Mexican Blood Leg Tarantula (Aphonopelma bicoloratum) Care Sheet

Scientific Name: Aphonopelma bicoloratum

Common Name: Mexican Blood Leg or Mexican Beauty Tarantula

Type: Terrestrial

Category: New World

Endemic Location: South Western Mexico

Diagonal Leg Span (DLS): 5”(12cm)

Urticating Hairs: Yes

Growth Rate: Slow

Life Expectancy: Females 25 years / Males 7 years

Recommended Experience Level: Beginner

Aphonopelma bicoloratum, known commonly as the Mexican Blood Leg or Mexican Beauty Tarantula, is very often mistaken for the Brachypelma boehmei that has a similar appearance and whose common name in the hobby is the Mexican Fire Leg, but sometimes labeled the Mexican Blood Leg as well. This is another instance of where common names, while easier to use and remember, can be confusing and unreliable. This species was described in 1996 and is commonly found in the scrub lands and desert areas of South Western Mexico along the Pacific side of the country. This makes the Mexican Blood Leg a New World terrestrial tarantula, meaning that is from the western hemisphere., and that is has urticating hairs though its venom is not considered medically significant. Though this species is fairly docile, urticating hairs can be irritating if they come in contact with your skin. Side effects include itching, redness, bumps, hives and these can be much worse if the hairs come into contact with your eyes, nose or mouth..so always keep your tarantulas away from your face. Though they look similar to the Brachypelma boehmei, the Aphonopelma bicoloratum has a more orange color as opposed to the boehmei’s deeper red coloration. The bicoloratum is also a little smaller when full grown with females growing to about 5 inches with males being a little smaller. Females can live up to 20-25 years while most males seem to live only 5-7 years. This species, like most Aphonopelma species, is very slow growing. Spiderlings start out around 0.5cm and can take over 5 years to reach 3” in size when kept in optimal conditions. Though they are slow growing they are a very docile species. As spiderlings and juveniles they can be a little skittish at times, usually running to hide in their burrow when disturbed, but the larger they grow, the more confident they become and the more they stay out in the open on display. 

  I keep my spiderlings in my basic spiderling enclosures. I use two different types of spiderling enclosures, one is more wide than it is deep and the other is deeper than it is wide. While either of these enclosures will work for this species, I usually keep my Aphonopelmas under 0.5” in the more shallow enclosure, but a modified dram vial will work as well. When housing tarantulas this small, always check to ensure the ventilation holes are not large enough for the sling to escape. The smaller the holes, the better, to avoid escapees. As they get a little larger..around ½-⅔” i move them into the spiderling enclosure that is deeper than wider as these slings tend to like to burrow deep and spend their time at the bottom of their enclosure. I keep the lower levels of the substrate more damp than the top layer to provide a gradient of moisture for the tarantula and accomplish this by dripping water down the corner of the enclosure. I provide the t with a hide, some sphagnum moss and even a small fake plant if there is room..though that is mainly for looks. This t is not a big webber at this size but will spend a lot of time digging and moving substrate around. I keep my spiderling on coco fiber and sometime mix in a little peat moss or top soil to help the substrate retain a little more moisture which is important for spiderlings. 

  As they out grow that enclosure, I move them into my standard terrestial juvenile enclosure that measure 4x4x5” and fill it up ⅔ with substrate. I provide a cork bark hide, water dish, and some sphagnum moss or broken up leaves. I use coco fiber as the main component of the substrate and still provide the moisture gradient by overflowing the water dish in one corner of the enclosure and letting some of that water run down to the bottom layer. 

  Since this is a slow growing species, when they began to reach the sub adult stage around 2.5-3”, i usually move them into a larger juvenile enclosure that is wider than it is deep that provides them with plenty of room to move around while still giving them enough depth to burrow. I provide a hide, water dish, and a few fake plants. I overflow the water dish every week or two and let it dry out before overflowing it again. These T’s seem very comfortable in this style of enclosure, but eventually they will begin to outgrow it and then I move them into a terrestrial enclosure set up in a 2.5 gal style enclosure. This type of enclosure will be fine for this species for many years. I fill up the enclosure at least half way with substrate, making sure there is no more than 1.5x the length of the tarantula between the top of the substrate and the top of the enclosure. This will keep the tarantula safe from trying to climb up the side and across the top of the enclosure where it can easily fall and become harmed if there is too much space for it fall. I provide them with a hide, larger water dish and some decorations. I don’t worry too much about overflowing the water dish as much as they seem to provide the arid conditions, but during the winter when the air is more dry...or when the t is nearing a molt, I will overflow the water dish to provide a damp corner of the enclosure should it need a little more moisture in its enclosure.

 When this tarantula is full grown, you can move it into a larger enclosure if you feel it needs a little more space, but it wont need a enclosure much larger than a 5 gal style. Set it up just like the 2.5 gallon set up and you will have its final enclsoure good to go. 

  When it comes to feeding, I feed my smallest spiderlings Flightless Fruit Flies and flour beetles as well as pre killed nymph roaches or pre killed small crickets, avoiding feeding them any prey larger than the tarantula. If I don't have anything small enough available to feed, i will pre kill the smallest cricket I have and drop it in its enclosure for it to scavenge or just use legs from larger crickets or cut the cricket in half. I always make sure I remove any uneaten prey 24 hours later and never leave uneaten pieces of prey in the enclosure to help prevent mold and mites.

 I feed my juveniles 2 or 3 small - medium crickets once every week or two depending on the size of their abdomen. I don't use any prey larger than ⅔ the size of the tarantula and if i have to feed something larger, i will smash the preys head before dropping it in the enclosure. This species can go weeks without eating, so i always check up on the 24 hours after feeding and remove any prey they didn't eat and try again in a week or two. I normally wait 5-7 days after a molt before feeding a juvenile again. The larger the tarantula, the longer I wait before feeding again to give them plenty of time to harden up. 

 And for adults, I feed my bicoloratum about 4 or 5 large crickets every 2-3 weeks and cut back to once a month as they get closer to premolt and seem less interested in food. I still make sure to remove any uneaten prey and boluses within 24 hours and wait 10-14 days after a molt before attempting to feed again. I also mix up their prey with meal worms, roaches, and other feeders from time to time to give them a little variety in their diet. 

  This is a very docile tarantula, like most Aphonopelma Ts. Mine has never kicked any hairs at me or given me a threat posture, but I am always sure to use a straw or paintbrush to test her temperament before rehousing, maintaining her enclosure or attempting to handle her to make sure she isn’t feeling a little feisty or defensive that day. This tarantula doesn’t web up a whole lot, but as they get larger they will lay day some web along the top of the substrate that they use to sense where any prey might be in their vicinity, so anytime you are in their enclosure, be mindful not to disturb their webbing when possible. And though this t isn’t really known for kicking hair, they can kick hair down on the webbing, especially around their burrow or hide as a form of defense..you will see this a lot when the t is getting close to a molt. So when rehousing or cleaning out an old enclosure, be mindful that their may be some urticating hairs on the webbing and wear gloves or use tongs to avoid any irritation.  And even though this species doesn’t do much burrowing as an adult, it is important to provide plenty of substrate in the enclosure to avoid any risk of fall damage as this t will climb the walls and across the top of their enclosure...especially for the first few months after rehousing. As of right now, I could find no information stating this tarantula is threatened or protected but they are not always the easiest to find available in the hobby. I suspect that is partly because they take so long to grow and mature; also because they aren’t always the easiest to breed. This can lead to them having a price tag that might put them out of reach for some keepers with price tags between $150-$200. As with anything...supply and demand determines price so when there are more people in the market but a limited supply..the price will be a little higher. Hopefully as they become less rare in the hobby and more people are successfully breeding them, they will be a little cheaper.