Holothele Longipes

[jmod]

Greetings All,

We're looking for some general care and husbandry for a holothele longipes we have coming in as a freebie. This one is actually going to my daughter (it's her first t!) who is taking the opportunity to write up a little research paper for elementary school, so any care or firsthand experiences you have as keepers would be incredible, especially on how they change over different molts.

Thanks all!

 

[ColeopteraC]

What stage is it coming in as (spiderling, juvenile etc.)?

Care: Fairly moist (semi dry substrate) in a small critter keeper or a very large deli cup with plenty of anchorage points and a hide, they are pretty heavy webbers . Nothing large as prey or enclosure, remember they are a dwarf species.

Rehousing: This is where the fun begins, as a first t, Holothele are very fast and skittish. To match this always rehouse in a bathtub(drain closed) to avoid escapes. If anyone in your family aren’t arachnophobes(you seem like a good match for the following job)I’d recommend they rehouse in opposition to your daughter(dependent on her age) as if the T were to bolt and she was unprepared things could go badly(for the tarantula, she’d be fine but if s/he were to escape s/he’d likely perish. Simply use long forces and coax it out into its new enclosure, have a catch cup (plastic cup) in hand in order to halt its advance if it bolts. This covers it all really, pretty simple and fun species if you can deal with speed and skittish tendencies.

 

[jmod]

What stage is it coming in as (spiderling, juvenile etc.)?

Care: Fairly moist (semi dry substrate) in a small critter keeper or a very large deli cup with plenty of anchorage points and a hide, they are pretty heavy webbers . Nothing large as prey or enclosure, remember they are a dwarf species.

Rehousing: This is where the fun begins, as a first t, Holothele are very fast and skittish. To match this always rehouse in a bathtub(drain closed) to avoid escapes. If anyone in your family aren’t arachnophobes(you seem like a good match for the following job)I’d recommend they rehouse in opposition to your daughter(dependent on her age) as if the T were to bolt and she was unprepared things could go badly(for the tarantula, she’d be fine but if s/he were to escape s/he’d likely perish. Simply use long forces and coax it out into its new enclosure, have a catch cup (plastic cup) in hand in order to halt its advance if it bolts. This covers it all really, pretty simple and fun species if you can deal with speed and skittish tendencies.

Thanks for the info! I should have mentioned that it is indeed a 3/4" sling, and that we have a small family collection of t's, but this is just her first (and our first h. longipes), so she is excited!

That's good to note about the substrate, I haven't seen that yet. There really isn't a lot of info out there about this species that we can find, so I really appreciate it.

 

[ColeopteraC]

Thanks for the info! I should have mentioned that it is indeed a 3/4" sling, and that we have a small family collection of t's, but this is just her first (and our first h. longipes), so she is excited!

That's good to note about the substrate, I haven't seen that yet. There really isn't a lot of info out there about this species that we can find, so I really appreciate it.

Don’t worry,
You should be fine then, they are a very fun and rewarding mini species. Send piccies when it arrives!

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Same care as N. incei (slightly moist substrate/anchor points).