Haplopelma albostriatum care sheet/guide/help please.

[Dave Grace]

As some of you might have read earlier, I bought a T, thought to be a Costa Rican Zebra (Aphonopelma seemanni) which I read up on, only to find out that it was in fact a (Haplopelma albostriatum) Thai Zebra...
I have had a nose round on the net and have found only vague caresheets.
If anyone can help or point me in the right direction then it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[matthew spooner]

hi dave, the first thing i would say is that if you originally thought it to be a.seemani then am i correct in assuming you have it in a terrestrial set up?? if so this would need to be changed as haplopelmas are burrowers and need a nice depth to dig. apart from that there isnt alot more i can help you with i am afraid as i have never kept one of these species, but no doubt there will be quite a few people on here that will be able to help, maybe even tell me im wrong on the one bit of advice i offered lol

[Stephen jordan]

I keep all my Haplopelma the same way, They are burrowers so I keep mine to the same requirements as H lividum with no problems at all, My Albostriatum is only a tiddler though with a body lengh of 3-4 cm, it's constructed an awesome burrow in it's pot. Every night it sits at the entrance dangling a couple of legs over the lip of the turret waiting for dinner. My H longipes has made a trapdoor instead of a turret and I have never seen it! I think if you cater for H lividum and go by temperature/humidity of where H albostriatum is found then you can't go far wrong, mine seem to be doing fine!

[Dave Grace]

Thanks very much to you both already, looks like I have a load more reading to do. Steve you mentioned a pot, I have a flower pot half buried and it has webbed up the entrance already, leaving just a smallish gap. It's about 2 -3inches (carapace and abdomen). I have roughly 2-3 inches deep of substrate (coconut husk i think)... So you recommend I look at H.lividum caresheets and habitat, looks like I'm on a mission then lol.......

[Stephen jordan]

Hi Dave I did away with flower pot for nearly all my spiders opting for a piece of bark but its personal choice, my H lividum has about 4 - 5 inches of coir (could do with more) If I rehoused it I would go 6 - 8 inches. She's happy enough though, burrowed under the bark and now has constructed a turret in one corner connected to what seems to be a chamber underneath the bark. All my Haplopelma's like to hide all day, if I'm lucky I'll see a couple of legs, my lividum is out every night stalking the tank though and is quite active after the lights go out. Read up on H lividum, but saying that they are supposed to be obligate burrowers and mine hasnt, it prefers to make adjustments to the bark. My Albostriatum has burrowed at least 10 times its body size in depth and has settled in fine so I would say depth is more important. 6 to 8 inches of substrate suitable for burrowing, and to help it, you could start a burrow in a corner of the tank. It'll soon find it and finish the job.

[Zoltan Mihaly Lestyan]

Hello Dave,

Volker von Wirth and Martin Huber wrote an article about the housing of Haplopelma species and akin tarantulas, an English version of this article can be read in the BTS Journal Vol. 19 No. 4:

von Wirth, V. & Huber, M. 2004. Housing Specimens of Haplopelma and Other Tube-Dwelling Tarantulas. Journal of the British Tarantula Society 19(4): 107-112.

My H longipes has made a trapdoor instead of a turret and I have never seen it!

Hello Stephen. That's interesting, is there a way you could provide a picture?

[Stephen jordan]

Hello Zoltan, When I get home from work tomorrow I'll take a photo and post it on this thread along with the Albostriatum burrow for Dave to see too. All you can see from the trapdoor there is a slit for an opening, I put a cricket in and in the morning it's gone, I've not been witness to a single feed unfortunatly, or seen the spider out of the burrow for that matter. I thought it was unusual too as I started a burrow for it and kind of expected a turret job. All I can say about H longipes is that it's a very shy spider indeed!

[Zoltan Mihaly Lestyan]

Hello Stephen,

Very interesting! Looking forward to the photo.

[Stephen jordan]

Haplopelma burrows

http://meyernaise.deviantart.com/art/Haplopelma-albostriatum-turret-151708793

http://meyernaise.deviantart.com/art/Haplopelma-longipes-trapdoor-151856491

Hi Zoltan, for some reason the pictures wont upload? heres the urls to my DA page with both pictures on

[Dave Grace]

Thanks to Steve & Zoltan for your info and help regarding the situ.. Now looks like i need a deeper tank for it as well (ho hum !) Will have to wait til the weekend to sort it out, but it has created a load of webbing in front of itslef in the flower pot (looks like a fun job trying to winkle it out lol..)

Thanks again to all of you for your help. now trying to keep my head above water after being thrown in the deep end

[Stephen jordan]

Hi Dave, you are welcome! My second T was an H lividum, pretty feisty reputation but mine isnt that bad and only gets a bit fruity when I disturb it too much, which is my fault anyway. I'd say defensive rather than aggressive, aggressive I think is a bit harsh as they are only defending against what they think is a threatening situation. I personally like the Haplopelma's and will be trying to collect them all, so if anyone knows of any CB slings going I'd appreciate a pm please. Best of luck with your suprise Hapolpelma Dave, only thing to watch is it's speed! exercise caution and you will be fine, they really can shift so it's forceps n paintbrush/pot when moving them or cleaning tank etc. You can make life a bit easier by adding woodlice to the tank, I have about 8 in with mine and they take care of boluses and waste disposal!

[Dave Grace]

Hi Steve, as they say knowledge is power ! Cheers for al the helpful advice, might get some boxing gloves and a crash helmet too..I have read about the woodlice thing but where would you source them from ?? Still waiting for my G.pulchras (hopefully no surprises there, and I know what I've let myself in for with them lol).

thanks again...........

[Stephen jordan]

My culture of woodlice are breeding so when they get a bit bigger I could post some to you, you could probably start a culture of your own from them. It took about a month and a half for them to breed. They are only 2mm or so in size now. My advice with the spider is to get the tank set up completely before adding the spider, ie: get the substrate right and decor if any, ive used coir, a piece of curved bark, few bark chippings with sphagnum moss mixed with some leaves, that way once it's in you wont really have to do much. I spray mine once a day, feed/change water once a week and thats all I do. I dont personally like to disturb mine at all by changing decor etc once they are in, keep the physical contact to a minimum and reduce the chance of a negative encounter with your pet!

[Dave Grace]

Hi Steve,
Thanks again for all your helpful info. It has now taken up residence, and is eating well and webbing well too. I will need to re-think its next house and will use all info guidance to make sure its tastes are well looked after lol... Thanks again