Description
Scientific Name: Idiothele mira
Common Names: Blue Foot Baboon
A jewel among South African baboon spiders. The Blue Foot Baboon spider is one of very few true trapdoor tarantulas in the world, constructing proper lid-type closing trapdoors at the mouth of their burrows from which they pounce at impressive speed when grabbing passing prey.
They have the typical color palette seen on African Baboon spiders with a mix of gold and olive over most of their stocky bodies. They have a striking black starburst pattern on their beautifully rounded carapace and a spotty skull pattern on the abdomen. This is all crowned by the shiny grey/blue seen on their tarsi/feet, similar in color to the legs of Harpactira pulchripes – The Golden Blue Leg Baboon Spider.
The Blue Foot Baboon spider has a slightly more laid back attitude than your regular baboon spiders but will still offer some defensive behaviour if disturbed or pestered too much. We can only assume that being a true baboon spider, their venom is going to be as potent and painful as it’s other baboon spider cousins. You can get creative with your enclosures for this species, providing enough substrate to burrow, but also some leaf litter and other ground debris for it to use when constructing the trapdoor for it’s burrow.
Please note: Idiothele species are protected and are illegal to own in South Africa