Costa Rican Zebra Tarantula (Aphonopelma seemanni)
Aphonopelma, New World June 20th, 2014
The Costa Rican Zebra Tarantula who is also known as the Striped-Knee Tarantula is tarantula from Costa Rica and central America. They grow to be about 4 to 5 inches in length with females living to be anywhere between 15 to 20 years and males usually between 6 to 9 years. They are great for intermediate hobbyists who have some experience with tarantulas already. Widely sought after due to their black abdomen and white striped legs (such stripes as zebras), these terrestrial burrowers dig deep into the Costa Rican rainforests. They are most certainly a great addition for any collector.
Habitat:
At full adult size you are only going to be needing an enclosure that is going to be about 10 gallons in size. They are terrestrial but also burrowers and they can burrow a lot. Make sure you have about 3 to 4 inches of substrate which should also be a mix of peat moss and coconut fiber. They do require a high humidity level of over 75 percent at all times and so we do recommend you dampening the substrate accordingly in addition to overfilling its shallow water dish to keep humidity levels up. We do not recommend misting as it does not seem to help as much. Temperature wise you will be looking at anywhere between 75 to 82 degrees. They normally do not require a hide as they spend quite a bit of time simply staying in their burrowed hole.But you can decorate with perhaps a piece of bark or plant or even both.
Feeding:
A steady diet of dubia roaches or large crickets should be just fine. Should you have a smaller spiderling (sling) you can try simple fruit flies and small pinhead crickets. As always you should only feed it about once a week as that should be plenty. Should you notice its prey still in the enclosure after 24 hours feel free to remove it. Do not let it cause harm or stress to your tarantula.
Attitude:
They are not as docile as people might think they are. They tend to be extremely skittish and will easily either strike a defensive pose before retreating to thier hide or kick its urticating hairs. They can bite but rarely actually do. Their Venom is not dangerous to humans (unless you have specific allergies) and contain a low toxicity level.
All in all the Costa Rican Zebra Tarantula is a great spider to have. The reason we do not recommend them as a beginner species is due to their skittishness and houdini like capabilities as they are great escape artists. They are low maintenance and would make the perfect pet.
Tell us about your Costa Rican Zebra tarantula or ask us any questions about yours. We would love to hear from you! Comment down below.
July 3rd, 2019 at 10:17 am
He isn’t webbing idk if I should wet it cause he might attack me ): Its also my first one please help..
July 19th, 2019 at 2:41 pm
Is it at the right humidity, and if not, then yes you should get a spray bottle from the dollar store and squirt some water in the enclosure to increase humidity.
September 29th, 2019 at 5:27 pm
I have the same one as my first tarantula. She is verrry skittish and pretty docile. I only got her a day ago as of 9/28/19. I haven’t handled and not going to until she settles in for about a week. Her name is Chi-Chi 🙂
December 27th, 2019 at 10:17 pm
Humidity shouldn’t be measured or monitored. And there are only a few rare T’s that need to worry about moisture, this isn’t one. As slings you should keep them alot more moist than other species but once juveniles and above you can keep them on dry sub with water dish at room temps 67-75 perfectly fine.
May 29th, 2020 at 9:42 am
A couple days ago I got my first Aphonopelma see mani sling and I wanted to hold her. I’m a huge critter enthusiast and love handling anything I deem as cute. This little one was chilling on me when I saw it itch his butt as in kicking hairs. 😑why do my tarantulas threaten me AFTER they decide to chill ON me??? Personally I take no offense at this as I find it cute that tiny spiders have these amazing personalities.