# Trapdoor Spider care ?



## Mandiblehead (Aug 8, 2016)

So ANyone around here know about the trapdoors ?  I can get the Tanzanian golden leg, or Tanzanian Spotted. Both females unfortunatly I rther would have a male, as they would exit and wonder from time totime.   they both had the same scientific name  accpording to the site
http://www.arachnophiliacs.com/tar.html
ANyone know whats required for there care ? are they easy ? substrate , water dish kind of thing ?


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## Chris LXXIX (Aug 8, 2016)

Those common names (and common names in general) means not that much to me but I have more or less the idea about the African trapdoors you mentioned. They aren't hard at all to care, they need lots of substrate, obviously.

1.0 or 0.1 I wouldn't count on that, they live down under. Feeding time, when their trap is "activated" is the most exciting moment, for the rest a "substrate only" enclosure. Venom as far as I know is a nice punch, but I doubt strong like _P.murinus_ one.

I've never owned one, nor I plan to, honestly I'm not fond of those too much but the people here in Italy with African trapdoors never used a water dish, unlike for their T's.


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## Mandiblehead (Aug 8, 2016)

Chris LXXIX said:


> Those common names (and common names in general) means not that much to me but I have more or less the idea about the African trapdoors you mentioned. They aren't hard at all to care, they need lots of substrate, obviously.
> 
> 1.0 or 0.1 I wouldn't count on that, they live down under. Feeding time, when their trap is "activated" is the most exciting moment, for the rest a "substrate only" enclosure. Venom as far as I know is a nice punch, but I doubt strong like _P.murinus_ one.
> 
> I've never owned one, nor I plan to, honestly I'm not fond of those too much but the people here in Italy with African trapdoors never used a water dish, unlike for their T's.


scientific is the (_Ctenizidae_ sp.) same one was used for the golden leg, aswell as the spotted trap door, thats why I sent a link


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## Chris LXXIX (Aug 8, 2016)

Mandiblehead said:


> scientific is the (_Ctenizidae_ sp.) same one was used for the golden leg, aswell as the spotted trap door, thats why I sent a link


I know. We have some folks of that family here in Italy as well, natives... mostly in Sardegna island and in the Southern part. The care is easy.


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## pannaking22 (Aug 8, 2016)

Taxonomically incorrect on their site since that's a family name (ending in -dae), so it shouldn't be italicized. Nit-picky I know, but I'm a taxonomist lol  Keep them reasonably moist (don't need a water dish, just mist fairly frequently), several inches of substrate that they can easily burrow into and you should be in good shape! Don't be too surprised if it takes them a couple days to start settling in and building their burrows. If you want, you can even get one started for them by making an indentation in the substrate where they can start since it's a natural hole for them already.


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## chanda (Aug 8, 2016)

Don't plan on seeing them very often. I've tried keeping trapdoors before, and it seems like they're basically just a pet hole. The ones I've had were so incredibly sensitive to vibration that they'd know when you walked into the room or opened the enclosure to feed them - and refuse to come out until after I was long gone, even if the cricket was walking all over the trip lines.


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## Mandiblehead (Aug 8, 2016)

chanda said:


> Don't plan on seeing them very often. I've tried keeping trapdoors before, and it seems like they're basically just a pet hole. The ones I've had were so incredibly sensitive to vibration that they'd know when you walked into the room or opened the enclosure to feed them - and refuse to come out until after I was long gone, even if the cricket was walking all over the trip lines.


Oh wow.  Id think theyd get use to you after a while did you have it in a room you didnt spend alot of time in ? perhaps if hes in an area where there more people and things arond more often hed get more comftorble and less nervous of you ?


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## chanda (Aug 8, 2016)

Mandiblehead said:


> Oh wow.  Id think theyd get use to you after a while did you have it in a room you didnt spend alot of time in ? perhaps if hes in an area where there more people and things arond more often hed get more comftorble and less nervous of you ?


They spent most of their time in my "bug room" where we keep all of our caged pets (assorted inverts - mostly tarantulas - plus a few reptiles). We typically only go in there a couple of times a day - to feed and water whatever needs it, turn on/off lights, open or close windows, and refill the humidifier. I did, however, have them in a classroom during the summers (for 4 weeks at a time) where there were plenty of people moving around - and it didn't seem to make much difference. The reason I bought them was so I could show my students how they caught their prey - but the kids never did get to see them do anything. The entire time I owned them, I only ever saw them catch prey maybe a couple of times. Other than that, I only ever saw them after a rehouse - for the few days until they settled in to their new homes - and when I did a "life check" by opening up the tunnel (after having not seen one of them for nearly a year!). Needless to say, I've given up on trapdoor spiders.


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