Holothele spp.
Identity confidence: provisional. This is a genus, group, or trade name rather than a confirmed species. Treat it as the closest match we can stand behind, and use the more conservative end of any range.
Holothele Dwarf Tarantulas: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A small New World genus whose names keep changing. H. longipes is the one you'll see. Care, size and temperament are essentially Neoholothele incei: a tiny, fast, web-and-burrow dwarf, sometimes attempted as a small group but safest as a single animal.
Group: Industry StaplesDifficulty: Spice 3: IntermediateSetup: Dwarf terrestrial / 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 | 72-82°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | Moderate ambient (60-75%) with airflow through the web layer; lightly moist substrate |
| Setup Type | Dwarf terrestrial / burrower |
| Substrate | Lightly moist soil/coco mix with substrate depth and web anchor points |
| Feeding | Small prey: slings weekly, adults every 1-2 weeks |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 3: Intermediate |
| 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
- Tiny and fast: easy to lose at rehouse
- Taxonomy is unsettled: labels move around; care doesn't
- Webs and burrows. Give depth and anchor points
- Communal attempts are optional and less predictable than N. incei
- Web tunnels over a moist floor in a small enclosure is the combination that goes stale. Vent low on two opposite walls, and keep grit in the water dish.
Simple Care
- Lightly moist substrate with depth and web anchor points.
- Vents low on two opposite walls so air crosses beneath the web layer.
- Small prey; remove leftovers.
- Small water dish packed with grit so slings cannot drown.
- Single housing is the default; small groups are experienced-keeper only.
- Keep it small enough to monitor; ventilated, not swampy.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- H. longipes is the current hobby representative (the genus has been repeatedly carved up: Neoholothele was split out of it). A small terrestrial dwarf: lightly moist substrate with depth, cork, and web anchor points.
- Keep it like a Neoholothele incei. The husbandry is the same.
- That includes the ventilation, which is the part most easily skipped on a small enclosure. Web tunnels act as a baffle, so lid venting exchanges the air above the silk and not the space the spider occupies. Put vents low on two opposite walls, at or just above the substrate, so air moves horizontally under and through the web layer.
- Ventilation and moisture trade against each other, and a small enclosure swings quickly. Keep the substrate lightly moist under free-flowing vents rather than sealing it to hold humidity.
- Judge by touch rather than by gauge. Substrate lightly moist with no free water, silk dry to the touch, no condensation behind the webbing.
- Keep a small dish packed with coarse grit so the waterline sits below the rim. A dwarf sling drowns in very little water, and these web their dish over quickly enough that an unsafe one is easy to stop noticing.
- Water the substrate away from the tunnels rather than misting the silk, so the damp stays at ground level and the web layer keeps drying.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Small prey: slings weekly, adults every week or two; removed if ignored.
- Spends time webbed up or burrowed; don't keep disturbing it. Rehouse over a tray.
- Molting: a premolt dwarf tarantula turns sluggish, seals into its web/burrow, and refuses food for days or even weeks. Pull any uneaten feeders, leave it strictly 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: Northern South America.
- Habitat translation: A small, ventilated, lightly-moist enclosure with substrate depth, cork, and web anchor points; small prey.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Adult size ~2.5-3 in DLS: a dwarf; medium-fast growth.
- Some Holothele-style dwarf tarantulas are attempted communally, but labels in this genus are messy. Treat communal care as optional, line-dependent, and less reliable than Neoholothele incei.
- Genus boundaries are still in flux. Don't be surprised if a 'Holothele' you bought is reclassified. The care is unaffected.
- Skittish rather than defensive; the 'intermediate' rating is the small-size-at-rehouse one, not danger.