Meet Gipsy Danger, the Sapphire Peacock Tarantula or The Gooty Ornamental Spider. And she is the gem of my collection. Stunning blues and fractal whites with yellows near her joints.

I given her the name from the Mech in Pacific Rim, as she deserves it. Extremely fast, spicy with very powerful venom. It will not kill a healthy adult human, but it will make tough men cry, with excruciating muscle spasms, flu like symptoms, fevers, anxiety attacks, sever pains and stinging as the venom attacks pain receptors in a vast area from the bite, racing heart, followed by cramps and muscle spasms that can last for days or even weeks. In a sense, she is powerful enough to take down "Kaijus" aka people that are thousands of times her size and mass. And her color as both the mech and her are blue.

I am not joking about her speed. She belongs in a genus called Poecilotheria, aka Tree ornamental spiders. All are known for bursts of speed that human eyes can barely keep up, and powerful venom that can make strong men regret messing with this arachnid. This makes the Poecilotheria, the kings of speed and venom potency of the Old World Tarantulas. Her exact species is Poecilotheria Metallica. And while her blues and striking fractal pattern whites make her a gem in anyone's collection, her species is for the expert or daring only.

It's Gooty name was given for being discovered in 1899 by arachnologist Pocock in a town called Gooty, in India, but was never seen again. Likely a hitchhiker on a train or on cargo carried by elephants. It was discovered again in 2001 in the forested Chittdoor and Kadapah district in central southern India. This is very far from it's original discovery location 100 years ago from it's rediscovery location.

This species is also facing extinction. It's critically endangered, only believed to have only 39 square miles of forested area it calls home left that is being deforested by the locals for farming and homes. Now that it's very rare and its color and beauty is sought by collectors, poachers take these tarantulas to be sold in the pet trade, further reducing their numbers. Even after two decades, and it's rarity going down a bit, it is still hard to find and buy.

Slings (What tarantula collectors as myself call baby spiders) can easily go for 100-200 usd each. And mature male adults go for 200-300 usd, while females can go for 500 or more each. Breeding them is very lucrative, and legal in places that they are allowed to be in around the world because as it stands, the IUCN made this species very illegal to transport out from it's home area. (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

While she is very fast and has very strong venom with a spicy temperament, the sapphire peacock is also the shyest of all the poecilotherias. They rather run than fight and bite their perceived threat. To prevent her from bolting out of her enclosure during feeding, I tap on the glass or the frame of her enclosure. She normally instantly goes hiding before I open the door and release live food into her enclosure. Also. Poecilotherias are known to run around their enclosures at lightning speeds, doing laps inside their enclosures. Why I tap on the tank, to test her temperament. So far she hasn't turned her enclosure into her personal Nascar track.... yet. She rather duck into her tree bark home.