Trapdoor Spider Care

TRAPDOOR SPIDER CARE GUIDE

These Trapdoor Spiders are residents of south-eastern Queensland. They live within silklined burrows that have no lid. Burrows are of a moderate depth but have been recorded as deep as 40cm. The are usually located in exposed areas where the burrows aren’t covered in leaf litter or debris.

These spiders are ambush hunters that detect the minute vibrations of invertebrates walking past the entrance to their lair. When suitable prey is detected, the spider rushes out of the burrow and seizes its prey with its large downward pointing fangs. The prey is then quickly dragged into the burrow to be consumed. The whole event taking little more than a second or two.

They are long-lived spiders which may live well over 10 years. Females spend their whole lives living within their burrows, whereas mature males will come to the surface to look for females to breed with in their final year of life.

Females produce a white silk egg sac which is suspending inside the burrow with silken cables. The egg sac usually contains well more than a hundred eggs, which hatch within a couple of months. The spiderling remains in the burrow with their mother for a few weeks before dispersing to build their own tiny burrows and begin hunting for themselves.

FOOD:

 Live insects. Crickets are ideal. Insects 1/3 of the size of your spider are a good safe size, although young spiders will take crickets almost their own size. Feeding once or twice a week is recommended, but young spiders will feed more often when they are growing. Remove live insects from your enclosure if your spider is not hungry.

WATER:

 Keeping the substrate moist will ensure your spider doesn’t dehydrate, as sufficient water is usually extracted from the spider’s food. Mist spray the substrate as required, if the spider needs water it will emerge from the burrow to drink from droplets of water and moist substrate around the burrow opening.

HOUSING:

 The enclosure needs to be deep enough to allow the spider to burrow. Screw top tubs make ideal enclosures as do small acrylic terrariums. For juvenile spiders the substrate depth should be a minimum of 5cm, and this can be increased intermittently as the spider grows. Adult spiders require a minimum substrate depth of 10cm. Coco-peat is an ideal substrate and should be kept moist, but not excessively wet or sodden.

These spiders cannot climb smooth surface, but a secure lid is still recommended.

TEMPERATURE:

 Low 20’s is ideal, this species will tolerate temperatures below 10°C periodically and above 25°C. Temperatures approaching 30°C may cause heat stress and death – avoid these higher temperatures.

HUMIDITY:

 It is important to keep a relatively high humidity of around 60-90%.

LIFESPAN:

 Over 5 years, possibly over 10.

HANDLING:

 Not recommended as they can be defensive and give a painful bite.

COMMON ISSUES:

These spiders may go for extended periods without feeding (many weeks) when moulting or during periods of cooler temperatures. As they are burrow dwellers, it can seem difficult to check on them without digging them up and destroying their burrow. Checking at night is best as this is when these spiders will naturally come up to their burrow entrance. Try to minimise vibration when observing these spiders as they are very sensitive to footsteps and vibrations through furniture etc. You may also be able to look down the burrow with a torch to see the spider.

NOTE: These animals are captive bred and should not be released into the wild.