The Arizona Blonde Tarantula

This is an Arizona Blonde Tarantula-  I found it walking in my door way tonight as seen in the video below. She is a female as shown by her thick body and tan colors.  Not too far from her was a large male as well.  The male's aren't as thick and are darker in color.

From the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's website you learn the following about this harmless spider-

Distribution and Habitat

The Arizona blond tarantula is typically found in saguaro-dominated plant communities. There are many similar species throughout the desert southwest, but they are difficult to differentiate.

Ecology

Tarantulas are nocturnal predators that never venture far from their burrows unless it is mating season. In winter they plug their burrows with soil, rocks, and silk and survive in a relatively inactive state. During this time the animals live off stored fat reserves.
Tarantulas have an interesting defensive capability in addition to venom. Some of the hairs on the top of the abdomen are specialized for defense. These urticating hairs, as they are called, are tipped with backward pointing barbs. If a tarantula is threatened in any way, it brushes these hairs into the face, paw or other body part of its attacker. Once these hairs are embedded, they are irritating and very difficult to remove because of the barbs.


Male tarantulas mature when they are 10 to 12 years of age, at which time they leave their burrows in search of females. Upon finding the burrow of a mature female—she’s usually at least 10 years old—the male will announce himself by stroking the silk at the top of the burrow and tapping particular sequences that the female responds to. During mating, the male must reach under the female to insert his pedipalp into her gonopore to deposit sperm. He is particularly vulnerable to predation by the female when mating. The male’s first pair of legs has a “spur”located behind the knee which he uses to hold the female above him during copulation. After copulation the male makes a hasty retreat. The female lays her eggs in a burrow, sometimes staying with them. The young remain in the burrow until they disperse.

Here's a picture of what the males look like- The first picture is of an adult that was in the front yard not too far from the above female.  The 2nd is a very young male that was on the back patio a few days ago.  He is only about the size of a half dollar.