![\"Metallic](\"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/metallictarantula.jpg\")
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Just look at this gorgeous thing. It’s called a Metallic Tarantula<\/a>, and is found in only a small area of India. The species is highly prized by collectors, and it’s easy to see why.<\/p>\n The photo is from the blog Kodune eksootika<\/a>, which Google Translate is telling me is Estonian for either “homemade exotics” or “exotics at home” (that latter seems slightly more likely). From what I can gather, it’s following the blogger’s excursion into tarantula ownership. There are only a few posts, but they contain loads of gorgeous photos.<\/p>\n Tarantulas make lovely, low-maintenance pets. They’re quiet, clean, and don’t take up much space. New World species (such as the Chilean Rose and Mexican Redleg) are docile enough to be handled, and they’re all fascinating to watch. A couple of drawbacks are that they are<\/em> wild animals and can tend to be, y’know, bitey; many species throw tiny irritating hairs when they feel threatened; and some can live up to 30 years so there’s definitely a time commitment involved.<\/p>\n There are plenty of resources to help you explore whether tarantula ownership is right for you: Cornell University’s Spider Outreach<\/a> program has some good tips (plus dynamite commentary like, “This is only a species to get if you feel calm about dealing with a fast spider that will eventually run up your arm.”), and tarantulas.com<\/a> and Tarantula Guide<\/a> are sites dedicated to tarantulas as pets.<\/p>\n Sure, dogs can do tricks and cats are snugglier, but neither of them have electric-blue fur and you never have to change a tarantula’s litterbox, take it for a walk in the rain, listen to it bark all night, or worry about it scratching the furniture. If you’re ready to care for a live thing only slightly more complicated than a houseplant, tarantulas are an excellent option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just look at this gorgeous thing. It’s called a Metallic Tarantula, and is found in only a small area of India. The species is highly prized by collectors, and it’s easy to see why. The photo is from the blog Kodune eksootika, which Google Translate is telling me is Estonian for either “homemade exotics” or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-whatever"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17943"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17987,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17943\/revisions\/17987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}