Peruvian Flame Rump Tarantula (Thrixopelma ockerti)

Peruvian Flame Rump Tarantula Thrixopelma ockerti
Name	Peruvian Flame Rump Tarantula
Name Lat.	Thrixopelma ockerti
Family	Tarantulas
Family lat.	Theraphosidae
Order	Spiders
Order lat.	Araneae
Origin	South America
Habitat	Forest
Diet	Live insects
Humidity	60-70 %
Behavior	Peaceful
Keeping	Individual
Care Level	Difficult
Housing	Semi humid terrarium
Breeding	Moderately difficult
Life Span	5-10 years
Protection	No
Metric Units
Size	6-7 cm
Temperature Day	25-28 °C
Temperature Night	20-22 °C
Housing Size	30 x 30 x 40 cm
US Units
Size	2.4"-2.8"
Temperature Day	77-82 °F
Temperature Night	68-72 °F
Housing Size	10" x 10" x 15"

Distribution and habitat

The venomous, semi-arboreal Ockert's tarantulas are native to the tropical forests, scrub and shrublands of Peru, where they live primarily in branch forks and tree cavities under loose bark, but also make their homes on the ground in abandoned rodent burrows.

Maintenance

For 1 animal a terrarium with a minimum size of 30 x 30 cm and a minimum height of 40 cm can be recommended as a guideline. The terrarium should be placed in a quiet place without sunlight.

You will need a terrarium structured with vertical cork tubes, roots and branches (hiding places and privacy screens), a solid substrate of sand-clay-peat mixture, a small, shallow drinking vessel and for decoration artificial or potted plants (e.g. Ficus repens, Scindapsus aureus). Part of the substrate should always be kept slightly moist. Several times a week the inside of the terrarium should be finely sprayed with water (humidity), but a rain or mist system is better

Temp. day: 25-28 °C

Temp. night: 20-22 °C

Humidity: 60-70

The lighting duration should be 8-12 hrs. depending on the season. A conventional light source is sufficient. Special lamps with high UV content are not necessary.

Diet

The food supply should consist of crickets, cockroaches, house crickets, maggots and grasshoppers and other arachnids. Adult animals can also be offered nest young mice. The prey animal is injected with a digestive juice with the biting tools (chelicerae), which liquefies the protein components and the prey can be sucked out (extracorporeal digestion). Young animals can be offered food 1-2 times a week, adults only every one to two weeks. Under no circumstances should they be overfed, the basic rule being that the abdomen should be no more than 1½ times the size of the cephalothorax. Unaccepted food must be removed after 1-2 days. Refusal of food may indicate a natural phase of starvation or an impending molt. No food animals should be in the terrarium during molting, they could injure the spider

A regular and varied diet promotes health and prevents deficiency symptoms.

Reproduction and breeding

The smaller males can be recognized by their bulbs folded in towards the body. The female lays 100-200 eggs in her burrow lined with webs 1-3 months after mating. The eggs are spun into a dense cocoon in which the larvae develop and are guarded by the female. After up to 13 weeks, the young leave the burrow and feed on their own. Females can live for over 10 years.

Obligation to report

Make sure to inform yourself about any regulations on keeping or bans on keeping this animal in your state or home municipality (e.g. public order office). Your pet store will be happy to provide you with further information.

Important

They are nervous but peaceful tarantulas. In defense, they hurl irritating hairs with their hind legs against the attacker (bombard). These cause skin irritation and may cause corneal damage in the eyes as well as asthma-like symptoms. Care should also be taken when cleaning the terrarium, as irritant hairs can be stirred up from the substrate (safety goggles). A bite is very painful, the venom is equivalent to that of a bee or wasp. Crushed or held legs can be thrown off at a predetermined breaking point and regenerate completely after 1-2 molts. They change color slightly with each molt

The terrarium must have good ventilation without drafts and meet the species specific needs. Measuring devices such as thermometers, hygrometers, etc. are necessary. The lighting has to correspond to the species-specific day-night rhythm and has to be placed in such a way that the animals cannot injure themselves. The terrarium should be locked in such a way that neither unauthorized persons can open it nor the animals can escape. Contamination must be removed regularly.

Further literature can be found in your pet store.

References

Text: petdata; Image: Franz Lowak

Source: ENGELMANN & LANGE (2011): Zootierhaltung - Tiere in menschlicher Obhut: Wirbellose, Harri Deutsch Verlag; HENKEL & SCHMIDT (2010): Taschenatlas Wirbellose für das Terrarium, Verlag Eugen Ulmer