Tarantulas of the World

The Trinidad Olive Tarantula (Once just Holothele incei) is a small species of tarantula from the rainforests of Trinidad. At full grown size these tarantulas only end up having a leg span of about 3 to 3.5 inches for females and about 1.5 to 3 inches for males. Females can live between 10 to 15 years while males live to be about 3 to 5 years. They grow fairly quickly and have a voracious appetite being able to take down prey their own size. Mating in captivity is fairly easy but is fairly short with males drumming for minutes and doing the deed within 30 minutes. This species is also known for having the ability to lay multiple egg sacs which may range from 30 to 125+ slings. They are known to be communal but we recommend you not chancing any sort of cannibalism. This species in the hobby is known for having an olive color form and a hobby species gold color form due to an unknown mutation.

Gold form female

Olive form female with eggsack

Habitat:

At the most you will ever need for a full grown H.incei would be a 5 gallon tank. This should have a very deep substrate due to the Trinidad Olive being an obligate burrower. We recommend about 5 inches of substrate, preferably a coconut fiber mix, make sure it is damp. In addition it is a very heavy webber and within days that tank will be covered in silk. Temperature wise we would recommend you keep your tank anywhere between 70 to 75 degrees with a humidity level of 65 to 70 percent. A hide is not needed as chances are it will never get used. A shallow water dish can be used but due to their dwarf size we recommend you stick to something as small as a bottle cap to prevent your tarantula from drowning should it need to drink. Misting is optional but can be done lightly to keep humidity levels up.

Feeding:

Do not let the small size of the Trinidad Olive Tarantula fool you. They have a ravenous appetite and will take down insects their own size with ease. A nice healthy diet of crickets, cockroaches, locusts should be just fine. We do not recommend meal worms as these will waste no time digging and hiding in all the substrate in the enclosure. Feeding should happen just about once a week and should be halted as soon as you see your tarantula in pre-molt stages.

 Attitude:

The Trinidad Olive Tarantula are quite docile. They do come equipped with urticating hairs but would rather run and hide then try to defend itself. Their bite is equivalent to a bee sting and venom very mild. Though small they have tremendous speed which is why we do not recommend handling them. The slightest fall can easily cause severe/life threatening injuries to your tarantula. Visit https://www.helpincolorado.com/ to get legal help in any emergency situation.

All in all this is a great hardy tarantula for any collection. Though communal we recommend you to keep your tarantula by itself. We also recommend this to be a tarantula for a more intermediate to expert hobbyist due to their rapid speed and housing environment.

As always, tell us about your Holothele incei. We would love to hear from you. Comment down below!

Photo credit: Jonah Lazich @bellinghamarachnids

What are New World (NW) and Old World (OW) tarantulas?

This seems to be asked a lot in the tarantula community and a lot of people are actually shocked at how simple the answer is. New World Tarantulas are species originally discovered in North, Middle and South America. While Old World Tarantulas come from Africa, Asia, Australia and parts of Europe.

(OW) The cobalt blue tarantula (Haplopelma lividum)       (NW) The Mexican Flame Knee (Brachypelma auratum)

What are the differences between the two?

Most New World tarantulas tend to be much slower then their counterpart Old World Tarantulas. Of course there are some exceptions especially for certain Genus’ (example: Psalmopoeus and Ephepobus). As most spiderlings are fast the aforementioned Genus’ are particularly fast.

Most Old World Tarantulas are a lot different from (NW). They are by far faster in speed and if not handling properly will easily bolt away from you.

Defenses:

(NW) Tarantulas have a lot of weapons of attack before resorting to biting. It’s primary form of defense is it’s urticating hairs which they shake off from their abdomen or pedipalps (depending on the genus). These small fine hairs cause immense irritation if stuck on your skin, eyes or even inhaled. Should some get lodged into your eyes you should flush it with water or seek medical attention. You might also see them go into a threat posture if you disturb them too much or they need you to back off which usually consists of them raising their front legs showing their fangs. For some species of New World tarantulas they have a defense mechanism called the poop cannon (such as the avicularia genus), though not painful or venomous it certainly is uncomfortable to get pooped on. These are all mostly indications given to you by your New World tarantula to not bother him/her before they try biting which though not potent in venom is still painful.

(OW) Tarantulas tend to be very aggressive and fast. They mostly do not have urticating hairs or other forms of defense and rely heavily on their strong bite and potent venom. Because of their lack of defenses you should handle them with utmost care (though we do not recommend you handling them at all). When threatened they go straight into a defensive stance and some even make noises by exhaling through their mouths and it even sounds aggressive. You can easily get bit by one of these tarantulas before you can even react due to their hostile behavior and speed. Though there has never been a reported case of a death from a human due to tarantula venom some old world tarantulas have a venom potent enough to cause serious pains in addition to sending you to the hospital requiring medical assistance.

To generalize New World tarantulas are more docile then Old World tarantulas and easier to handle (of course there are some exceptions). All in all do your homework as best possible when choosing either a (NW) or (OW) tarantula as a pet. We do recommend you only acquiring an (OW) once you have become a more experienced hobbyist and not as your first tarantula.

The Mexican Redknee Tarantula is perhaps one of the most famous of all tarantulas. Used in movies, commercials, magazines and even newspapers due to its amazing colors. They originate from south-western Mexico and have become a very common New World tarantula kept as a pet. Once thought to be endangered its numbers have grown quite a bit, especially due to how easily these animals breed in captivity. Now they are one of the most sought after species and surely an easy find at any exotic expo throughout the world.

Habitat:

Being a native of the hills of the south-west Mexico these animals love the dryness the key is to keep your substrate relatively dry to replicate their arid environment in the wild. Make sure to at least refill your tarantula’s water dish once a week with fresh clean water and simply overfill it to dampen just a slight patch of your substrate. This should create adequate humidity for your tarantula. As always we would recommend a terrarium anywhere between 5 to 10 gallons depending on your tarantula’s size with about 2 to 3 inches of it filled with the substrate of your choice such as eco-earth. This species has been known to burrow so make sure to also add something it can use as housing such as half a florwepot into the substrate. You can add decorations such as plants to your enclosure but your redknee will not care for it.

Feeding:

Your Mexican Redknee Tarantula usually eats crickets and meal-worms but when big can even eat a cockroach or two. A full grown redknee will eat 1 or 2 large crickets a week but can sometimes go as far at 6 months without wanting to eat. As long as you see its abdomen remaining big in size you should not worry about it not eating. They are slow moving and most of the time will either strike fast as soon as you put a cricket in its enclosure or will not do anything at all. Do not leave the insect in the enclosure if you notice it not being eaten within 24 hours.

Attitude:

Though extremely docile the redknee does have some defenses when threatened. It’s a new world spider and therefor does come equipped with urticating hairs which it will flick off its abdomen should it feel intimidated. Should they feel vulnerable they also to rear up and show their fangs. So as always test the waters before trying to handle them to see what mood they are in. A simple approach would be to gently nudge it from behind with an elongated Q-Tip before trying to pick it up.

This tarantula is rather sluggish which makes it very easy to handle.  The Mexican Redknee tarantula is quite slow at growing. Mine grew from a 1 inch sling (spider-ling) to about 5 inches over the course of 5 years. The males will live a good 5 to 6 years while females can live upwards of 30 years with ease.  All in all we would recommend this as a first time beginner tarantula due to its low maintenance, being very submissive and also easy to handle.