Tliltocatl schroederi — Fact Sheet

Tliltocatl schroederi · Tliltocatl schroederi

Full care guide and sources

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

For an adult, a low enclosure around 35 x 30 x 25 cm gives useful floor space while limiting fall distance. Provide 10-15 cm of compact soil, a partially buried cork hide, a shallow water dish, and open access for cleaning. The gap from substrate to lid should be no more than about one adult leg span, especially above hard objects.

🪨 Substrate and furnishings

Use compacted pesticide-free topsoil, a topsoil/coco mix, or another firm invertebrate substrate that can support a shallow burrow. Add a little clay if necessary for structure. Avoid fertilizer, manure, cedar and pine, loose wood chips, sharp decor, mesh floors, and unstable rock piles.

Partially bury cork bark to create a ready entrance and add leaf litter for cover. Heavy stones must rest on the enclosure floor before substrate is packed around them; otherwise digging can undermine them. Keep hard objects away from a possible fall path.

💡 Lighting

No UVB or basking lamp is required. A 10-12 hour ambient day-night cycle is sufficient. Keep the enclosure out of direct sunlight, which can overheat glass or acrylic within minutes.

🌡️ Temperature

• Daytime air: 20-26 °C

• Cool zone: 18-22 °C

• Night: 18-22 °C

• Measure near the retreat with a digital thermometer

• Warm the room or one external side through a thermostat; never heat beneath substrate

• Avoid heat rocks and hot bulbs over small enclosures

💧 Humidity and water

Keep most of the surface dry, provide a slightly moist lower corner, and maintain cross-ventilation. Relative humidity may often sit around 45-65%, with a temporary local increase after watering. Do not try to keep the whole enclosure at a fixed high percentage.

A shallow full water dish is permanent equipment. Overflow it occasionally or dampen one lower corner, then allow the surface to dry. Spiderlings need less dry-out because their water reserve is smaller.

Persistent condensation, a sour smell, mold spreading away from food remains, or constant wall climbing indicates excessive water or poor ventilation. During premolt, water remains available, but the correct response is not to soak the enclosure.

🪳 Feeding

Offer captive-reared crickets, roaches, locusts where legal, and occasional mealworms or superworms. Keep prey at or below the spider’s body size. Slings may eat small portions every 4-7 days, juveniles every 7-10 days, and adults often only every 10-21 days.

Slow growth and fasting are normal. Judge the abdomen: reduce food when it is markedly wider than the carapace, and investigate hydration or conditions if it becomes shrunken. Remove uneaten prey within 24 hours and immediately before a molt.

Wait for black hardened fangs after molting—often 5-7 days for juveniles and 10-14 days for large adults. Feeder insects do not need calcium or vitamin powder.

☠️ Safety

A bite from Tliltocatl schroederi 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

• Persistent climbing → inadequate cover, unsuitable substrate, excess moisture, or recent disturbance
• Bald abdominal patch and hair kicking → defensive stress; reduce intrusion and protect eyes
• Very swollen abdomen → overfeeding and greater rupture risk
• Shrunken abdomen with weakness → dehydration, prolonged poor intake, or illness
• Refusal and dark abdomen → often premolt; remove all prey
• Condensation, mold, or odor → too much moisture and insufficient airflow
• Hemolymph leak after fall → urgent injury; minimize movement and seek expert help

Do not disturb a spider lying on its back; that is the normal molt position. Seek an exotics veterinarian or experienced arachnid professional for continuing leakage, a severe failed molt, inability to right itself, eye exposure to hairs, or progressive decline.