Spider 'supermum' has 95 babies

Ninety five baby tarantulas have successfully hatched at Longleat wildlife park in Wiltshire.

Their mother, a Chilean rose tarantula named Rosie, deposited the eggs in early July in the middle of a web.

She carried the egg sac around with her for a month, before it was removed by keepers to prevent the babies from eating one another.

The baby tarantulas are the first to be born at Longleat and are now thriving on a diet of flies.

'Cannibalistic tendencies'

Kim Tucker, a keeper at Longleat, said: "Spiders can never be classed as the most romantic of animals.

"Dad is generally the smaller of the two and mum will often eat him to keep her strength up.

"The babies can also show cannibalistic tendencies hence why we removed the egg sac from Rosie.

"It's been a bit of a learning experience for me as this is my first spider birth.

"With some tender loving care and hunting for the right foodstuffs however - fruit flies seemed to be a firm favourite of these miniscule creatures - all seem to be doing well."

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