Typhochlaena seladonia - From sling to subadult

Marcostaco

Arachnobaron
Joined
Aug 8, 2020
Messages
427
This is just my experience, how I've cared for and raised them from 1/3" slings to the present.

So before I even thought about purchasing these slings, I've already read tons of threads about them. After that, I went ahead and asked the best person I know about this stuff, the forefront breeder of T. seladonia in Canada; Martin Gamache. He confirmed that I should keep them like any Aviculariinae species; lots of ventilation and dry substrate to avoid moisture build up in the enclosure. One of the most important thing he told me is not to panic about them not building a trapdoor right away as some take time and can even take a couple of molts before building a trapdoor.


So that's what I did. The 3 T. seladonia slings arrived August of 2021, all 3 were the same size at about 1/3" . I kept them in small dram vials, ventilation all the way around and dry substrate. I fed them prekilled crickets, all ate pretty well. For moisture and hydration, I would spray the sides of the dram vials and sometimes even the corkbark. I never let the substrate get moist to the bottom, only the top parts; the dram vials would dry up rather quickly because of the amount of ventilation. I would spray 2 times a week.

Pictures on the first day

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None of them made a trapdoor while they were in the dram vials.


They were molting quite steadily. At about 3-4 molts in, they were outgrowing the dram vials. I've decided to already put them in their permanent enclosures. Same set up as before corkbark, dry substrate, ventilation all the way around(except on the front) and this time I've added a waterdish. I would still spray their enclosures but this time I did more sparingly and only sprayed the removable top part of the enclosure. After a few weeks in their new permanent enclosures, one finally made a trapdoor; it only took about 30 mins or so from start to finish. I knew this because I peaked at it before eating dinner, it was out in the open. After eating dinner, I took a look again, lo and behold a trapdoor was built. A few weeks had past and another one built its trapdoor. A few months and the last T. seladonia had finally built its trapdoor, although this one took its time building; if I recall correctly it took a while week constructing its trapdoor. Another thing to note is that I never offered live prey until they've had their trapdoors because when I tried, they would get too spooked even when the feeder is considerably smaller. When they did have their trapdoors, they were readily taking prey as big as them.

I feel like I've been consistent with them to this day and they're all still doing really good with steady growth rates and molts.

Actively going out of its trapdoor to take a drink
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One of my females out of the 3. She is about 1.25" today.

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viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
18,045
This is very informative.
The spooking is exactly what another early owner of these said too!! I find this so odd, makes me wonder how they are in the wild.

what exactly did you use for sub, and trap door building supplies?

Id be interested in seeing an example of how much you misted?

and did you drill holes in cork to serve astheir home for trapdoor assembly? If so, howwide and deep were the holes?
 

Marcostaco

Arachnobaron
Joined
Aug 8, 2020
Messages
427
This is very informative.
The spooking is exactly what another early owner of these said too!! I find this so odd, makes me wonder how they are in the wild.

what exactly did you use for sub, and trap door building supplies?

Id be interested in seeing an example of how much you misted?

and did you drill holes in cork to serve astheir home for trapdoor assembly? If so, howwide and deep were the holes?
For substrate, I just have cocofiber. For trapdoor building I crushed some sphagnum moss, crushed corkbark and the main corkbark had natural lichen. But each specimen had a different preference for material to make their trapdoors. One chose just the lichen on the corkbark, one other used sphagnum moss that it chewed into smaller pieces, then it chewed out smaller pieces from the main corkbark in its enclosure, the last one used a mix of substrate, lichen and sphagnum moss. It's really interesting.

For misting, I really didn't want to over do it. I just made sure that they had water droplets to drink from.

I did try that. Early on, I've drilled some holes on their corkbarks and placed some crush moss at the edge or inside of the holes to hopefully initiate them from making a trapdoor. But never did, they never adapted to those artificially created crevices. Before I rehoused them to their permanent enclosures, I picked out corkbarks that had natural cracks and crevices. Then nature just took place, I guess they didn't want the holes that were drilled lol
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
18,045
For substrate, I just have cocofiber. For trapdoor building I crushed some sphagnum moss, crushed corkbark and the main corkbark had natural lichen. But each specimen had a different preference for material to make their trapdoors. One chose just the lichen on the corkbark, one other used sphagnum moss that it chewed into smaller pieces, then it chewed out smaller pieces from the main corkbark in its enclosure, the last one used a mix of substrate, lichen and sphagnum moss. It's really interesting.

For misting, I really didn't want to over do it. I just made sure that they had water droplets to drink from.

I did try that. Early on, I've drilled some holes on their corkbarks and placed some crush moss at the edge or inside of the holes to hopefully initiate them from making a trapdoor. But never did, they never adapted to those artificially created crevices. Before I rehoused them to their permanent enclosures, I picked out corkbarks that had natural cracks and crevices. Then nature just took place, I guess they didn't want the holes that were drilled lol
Holes- ok, so basically as they grow you need to keep buying new cork!
 

arthurliuyz

Arachnoknight
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Dec 17, 2021
Messages
274
Thanks for the info!
One question - is using solely prekilled dubia nymphs that are just born and super tiny and chopped up mealworms as a diet alright? Not a big fan of crickets.
 

Marcostaco

Arachnobaron
Joined
Aug 8, 2020
Messages
427
Thanks for the info!
One question - is using solely prekilled dubia nymphs that are just born and super tiny and chopped up mealworms as a diet alright? Not a big fan of crickets.
Of course! As long as they eat. Although for smaller specimens like slings you might want to offer them smaller mealworms as their small fangs can't penetrate through the mealworms' hard exoskeleton making it hard for them or sometimes impossible to eat. I've used large superworms for my slings before when I had no other option. What I did was, I cut up the worms and made sure to squeeze until a good amount of the worm's guts were out; worked perfectly.
 

curtisgiganteus

ArachnoViking, Conqueror of Poikilos and Therion
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Messages
526
Would you
This is just my experience, how I've cared for and raised them from 1/3" slings to the present.

So before I even thought about purchasing these slings, I've already read tons of threads about them. After that, I went ahead and asked the best person I know about this stuff, the forefront breeder of T. seladonia in Canada; Martin Gamache. He confirmed that I should keep them like any Aviculariinae species; lots of ventilation and dry substrate to avoid moisture build up in the enclosure. One of the most important thing he told me is not to panic about them not building a trapdoor right away as some take time and can even take a couple of molts before building a trapdoor.


So that's what I did. The 3 T. seladonia slings arrived August of 2021, all 3 were the same size at about 1/3" . I kept them in small dram vials, ventilation all the way around and dry substrate. I fed them prekilled crickets, all ate pretty well. For moisture and hydration, I would spray the sides of the dram vials and sometimes even the corkbark. I never let the substrate get moist to the bottom, only the top parts; the dram vials would dry up rather quickly because of the amount of ventilation. I would spray 2 times a week.

Pictures on the first day

View attachment 426155

View attachment 426156
None of them made a trapdoor while they were in the dram vials.


They were molting quite steadily. At about 3-4 molts in, they were outgrowing the dram vials. I've decided to already put them in their permanent enclosures. Same set up as before corkbark, dry substrate, ventilation all the way around(except on the front) and this time I've added a waterdish. I would still spray their enclosures but this time I did more sparingly and only sprayed the removable top part of the enclosure. After a few weeks in their new permanent enclosures, one finally made a trapdoor; it only took about 30 mins or so from start to finish. I knew this because I peaked at it before eating dinner, it was out in the open. After eating dinner, I took a look again, lo and behold a trapdoor was built. A few weeks had past and another one built its trapdoor. A few months and the last T. seladonia had finally built its trapdoor, although this one took its time building; if I recall correctly it took a while week constructing its trapdoor. Another thing to note is that I never offered live prey until they've had their trapdoors because when I tried, they would get too spooked even when the feeder is considerably smaller. When they did have their trapdoors, they were readily taking prey as big as them.

I feel like I've been consistent with them to this day and they're all still doing really good with steady growth rates and molts.

Actively going out of its trapdoor to take a drink
View attachment 426158

View attachment 426159

One of my females out of the 3. She is about 1.25" today.

View attachment 426160
Would you mind if I picked you brain on care for these guys? Mine seem to be doing fine but anything that can help me understand their care better would be greatly appreciated.
 

curtisgiganteus

ArachnoViking, Conqueror of Poikilos and Therion
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Messages
526
Sure, no problem
Mine are close to half an inch and will outgrow the 40 dram vials I currently have them in soon, what would you recommend moving them into and at what size should I move them?
 

Marcostaco

Arachnobaron
Joined
Aug 8, 2020
Messages
427
Mine are close to half an inch and will outgrow the 40 dram vials I currently have them in soon, what would you recommend moving them into and at what size should I move them?
Mine are close to half an inch and will outgrow the 40 dram vials I currently have them in soon, what would you recommend moving them into and at what size should I move them?
I have my guys in 4" x 4" x 7.25 amac enclosures and that'll most probably be their permanent enclosures; given their size and dormant nature.

I moved them in there when I knew that if they wanted to expand their trapdoors, they simply wouldn't have the space to do so.
 

Marcostaco

Arachnobaron
Joined
Aug 8, 2020
Messages
427
UPDATE

My T. seladonia specimens turned out to be 3 females. I've contacted a friend to ask if he has males from his stock and if he could sell me one.

He instead gave me 3 small juvenile males to raise to maturity so we could use them for both mine and his females. A cooperative T. seladonia breeding project is now in the works!

This friend of mine has produced the very first T. seladonia egg sacs in Canada and successfully produced multiple sacs in a single year so the future is looking bright!
 

waynerowley

Arachnosquire
Joined
Apr 5, 2021
Messages
78
Here’s mine, He/she nearing an inch in leg span. Yesterday it came out of its trap door, not sure why.

4861E473-1ECF-42A1-9FE3-211454D5D88A.jpeg

What size were you able to sex them from the moults?

Wayne
 
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