Phormictopus auratus — Fact Sheet

Phormictopus auratus · Phormictopus auratus

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Adult enclosure: 60 × 45 × 35 cm (length × width × height).

• Height includes substrate. Keep the open drop above it short, with no hard landing surfaces; enlarge the footprint for an unusually large adult.

• Starter housing: small secure ventilated cup with a moisture gradient

• Secure enclosure with hides, water, ventilation, and visual cover

• Avoid loose lids, excess fall height, unstable heavy decor, and unregulated heat

• Use deep substrate and keep fall height low

• Keep a catch cup ready before opening the enclosure

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Warm and cool retreats

• Water dish sized safely for the animal

• Deep substrate for tarantulas; branches/perches for active or semi-arboreal snakes

• Rough safe surfaces for shedding or molting

• Starter burrow or cork retreat that can be inspected indirectly

• Moisture gradient rather than uniformly wet substrate

💡 Lighting

• 10-12 hour day-night cycle
• UVB optional for most snakes; not required for tarantulas
• No visible night light
• Avoid bright drying lamps over tarantulas

🌡️ Temperature

• Target: 24-28 °C with a slight night drop
• Use a real gradient and measure both warm and cool zones
• Control reptile heat with thermostats
• Avoid heat rocks, unguarded bulbs, and overheating

💧 Humidity & water

Moisture management: Follow the substrate gradient below; no fixed air-humidity percentage is prescribed.

Keep fresh water available in a stable dish sized for the animal. Avoid stale wet air. Too much dryness can cause dehydration and poor molts, but constantly wet substrate encourages mold, mites, and unhealthy enclosure conditions.

Moisten a corner deeply and let the upper surface dry instead of misting the whole enclosure. Spiderlings need the lower layers checked more often because small ventilated cups lose water quickly. Persistent condensation means the balance of watering and ventilation is wrong, even if a humidity gauge displays the target number.

🪳 Diet

Feed regularly:

• roaches, crickets, locusts, and occasional worms; remove prey during premolt

In moderation:

• Seasonal adjustments by body condition and growth

• Adjust feeding by abdomen shape, not begging response

• Remove uneaten prey during premolt or within 24 hours

Avoid:

• Oversized prey, wild-caught feeders, and uneaten insects during premolt

Supplements:

• None for whole-prey snakes or tarantulas eating good feeder insects

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Retained shed, bad molt, or stuck eye caps
• Wheezing, bubbles, or open-mouth breathing
• Regurgitation or refusal to feed with weight loss
• Burns, mites, swelling, wounds, or fall injury
• Sudden lethargy, constant soaking, or repeated escape attempts Consult an experienced reptile/exotics veterinarian for severe or persistent signs.
• Shriveled abdomen or weak posture → dehydration or decline
• Failed molt, leaking injury, or curled legs → urgent specialist help
• Keep written molt and feeding dates
• Never disturb a tarantula lying on its back to molt