Armoured Tree Trapdoor Spider

True Spiders / Huntsmans

MOQ 20 head

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~2.5 cm body (female); small barychelid. Nests up to ~3 cm long.

Small barychelid mygalomorph with mild, medically insignificant venom. Bites are very rare; the heavily sclerotised abdomen is its main defence.

Coastal forest of Thailand and Malaysia (Sundaland), usually within a few hundred metres of the sea. Builds a short two-trapdoor silk nest attached to living tree bark, often coconut palms. 0 – 50 m.

Bark-dwelling arthropods — ants, small beetles and other insects — ambushed from the nest door.

25 – 29 °C ambient — 23 °C cool end

75 – 85 %. Keep humid with good airflow; mist bark surfaces regularly.

None required (nocturnal).

Small crickets, roach nymphs and flightless fruit flies. Every 5 – 7 days; offer prey near the nest entrance.

Arboreal — vertical cork-bark slabs for the bark nest, moderate substrate, 15 – 20 cm tall. Humid and well ventilated.

Cryptic and shy; relies on its armoured abdomen and trapdoor nest, retreating rather than biting. Not a handling species.