Tliltocatl kahlenbergi — Fact Sheet

Tliltocatl kahlenbergi · Tliltocatl kahlenbergi

Full care guide and sources

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

An adult can be kept in a terrestrial enclosure around 30 x 30 x 30 cm with 10 cm or more of firm diggable substrate, a starter burrow, cork bark, and a shallow water dish. Extra height is less useful than floor security and fall prevention.

🪨 Substrate and furnishings

Decoration should solve husbandry problems. Useful decor creates a secure retreat, a burrow start, shaded routes, stable footing, and a protected path to water. Decorative clutter that blocks access is a liability.

Use firm substrate, cork bark, bark slabs, leaf litter, and visual barriers in a way that supports the species’ terrestrial retreat style. Do not repeatedly destroy a stable burrow just to make the enclosure look tidy. Remove moldy food remains, dead feeders, and wet waste, but leave clean working structure alone.

💡 Lighting

Normal room lighting is enough. UVB is not required, and bright basking lamps are more likely to dry or overheat the enclosure than to improve care. A regular day-night rhythm helps observation and feeding routines.

Quarantine new arrivals in a simple, secure setup before moving them into a finished display enclosure. During quarantine, watch hydration, posture, mite load, waste, injuries, feeding response, and whether the spider can retreat without being trapped in a wet corner.

🌡️ Temperature

• Daytime air: 20-26 °C
• Cool zone: 18-21 °C
• Night: 18-21 °C

💧 Humidity and water

Keep the surface mostly dry with a water dish and one slightly moister lower substrate zone. Periodic overflow of the dish or targeted dampening is usually better than spraying the whole enclosure.

Water should be available at all times in a shallow stable dish. Spiderlings can use a very small dish, dampened substrate patch, or carefully managed water source, but they should not be left in a dry container simply because they are small.

Ventilation is part of humidity control. If the enclosure smells sour, stays wet for days, grows heavy mold, or has condensation that never clears, reduce water input and improve air exchange before blaming the species.

🪳 Feeding

Feed appropriately sized crickets, roaches, locusts, and occasional mealworms or other safe feeder insects. Prey should usually be no larger than the spider’s abdomen or body length, and it should be removed if not eaten. Never leave live prey with a tarantula that is in premolt, freshly molted, weak, or trapped in a retreat.

Adults often do well with one suitable feeder every 7-14 days, adjusted by body condition. Slings need smaller prey more often, but they also need uneaten prey removed before it damages the spider during a molt.

Refusal is not automatically a problem. Check recent molts, abdominal condition, temperature, disturbance, prey size, and whether the animal can drink. Weight loss, a shriveled abdomen, abnormal posture, or repeated failed molts are more important warning signs than a single missed meal.

☠️ Safety

A bite from Tliltocatl kahlenbergi can cause puncture wounds, pain and swelling. Human bite reports are too uneven to predict an individual reaction or assign a precise venom potency to every species. Do not interpret a quiet animal or a “mild venom” label as permission to handle it.

Urticating hairs are a separate hazard: they can irritate skin and injure eyes. Avoid rubbing exposed skin or eyes; suspected eye exposure needs prompt medical assessment. Keep your face away from the enclosure and wear eye protection and gloves when removing molts or used substrate.

Use long tools and a catch cup, with a second containment tub for transfers in a closed room. Keep hands out of retreats and webbing, do not hand-feed, and do not chase an escaping spider. Keep transfers low to limit fall injuries to the animal.

After a bite, wash the wound with soap and water and contact a poison centre or medical service with the scientific name and time of exposure. Seek urgent care for severe or spreading pain, muscle cramps or persistent symptoms; call emergency services for breathing difficulty, throat swelling or collapse. Do not cut the wound or try to extract venom. Treatment focuses on wound assessment and symptom control under medical supervision.

🩺 Health — warning signs

The main preventable problems are stale wet substrate, dehydration, falls from unnecessary height, abdomen injuries, moldy food remains, mites around leftovers, and urticating hair exposure. Most are husbandry-access problems: the keeper cannot water, feed, or clean without disturbing the retreat or leaving waste behind.

If something looks wrong, first verify temperature, hydration, ventilation, water access, prey size, retreat fit, recent disturbance, and molt timing. Serious trauma, leaking hemolymph, persistent abnormal posture, breathing difficulty, or a trapped molt needs experienced exotic-veterinary advice when available.

Establish a baseline during the first months: normal posture, preferred retreat, drinking, feeding response, waste location, and reaction to maintenance. Later changes are easier to interpret when you know what normal looked like for that individual.