In stock Caribbean Bronze & Brown Tarantulas for sale All tarantulas for sale
Phormictopus spp.
Sold under its hobby name. This guide covers the group or trade name this fella is sold as, so the ranges fit the whole group. Start in the middle and watch how your animal settles in.
Caribbean Bronze & Brown Tarantulas: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: Fast-growing Caribbean giants and the most high-strung of the big New World terrestrials: skittish, defensive, and quick to bite. The husbandry is easy. The handling is not.
Group: Industry StaplesDifficulty: Spice 3: IntermediateSetup: Terrestrial opportunistic burrower, low and wideHandling: Not recommended, quick to bite
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 | 55-70%, slings moist, adults drier with a humid corner |
| Setup Type | Terrestrial opportunistic burrower, low and wide |
| Substrate | 4-6 in soil/coco, moist for slings, damp corner for adults |
| Feeding | Slings 2-3x weekly, adults every 1-2 weeks |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 3: Intermediate |
| Handling | Not recommended, quick to bite |
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
- Slings: compact secure enclosure, moist substrate, low cross vents, rehouse on schedule
- Juveniles: moist horizontal terrestrial burrow setup with a pebble-filled dish
- Adults (7-8 in): large, low floor-space build, drier with one humid corner
Warnings First
- Skittish, defensive and willing to bite. Do all maintenance with tools, never hands-in.
- Slings drown in open dishes. Keep pebbles or coarse grit in the water dish at every stage.
- Slings grow extremely fast and do badly left too long in a small cup. Rehouse on schedule.
- Damp sling enclosures have almost no air to buffer them. Build low cross vents in from the start.
- Heavy-bodied. Keep the enclosure low and don't let it get obese.
- Premolt: pull uneaten feeders and leave it alone. Wait 5-10 days after the molt before feeding.
Simple Care
- Keep sling and juvenile substrate moist. Adults go drier with one humid corner.
- Vent low on two opposite walls at every stage.
- Give substrate deep enough for an opportunistic burrow.
- Keep a water dish with pebbles in it at every stage.
- Give adults a low, wide enclosure with real floor space.
- Size slings up promptly, before the enclosure gets cramped.
- Do all maintenance with tools. This one bites.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Adults want a low, wide enclosure with substrate deep enough to burrow: moist while young, dry-leaning with one humid corner once grown.
- Moisture changes as it grows, airflow doesn't. Put vents low on two opposite walls, at or just above the substrate, from the sling enclosure on.
- Judge by hand, not a gauge. Sling substrate is moist with no free water and dries back between top-ups. For adults the open floor reads dry and the humid corner stays damp.
- Wet the humid corner or under the hide instead of misting everything. A high-strung spider wants one damp retreat, and the rest stays free to dry and air out.
- Fast growth means frequent rehousing into bigger enclosures with bigger dishes. A spider large for its age is still small enough to drown, so keep the pebbles in.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Explosive feeding response. Slings 2-3x weekly, adults every week or two.
- Keep hands out at feeding time. A hair-trigger strike and a real willingness to bite go together.
- Molting: premolt spiders slow down, seal the burrow and refuse food for days or weeks. Pull feeders, leave it alone, and wait 5-10 days after a molt for fangs to harden.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Hispaniola (Haiti, Dominican Republic), Cuba and Brazil, in varied humid scrubland.
- Habitat translation: Humid scrubland becomes a low, wide terrestrial build with substrate deep enough to burrow, moist for young spiders, drier with a humid corner for adults, and a permanent water dish.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Hobby species include P. cancerides (Haitian brown), P. auratus (Cuban bronze), P. atrichromatus, and the forms Dominican Purple and Green Femur.
- The edgiest of the New World giants. Fast for its bulk, more skittish and defensive than a Pamphobeteus, and quick to bite.
- Females are notorious for eating males during pairings.
- Very fast growth, even faster than Pamphobeteus as slings. Females live about 10-15 yrs.