Curly Hair Tarantula

Room temperature of about 20-24°C is enough in most UK homes, so heating is not normally needed. If the room regularly falls below 18°C, fit a small heat mat to one side of the enclosure (never underneath) on a thermostat so the spider can move away from the warmth. No basking spot or heat lamp is needed.

No UVB or special lighting is needed. Keep it in a room with a normal day and night cycle and out of direct sunlight, which can overheat the enclosure quickly.

Coco fibre or a coco fibre and topsoil mix 10-15 cm deep so it can dig, with the lower layers kept slightly damp and the surface allowed to dry. Keep the drop from the substrate surface to the lid no more than about 1.5 times the leg span to prevent fall injuries.

Feed slings small crickets or roach nymphs about twice a week, juveniles every 7-10 days and adults 4-5 large crickets or one large roach every 2-3 weeks, adjusted to body condition. It is a keen eater, but refusing food before a moult is normal, so remove uneaten prey within 24 hours and wait about a week after a moult before feeding.

Keep a shallow water dish filled from about 2.5 cm leg span, and overflow it into one corner now and then to keep part of the substrate slightly damp. Smaller slings can have a few drops of water on one corner of the substrate weekly instead.

Provide a cork bark hide with a starter burrow beneath it, as it is semi-fossorial and will dig and rearrange substrate. Adults often sit at the entrance in view.

Generally very hardy. Watch for dehydration (shrunken abdomen, curled posture), bad moults if kept too dry in premoult, falls, and mould or mites if the substrate stays wet and poorly ventilated. Jerky uncoordinated movement (DKS) or white discharge around the mouthparts (possible nematodes) needs specialist advice.

Hands-off is recommended even though it is calm, as a fall from hand height can rupture the abdomen. It flicks urticating hairs that irritate skin and can injure eyes, so use tongs and a catch cup, wash your hands after maintenance, never rub your eyes and wear eye protection when rehousing. The bite is painful but the venom is not medically significant to people, though allergic reactions are possible.

No Dangerous Wild Animals Act licence is needed (no tarantulas are on the 2007 schedule) and it is not a UK invasive species. It is listed in CITES Appendix II and Annex B of the UK Wildlife Trade Regulations (Tliltocatl species stayed covered after the split from Brachypelma), so no Article 10 certificate is needed to keep or sell it, but keep proof of legal, captive-bred acquisition. Import or export across the UK border needs CITES permits.

Formerly Brachypelma albopilosum (originally described as B. albopilosa) and moved to Tliltocatl by Mendoza and Francke in 2020, so older care sheets use those names. The darker Honduran and lighter golden Nicaraguan curly hairs are hobby forms with the same care, and Honduran lines may include crossbred stock. Sex from a moult or the ventral epigastric furrow, mature males develop palpal bulbs and tibial hooks, and growth is slow to moderate, with males maturing in about 2-3 years and females in 3-4 years.