Oh, by the way- now I remember why they said my (California) tarantula was surely a female, without even checking the underside: it was because of her size. The females can live 20-25 years, while the males usually only live to 7 or 8 (10 max), & her "abdomen" was the size of a ping pong ball- she was huge, & all the males I ever saw were so tiny by comparison. I don't know if the lifespan & size differential applies to any other kinds of tarantulas- as I said, my experience with them is very limited, but they're all pretty cool.