Chilean Rose Tarantula Care Sheet

The Chilean Rose Tarantula is one of the most beautiful inverts in the hobby, featuring a dark body with light rose coloured hairs. These tarantulas have been the unfortunate victim of illegal poaching due to their beauty. They are now listed on the CITES list, which means that they are no longer allowed to be imported to the U.K. Now that this has been put into place, the vast majority of these available will now be Captive Bred.

Chilean rose tarantulas do well with a glass terrarium as their enclosure. This is because glass is great at allowing heat to escape, ensuring that the enclosure stays cool enough. Other enclosures such as wooden vivariums, are far too efficient at retaining heat.

The Chilean rose tarantula's terrarium should be at least 300mm in length and 300mm in height. The Chilean rose tarantula is going to grow to around 6", so they need a space large enough for them to move around in.

Chilean rose tarantulas require a near constant air temperature of 70-75°F. This is best achieved by sticking a heatmat on one side of the glass enclosure. This heatmat is regulated using a thermostat to make sure the temperature stays constant.

As the glass is only being heated on one side, this also creates a small temperature gradient within the enclosure, allowing the tarantula to warm itself up or move away to cool down.

Chilean rose tarantulas are terrestrial tarantulas, and as juveniles, they like to burrow. They should always be allowed at least 2'' of substrate to give them the opportunity to do this. We find the best substrate for tarantulas is a soil mix called Spider Life.

The tarantula's vivarium can be decorated with artificial plants for a more natural look. Small natural wood ornaments look very effective and also provide further perches for the tarantula. Trailing plants are very good at disguising electrical wires and equipment, as well as providing cover for young tarantulas.

Chilean rose tarantulas are carnivorous and have a diet consisting of live insects. The core of the live food diet should be high in protein and relatively easy to digest. We have found that brown crickets are the most readily accepted, but you can also use black crickets or locusts (hoppers).

Chilean Rose Tarantulas, as with most pets, require a clean environment to thrive. We recommend a spot clean as often as possible (every day) and a full clean every 4 weeks or so. If you are keeping the snake in a bioactive enclosure, you can spot clean and monitor the enclosure. It may still be a good item to change out the bedding a few times per year.

When cleaning the enclosure, you should remove your animal, all decorations, and all of the bedding. Once the enclosure is clear, you can spray it all over with a reptile-friendly disinfectant. These usually work very quickly and only need to be left for around 30 seconds. Instructions can normally be found on the disinfectant packaging. Once the disinfectant has done its work, it can be wiped away from the surfaces with a paper towel. In some cases, you might want to repeat this process a second time to ensure that the enclosure is thoroughly cleaned.

Your decorations can be cleaned in a similar method, simply spray them down with the disinfectant and rinse thoroughly with water before drying them off and putting them back into the enclosure. We recommend this process be done during the daytime to make sure that the spider will be going back to a warm vivarium for at least an hour before the basking lamps are turned off for the night.