Tarantulas of the World

Breeding report: Neoholothele incei

Olive Mature Female with Olive Mature Male

Begin with female well fed in a somewhat moist but not saturated enclosure, introduce male. If receptive, female will tap back to the male. If there is no tapping from the female, it’s best to try another day.

After witnessing a successful insertion from the male, immediately rehouse the female into a fresh enclosure with saturated substrate (so wet you could squeeze water out of it). Feed female heavily until she webs herself into her chamber.

Incubation times (temps at a constant 83 F)

0-12 days- eggs

12-13 days- EWLs

14-23 days- 1i

23-30 days- 2i

Color forms:

Neoholothele incei has two color forms. The first is the “olive” or wild type, the second being “gold.” Unlike other theraphosid species with recognized colorforms, the color forms of N. incei aren’t locale specific but rather genetic mutations. It is uncertain what type of mutation the gold colorform is, however data is suggesting it is a simple recessive trait. Over the last 6 months I have bred Neoholothele incei extensively, using every combination of colors to prove the gold color form is genetic; here are some of my findings;

To start, I paired each olive female to a gold color form male. This allowed me to determine whether or not said female was heterozygous (het) for the gold gene. We can use punnet squares to predict the outcome of the eggsac, however to do so the genes of the pair must be known, hence my initial pairings. Out of 7 olive females initially bred to gold males, only 1 female of the group produced approximately 50% gold offspring in the sac, with the other 50% being olive. So, that one female was noted to be het for gold while the other 6 were noted as homozygous olive.  (note: a female noted het for gold is still olive colorform, as a gold specimen is inherently homozygous).

As predicted, a gold female mated to a gold male yielded 100% gold slings, and a homozygous olive female mated to a homozygous olive male yielded 100% olive slings. When a heterozygous female was mated to a heterozygous male, the sac was approximately 60% with the rest being olive.

*Note: the colors of offspring within a sac can deviate from the predicted percentages significantly since theraphosids reproduce in rather high numbers compared to other animals.

Homozygous olive female (gg) mated to homozygous gold male (GG), produce offspring heterozygous for gold (gG)

Heterozygous for gold female (gG) Mated to homozygous gold male produce offspring with approzimately half being homozygous gold, and half being heterozygous for gold

A homozygous gold female mated to a homozygous gold male will produce all homozygous gold offspring

A het for gold female mated to a het for gold male yields the most complicated mixture of offspring:

Approximately 25% gold slings, 25% homozygous olive slings, and 50% heterozygous for gold slings. Since the genes of an olive specimen cannot be determined based on phenotype, olive slings from these pairings are typically labeled 66% possible het, as there is a 66% chance that thany one olive sling from this sac is het for gold.

Article by Jonah Lazich

Photos by Jonah Lazich/Bellinghamarachnids

The Trinidad Dwarf Tiger Tarantula is a species native of Trinidad and Tobago and certain parts of Venezuela. This is a very small species and mature most times within a year with tarantulas only tending to be between 2 to 3 inches in length. They are hardy but have a shorter life span then most other species. This is a well loved species and definitely a great pet for any collection.

Habitat:

Being that they are very small tarantulas you will not need much to house them. As spiderlings they can easily be kept in pill vials filled half with substrate. As full grown adults they will not require more then a 2.5 gallon enclosure. They are obligate burrowers so make sure you have plenty of substrate for them to do so. Your substrate should be damp but not too wet. For this we recommend coconut fiber substrate. A hide can be added such as a piece of bark as a start up for their burrowing. They are most of the time underground but are very active once above ground. As always you should always have a fresh water dish readily available. We recommend a temperature of 77 to 83 degrees with a humidity level of about 75 percent.

Feeding:

Don’t let size fool you, these animals can take down same sized prey with ease. They are insectivores and so you want to make sure you feed them appropriately. We recommend you feed them flightless fruit flies as slings and slowly upgrade to small pinhead crickets to eventually large pinhead crickets and even b.dubia cockroaches. Feeding should be done once a week and should your tarantula not eat its prey within 24 hours remove the prey from its enclosure. It could be that he/she is in pre-molt stages and you will want to make sure you do not stress him/her out.

Attitude:

The Trinidad Dwarf Tiger Tarantula is very fast. Though they are mostly docile we recommend you not handling them due to their speed. They come equipped with urticating hairs and though they might not be known for biting it does not mean they do not bite should they feel threatened. Their bite is equivalent to a bee sting and their venom harmless to humans.

All in all we recommend the Trinidad Dwarf Tiger Tarantula as a great new world tarantula for an intermediate to expert keeper. Due to its speed we do not recommend this for a novice hobbyist. It is a great tarantula for any collection.

Tell us about your C. elegans we’d love to hear from you! Comment down below!

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