Tarantulas: Care & Handling

Housing:
Tarantulas are not social creatures and should be housed one to an enclosure.

For burrowing or terrestrial Tarantulas, the cage should be approximately 3 times its leg span long and 2 times its leg span wide. The height does not have to be much more than the length of the spider.

A 2.5 or 5 gallon aquarium works well. Larger tanks aren’t necessary because your pet Tarantula doesn’t need a lot of extra space and a large tank could make prey harder to find.

The lid has to be secure and adequately ventilated. Flooring can be vermiculite, or vermiculite and a potting soil / peat mixture. The mix should be 2-4 inches deep to hold moisture and allow your pet room to burrow. Do not use wood chips, particularly cedar and pine.

Give your Tarantula a place to hide. This can be a piece of cork bark, hollow log, or half a clay flower pot on its side.

The arboreal (tree dwelling) Tarantulas need a taller cage for climbing room. Equip it with branches, twigs or some other structure on which the spider can construct its web. A 10 gallon aquarium set on end works well.

Lighting:
Tarantulas do not need bright light and should be kept in a darker area of a room where direct sunlight will not fall on the cage. Incandescent lights could potentially dry out a Tarantula, so don’t use these.

Heating strips or pads (types used for reptiles) can be placed under a small part of the cage for heating needs. Most Tarantulas do fine between 75-85 F.

Water Dish:
Your Tarantula’s water dish should be shallow to prevent drowning. Place pebbles in the dish to give your spider something to climb out on if needed.

Temperatures and Humidity:
For Tarantulas that do not require high humidity levels, a shallow water dish in the cage and misting once a week should be sufficient. Those that require higher humidity will need more frequent misting.

Temperature and humidity gauges should be used to monitor conditions. At the higher temperatures, extra care must be taken to ensure adequate humidity levels. At the same time, excess humidity can encourage mould growth and should be avoided.

Cleaning of the Cage:
Cages do not need to be cleaned that often. Tarantulas in lower humidity: once a year unless mould, fungus, or mites are noticed. Pets with more humidity will need their homes cleaned more often.

Feeding:
Tarantulas do well on a diet of crickets, supplemented with other insects. Adults actually eat very little and feeding once a week may be enough. Before moulting, mature Tarantulas can fast for extended periods and a month or two is not uncommon. Growing spiders should be fed several times a week.

You can occasionally feed your Tarantula meal worms, super worms, and roaches. Larger tarantulas can be given pinkie mice and small lizards, but it’s not necessary.

Keep your pets food smaller than the Tarantulas body. With live feeding, you have to be careful the Tarantula isn’t harmed by its prey. Do not feed your pet any wild insects unless you’re positive there is no risk of pesticide exposure.

Moulting:
Spiders grow by shedding their old exoskeleton and producing a new one. This can be a stressful time for Tarantulas and proper humidity levels are critical. They will lie on their backs to moult and the process cab take several hours.

It will take a few days for the new exoskeleton to harden. During this time your Tarantula is vulnerable to injury. It shouldn’t be fed and any uneaten prey has to be removed from the cage. Refrain from handling your pet during this period of moulting and hardening. It could be up to two weeks for your Tarantula to fully recover.

Handling:
Although most Tarantulas aren’t very venomous, they do bite and the bite can be painful. In addition, irritation can result from the itching hairs on the pet’s belly. There is also a danger of your pet falling. With heavy bodied Tarantulas, even small falls can be fatal if the stomach ruptures.

It is not recommended that children handle Tarantulas due to the risk of injury to both the child and your pet.