Poecilotheria 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.
Ornamental Tarantulas: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: Beautiful arboreal Old World tarantulas with speed, potent venom, and rare expert-only communal attempts. Advanced keepers only. Adults reach about 5-8 inches across and grow fast.
Group: Industry StaplesDifficulty: Spice 4: AdvancedSetup: Tall arborealHandling: NEVER
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 | 75-82°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | Moderate-High ambient (65-80%) with cross ventilation; lightly damp lower substrate, dry cork |
| Setup Type | Tall arboreal |
| Substrate | Lightly moist substrate + vertical cork |
| Feeding | Weekly |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 4: Advanced |
| Handling | NEVER |
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
- Tall vertical bark setup for juveniles
- Large tall arboreal build for the adult (dim, well-ventilated)
Warnings First
- Medically significant venom: bites have caused days of muscle cramping and hospital visits
- Extreme speed
- Photosensitive. Keep out of bright light
- Communal housing is expert-only and not the default
- Advanced only
- A tall enclosure with vents only in the lid stratifies: warm damp air sits at the top exactly where the spider's retreat tube is. Vent low and high on opposite walls.
Simple Care
- Tall cork setup.
- Cross ventilation: vents low on one wall and high on the opposite wall, so air crosses the full height rather than stalling at the top.
- Keep it out of bright light: these are photosensitive.
- Shallow water dish with pebbles in it so slings cannot drown.
- Keep singly unless an expert is deliberately raising a matched sibling group with a separation plan.
- Never handle.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Use tall enclosures with vertical cork, retreat tubes, and controlled openings.
- Do not over-wet; use moderate humidity and good airflow.
- Poecilotheria are photosensitive: site the enclosure away from direct light and bright rooms. Highland species (P. subfusca, P. rufilata, P. smithi) want it a touch cooler (~70-78 °F) and slightly drier; lowland species (P. metallica, P. regalis) tolerate the warmer end.
- Height is what makes ventilation placement critical on this genus. A tall enclosure vented only at the top stratifies badly: warm, moist air rises and sits in the upper third, which is precisely where the retreat tube and the spider are. Put vents low on one wall, at or just above the substrate, and high on the opposite wall, so air enters low, crosses the whole height diagonally, and exits above the retreat. That is the difference between a tall enclosure and a tall dead-air column.
- Ventilation and ambient humidity pull against each other. You cannot max both. Hold 65 to 80% by keeping the lower substrate lightly damp and running a water dish, with the vents flowing freely. The airflow is what makes the moisture safe. Do not over-wet, and keep the air moving.
- Judge by touch rather than by gauge, and do it while the animal is located and the enclosure is closed. Lower substrate lightly damp with no free water, cork and retreat tube dry, no condensation on the upper walls. Condensation high up is the specific warning sign on a tall arboreal.
- Keep a shallow water dish with pebbles or coarse grit so the waterline sits below the rim. Slings drown in open dishes, and on a medically significant genus a permanent safe water source means fewer enclosure openings.
- Mist the lower substrate rather than the retreat tube. Moisture rising through moving air is what you want; a damp silk tube with still air in it is a fungal problem on an animal you would rather not be doing remedial work on.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Rehousing should be planned with catch cups and secondary containment.
- Slings sometimes 'drop' a few inches off the cork for no obvious reason: not always a husbandry fault. Stage a catch cup every time you open the enclosure.
- Molting: a premolt tarantula turns sluggish, seals up its retreat, 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: India and Sri Lanka arboreal forest habitats, varying by species.
- Habitat translation: Tall arboreal enclosure with cork tubes, cross ventilation, and secure openings.
Advanced Keeper Details
- All Poecilotheria are CITES Appendix II (since 2019); P. metallica is IUCN Critically Endangered, known from a single forest in Andhra Pradesh. Buy captive-bred and keep species ID / source / breeding-line records.
- Some keepers raise Poecilotheria sibling groups communally, but this is an advanced experiment, not normal care: match sizes, overbuild vertical space, feed heavily, and be ready for cannibalism or immediate separation.
- No handling and no casual rehousing. Fast arboreal bolting plus medically notable venom demands planning.
- Adult size ~5-8 in DLS (P. rufilata and P. ornata the largest); fast growers; females ~12-15 years, males ~3-4. Bite reports (well below Stromatopelma/Heteroscodra, but real) describe severe muscle cramping, sweating and spasms lasting days; hospital visits are common, with no fatalities documented.