A fast, agile New World arboreal tarantula with a fuzzy dark body and signature pink-tipped feet. It is gentle but skittish, and its main challenge is providing the cross-ventilation it needs.
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Arboreal; 4.5-5 in (11-13 cm) leg span as an adult, with pink-tipped toes.
Lifespan
4–12 years
Social needs
solo
Native region
Northern South America (Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Venezuela, northern Brazil, Trinidad)
Origin
New World
Climate
🌴 Tropical
Family
Theraphosidae
Genus
Avicularia
Part of the Tarantulas
Theraphosid spiders kept as low-maintenance display invertebrates. New World species are generally docile with mild venom but bear irritating urticating hairs, while Old World species lack those hairs but tend to be fast, defensive, and have more potent (though rarely life-threatening) venom.
Micha L. Rieser · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Habitat & space requirements
From the minimum an animal needs to be kept humanely, up to the ideal setup. Bigger is almost always better — minimums are floors, not targets.
Photo coming soon
Minimum
Juvenile / sub-adult arboreal
8 × 8 × 12 in (juvi) → 10 × 10 × 14 in (sub-adult)
Tall enclosure with vertical cork-bark slabs reaching most of the height, cross-ventilation, 2–3 in of substrate, and a water dish. Arboreals web a tube-retreat against the bark rather than burrow. Pink toes (Avicularia avicularia) require cross-ventilation — mesh top AND side vents, never a sealed cube. Stagnant humid air is the #1 killer.
Photo coming soon
Recommended
Adult arboreal vivarium
12 × 12 × 18 in, vertical
Vertical footprint with multiple cork verticals, plants or fake foliage for cover, and front-opening access. Humidity is maintained via substrate moisture and a deep water dish, not by sealing off airflow.
Photo coming soon
Ideal
Planted arboreal bioactive
12 × 12 × 24 in+, bioactive planted
Tall bioactive vivarium with live plants, dense cork-bark verticals, leaf litter, and a springtail/isopod cleanup crew. Cross-ventilation panels at top and bottom prevent stagnant air, which arboreals are intolerant of.
Life & growth stages
How this animal changes through its life — each stage often has its own care, diet and space needs.
Photo coming soon
Egg
These invertebrates lay eggs — often in a guarded clutch, a silk sac (spiders), or a brood (carried by female isopods). The eggs are small and soft and develop without a true larval or pupal transformation.
Photo coming soon
Juvenile
Juveniles hatch as miniature versions of the adult and grow by molting their exoskeleton (or, in snails, by enlarging the shell). They gain size, segments, or leg pairs and gradually take on adult coloration with each molt.
Adult
Adults reach full size and reproductive maturity with the species' mature form and coloration. Many arachnids and myriapods continue to molt as adults, and sexes can differ in size or in specialized appendages.
Color & pattern variants
Natural variants occur in the wild; selectively bred (man-made) variants were developed in captivity.
Provide a vertical, arboreal enclosure of at least about 30 x 30 x 45 cm (12 x 12 x 18 in) for an adult, taller than it is wide, with cork-bark slabs, branches, and plants (live or artificial) for climbing and silk anchor points. Use a few inches of coco-fiber or peat substrate and a shallow water dish; the spider will build a silken tube retreat high in the enclosure.
The critical care factor is ventilation. Keep temperatures around 24-28 C (75-82 F) and humidity moderately high (about 70-80%) by lightly misting and offering a water dish, but pair this with strong cross-ventilation (vents on opposite sides). Stuffy, stagnant humidity is the single most common killer of this species. No UVB is required.
Substrate
A couple inches of moist coconut fiber or peat is enough since this is an arboreal species that lives off the ground. Focus moisture on good humidity rather than deep substrate, keeping it lightly damp with the surface allowed to dry.
Equipment & setup
Use a tall, vertically oriented enclosure with abundant cross-ventilation, which is critical for preventing the fatal stuffy conditions Avicularia are prone to. Provide vertical cork bark, plants, or branches for web anchoring, a small water dish, and room-temperature 75-82F warmth with no UVB.
Diet
Offer live feeders such as crickets, flightless fruit flies for slings, dubia roaches, and the occasional moth, sized to the spider's body. Adults eat a few feeders every 1-2 weeks; spiderlings eat smaller prey more frequently. As an arboreal species it prefers to take prey up off the ground, often from its webbed retreat.
Keep a shallow water dish available and lightly mist so the spider can drink droplets, which is important for this humidity-loving species. Remove uneaten prey promptly and expect appetite to drop before a molt.
Behavior & temperament
Pinktoes are docile and non-aggressive but extremely fast and prone to sudden leaps when startled, which makes open-air handling risky for both keeper and spider. They are skittish escape artists, so a secure, escape-proof enclosure is essential. As New World tarantulas they have urticating hairs, though Avicularia rely more on bolting and flicking feces defensively than on heavy hair-kicking.
Enrichment is a tall, well-planted enclosure that lets the spider web a tube retreat near the top and climb. Minimize handling; observe instead. A relaxed pinktoe will sit at the mouth of its silk tube, while frantic running signals it feels exposed and needs more cover.
Health
The classic cause of death is poor ventilation combined with high humidity, leading to lethargy, sluggish posture, and sudden death, sometimes mislabeled as 'wet molt.' Falls from the tall enclosure can rupture the abdomen, and dehydration shows as a shriveled abdomen and the death-curl posture.
Prevent problems with abundant cross-ventilation, a water dish, light misting rather than soaking the substrate, and soft furnishings beneath climbing surfaces to cushion falls. Never house pinktoes in a closed, fishbowl-style high-humidity box. Quarantine new spiders and avoid pesticide-exposed feeders.
Tips, DIY & hacks
Ventilation matters more than humidity for this species, so favor a screen-and-mesh setup and mist the webbing lightly rather than soaking the enclosure. They build silken tube retreats up high, so position the cork bark vertically and avoid handling, as they are fast and may dart or leap.
