of June, July and August. Contrarily, during the summers, the temperatures often manage to reach 30 degrees Celsius. Since they are indigenous to the warm regions, these spiders have a habit of burrowing deep in to the ground to protect themselves from the scorching heat. So, if you’re keeping them in a terrarium, do ensure that it isn’t overheated.
Personality
Usually nervous and defensive, this spider will try to flee at the slightest disturbance. But if left undisturbed, they will create spectacular webs along the surface. Also, do note that the Asian Smokey Earth prefers staying at their burrows during the daytime.
Feeding as a pet
Despite being relatively nervous, these tarantulas are usually active when it comes to devouring preys. Typically, you can give them a meal of small roaches, baby crickets, earthworms and other small insects once or twice a week.
Lifespan both male and female
While the female tarantula has a lifespan of around 11 years, the males only manage to live for 2 to 4 years.
Pet enclosure type
If you’ve got spider lings that are lesser than 3x in width, you can comfortably keep them in a glass vial. If, however, you have an adult tarantula that’s more than 3x in width, try keeping them in a spacious terrarium of 20x20x50 inches. The ideal temperature in their terrarium would be 22 degrees to 28 degrees Celsius and the level of humidity should be around 70 to 80%. While altering the humidity, do ensure that it’s regulated to just the level of humidity these tarantulas need as higher level of humidity might bring forth mites and other similar insects.
Pet enclosure habitat layout
Like we already mentioned, these tarantulas are avid burrowers. Due to this reason, you should try keeping a substrate of 2 to 2.5 inches for both your adult tarantulas and spider lings. In addition to this, also keep a water bowl in the terrarium at all times.
Mating / reproducing
Pairing the Vietnam Blue might not always turn out to be a smooth encounter. In a bid to show its posterity, the male is likely to stand before the female relatively quickly, compelling her to leave her burrow. Once she leaves her castle, the female will react aggressively towards the male, either looking to grab him as a meal or copulate with him right away. Due to this reason, you should always follow a few precautionary measures while breeding these species. To start out, schedule the breeding in Autumn and only start it after 4 to 6 weeks after the female has molted. Second, always ensure that the female is well fed during the mating session. Around 4 months post mating, the female will start coming up with her cocoon. The mating is likely to be completely successful when the temperature and the humidity levels are well-maintained.
Development rate
These spiders have a moderate to fast growth. So if left undisturbed, they can assume a size of 13 to 14 cms.
