For about 10 years I had a Mexican Red Banded tarantula as a pet. He (turned out to be a she) was the most beautiful black with these gorgeous flaming red bands at each joint. Kept him in a large aquarium with a glass top and every few months he'd be MIA. Turns out, he was very adept at climbing the glass then using some legs lift the little glass hinged top and crawl on out. Mom always freaked out when she found him him in various places like the ceiling or a curtain.
The first time he molted I freaked out.... I thought he gave birth to another one his same size at first. Then I started to poke the old hull and it didn't move, so I picked it up and studied it. Fascinating how they can grow inside that shell then crack it to emerge again. Man he was H-U-N-G-R-Y after that..... I think he ate five or six crickets in the day following.
Speaking of eating, he loved the black crickets. Little pinkie mice not so much. You could toss a cricket in there and if he was hungry he'd just pounce on it and work his fangs back and forth. Made quick work of a cricket. The next day all you'd see is a little pile of mashed up cricket hull. He'd usually be parked on a little strip of washcloth which had an edge in a small water source. That was how he drank. He'd just plop down on that washcloth and drink.
Sometimes he'd go a month without eating anything, although I was tossing in crickets. Then boom - he'd eat a bunch at a time.
I'd take him out and 'play' with him. We had a 'talk' from the very beginning. I said "Milt - if you ever bite me I'm going to throw you against the wall". He never bit me. lol.... But if he did it would have been a bit on the painful side. I could grab him by the thorax region and flip him upside down to show his fangs. Not kidding here.... his two fangs were like a cat claw if you've ever pulled back the skin around the claws. There were thicker thank cat claws too. The puncture would have been painful at minimum. I was never concerned about the venom as I'm not allergic to anything.
After a few years I found out "Milt" was really "Mildred". How you ask? When I was handling him I noticed he had little hooks on his front legs. Only the females have those and they are used primarily for mating. So my male spider was actually a female but I always kept calling him Milt.
He'd go a month or two without eating and I'd get a bit worried but after a few years got used to that pattern. Sometimes in there he'd molt. Then one time he didn't eat for a couple months, I figured he was in the molting stage and he didn't move. I picked him up and he didn't move, set him back down and he didn't move. I was sad. Old Milt finally died.
I took him to a college speech class once to talk about them. Got an A-. Reason I didn't get an A was the professor thought he was a bit too distracting as I just turned him loose on my shoulder and he was just cruising all over my torso while I was talking about the species.
His defense mechanism was pretty cool.... His entire abdomen was full of hair that was an irritant. If he was aggravated or threatened he would kick his back legs against the abdomen and spin off those hairs. If they got on you, they made you itch. It wasn't horrible, but you knew it if he got some on you.
That was a fun pet.
This is what he looked like (not my pic)
As for your shot Kory? VERY COOL!
.