Lavender came to the Museum in 2016 when we accepted a number of education animals that were being rehomed from the North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier, VT.  She was an unwanted pet prior to that, who had been donated to the Nature Center.

Chilean Rose-Hair Tarantulas are not native to North America.  They are found wild in the deserts and arid scrub lands of Chile, Peru and Bolivia.  Little is known about wild Rose-Hair populations but they are likely threatened by mining, habitat loss and collection for the pet trade.  Tens of thousands are imported into the US and Europe each year from the wild, despite an export ban passed in Chile in 2015.