6 Feb 2014

Tarantulas creep into exhibition

9:49 am on 6 February 2014

The Canterbury Museum has welcomed two new tarantulas into an exhibition, after they spent three years in quarantine.

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Photo: Canterbury Museum

The spiders were quarantined at the University of Canterbury after the museum suffered earthquake damage.

The Museum's Curator of Natural History, Cor Vink, says a Bolivian blue-leg tarantula and a stripe-leg tarantula have joined the existing Peruvian pink-toe and Mexican red knee tarantulas in their enclosure.

Cor Vink says the tarantulas are a favourite with museum visitors.

"They tend not to do much. Tarantulas only are active at night but occasionally they do walk around and on Thursday mornings they get fed their single locust, which is all they need to eat."

Cor Vink says it's exciting to finally have the pair back.