Trap Door Spider Questions

[Walker253]

I'm getting my first Trapdoor Spider next week. It's a Ummidia sp from AZ. I've never had a Trapdoor before and know little about them. There's not much online.

The big question is what type of container should I use (size) and how should I set it up? The spider is about 1-1.5"

Also, not that there's any real need to interact with it, what's the temperament? Am I getting an OBT or a G pulchra? How bad is the bite?

Anything else anybody cares to share would be great. Thanks in advance

 

[cr4igo]

I'm getting my first Trapdoor Spider next week. It's a Ummidia sp from AZ. I've never had a Trapdoor before and know little about them. There's not much online.

The big question is what type of container should I use (size) and how should I set it up? The spider is about 1-1.5"

Also, not that there's any real need to interact with it, what's the temperament? Am I getting an OBT or a G pulchra? How bad is the bite?

Anything else anybody cares to share would be great. Thanks in advance

I've been using a standard acrylic container from containerstore.com 7|8 inches tall with about 5 inches of substrate. My gorgyrella sp is about 2 inches. She seems to be doing well with that setup. I've "eye" measured how deep the burrow goes and its about 3 inches or so. Just to set your expectations...You're buying a pet hole... I was really excited about getting mine and then after observing it... I noticed she rarely shows. I've heard mixed things about the bite.

 

[Walker253]

I've been using a standard acrylic container from containerstore.com 7|8 inches tall with about 5 inches of substrate. My gorgyrella sp is about 2 inches. She seems to be doing well with that setup. I've "eye" measured how deep the burrow goes and its about 3 inches or so. Just to set your expectations...You're buying a pet hole... I was really excited about getting mine and then after observing it... I noticed she rarely shows. I've heard mixed things about the bite.

I own a few "pet holes". The challenging part is to sneak in the room at night with a red light to observe them.

What kind of substrate do you use?

 

[chanda]

I've never had an Ummidia - just an African trapdoor spider - but when I kept her, I had her in roughly a 1.5-2-gallon round plastic cage with about 6" of substrate for her to burrow in. Talk about a pet hole! They're so incredibly sensitive to vibration that even coming in at night with the red light never worked. I'd try feeding her and watch for her to come out - but she'd wait until after I was long gone. The only times I ever got to see her was a couple of times when I wanted to show her to my students so I pulled up her entire burrow (it looked sort of like a small and very dirty little sock) and dumped her out of it. She'd stay up on top and sulk for a day or two - then disappear again.

 

[scoloclown]

you're definitely getting an OBT, probably even grumpier. they are extremely aggressive, at least the African trap doors. not sure about the ones from AZ but i'd imagine they're the same way. but you won't be interacting with it much. if you're lucky it might burrow down the side of the enclosure so you can see it. even then it's web is pretty thick. i like these guys a lot and i'm thinking of getting another one.