These mating hooks are used to restrain the female's fangs, while the male tries to mate with her. If he is successful, his troubles are far from over. He still has to make a quick and skilful getaway. It is often said, mistakenly so, that a female tarantula kills and eats her mate but this is not necessarily the case. In fact about 50 percent of males manage a getaway without being killed, many though, do sustain wounds.
Tarantulas usually live in burrows in the ground.
These burrows may be dug by the spider or abandoned by rodents. Goliaths do not weave webs but do spin silk to create trip wires near their burrows or where the burrow is constructed in crumbling soil. The females deposit 500 to 1000 eggs in a silken egg sac and guard it for 6 to 7 weeks. The young spiders remain in the burrow for some time after hatching and then disperse by crawling in all directions. They do not live in colonies because they would simply eat each other.