Davus pentaloris
Guatemalan Tiger Rump Tarantula: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A small colorful terrestrial that grows quickly and works well in compact setups: adults reach about 4-5 inches across.
Group: TarantulasDifficulty: Spice 2: BeginnerSetup: Dwarf terrestrial / opportunistic burrowerHandling: Not recommended
Use This Guide Safely
- Confirm the exact animal. Match this guide to the species, locality, size, and life stage on your label. If the ID is uncertain, use the more conservative part of the range and ask before changing the setup.
- Change one thing at a time. Treat temperature and humidity as target zones, then watch posture, burrowing, drinking, feeding, and molt behavior before making another adjustment.
- Respect the handling boundary. If the guide says no handling, fast, defensive, or medically significant, plan transfers with catch cups, locked lids, and no bare hands. For serious bites, stings, or symptoms, seek emergency medical care.
Quick Snapshot
| Temperature | 72-80°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | Moderate ambient (60-75%) with airflow; damp pocket for slings, drier surface, small dish |
| Setup Type | Dwarf terrestrial / opportunistic burrower |
| Substrate | Moderately moist soil/coco mix with hide |
| Feeding | Small prey weekly |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 2: Beginner |
| Handling | Not recommended |
Humidity zones: Very Low under 30% - Low 30-60% - Low-Moderate 40-70% - Moderate 60-80% - Moderate-High 70-85% - High 80%+ - Very High 90%+
Enclosure Format / Size Class
- Compact secure enclosure while it's a tiny sling
- Horizontal terrestrial burrow setup, juveniles through adults: a Burrow-Buddy footprint is a forever home for a dwarf this size
Warnings First
- Small and quick
- Do not let tiny slings dry out
- Can kick hairs
- A compact enclosure kept damp for a sling goes stale within days. Small vents low on two opposite walls matter more here than on a big terrestrial.
Simple Care
- Keep slings slightly more moist.
- Small vents low on two opposite walls; a damp sling enclosure has almost no air volume to buffer it.
- Give a starter burrow.
- Bottle-cap water dish with pebbles or grit in it so a dwarf sling cannot drown.
- Do not use oversized prey.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Small dwarf species are easy to overhouse. Use compact enclosures where prey is easy to find.
- Moisture is more important for slings than adults. Keep part of the substrate lightly damp while leaving dry areas.
- Compact plus damp is the combination that goes stale fastest, so the ventilation has to be built in rather than added later. Small vents low on two opposite walls, at or just above the substrate, keep air crossing the floor of a sling enclosure. A vial or deli cup vented only in the lid holds motionless damp air at the bottom, which is where a dwarf sling sits and where mold starts.
- Ventilation and ambient humidity trade against each other, and on a small enclosure the trade moves fast. Keep the damp area topped up rather than closing vents to hold moisture, because a sealed sling cup swings from fine to moldy in days rather than weeks.
- Judge by hand and by eye rather than by a gauge that will not fit. The damp portion should be lightly moist with no free water, the dry portion genuinely dry, and there should be no condensation on the walls of the cup.
- Use a bottle cap or similar as the water dish and put pebbles or coarse grit in it so the waterline sits below the rim. A dwarf sling drowns in a dish that would be trivially safe for a larger species, and since this one is kept damper than most, standing water is more likely to be present.
- Put the moisture into the starter burrow rather than misting the whole cup. That gives the sling a humid microclimate where it actually sits, keeps a dry area genuinely dry, and stops you from swinging the entire tiny environment every time you water.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- A starter burrow under cork helps the spider settle and reduces bolting.
- Feeding schedule: slings tiny prey 2×/week; juveniles every 5-7 days; adults weekly to every 2 weeks. Keep prey smaller than the abdomen. It's a small, fast-growing, hungry species, but don't power-feed.
- Molting: a premolt Tiger Rump turns sluggish, seals into its burrow or web, and stops eating for days or even weeks. Normal. Pull uneaten feeders, leave it alone, and wait 5-10 days after the molt (until the new fangs and exoskeleton harden) before feeding again.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Mexico, Guatemala, and Central American seasonal forest.
- Habitat translation: Terrestrial or fossorial starter burrow with seasonal dry-down and water access.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Slings often burrow and web; do not over-enlarge them too early.
- Respect premolt fasting; remove live feeders that can invade burrows.
- Adult size ~4-5 in DLS; medium growth. Active and skittish but not a notably defensive species: a genuinely good display terrestrial.