What's Next? Unboxing & Housing Your New Spider

Step 1: Bring your shipping box indoors to an area with mild temperatures - DO NOT OPEN IN THE CAR OR OUTDOORS.

  • Open the shipping box, remove packaging, and locate your spider’s shipping vial, the small vial with paper towel padding and a species label. It is separate from the enclosure vial if you purchased that as well.

Step 2: Ready your enclosure. If you purchased the 40 dram vial setup, remove the paper towel padding and arrange the leaf litter how you see fit.

  • Mist the enclosure before you put the spider in. This will allow them the opportunity to drink immediately, and help reduce dehydration from the stress of shipping. This is a very important step, especially for tropical species!
  • If you’re using your own enclosure, ensure proper ventilation size to prevent escapes. Many spiderlings can fit through holes that are about ¼ of their legspan

Step 3: Over a table or the floor, uncap the shipping vial and remove the paper towel cover from the top. Get a visual on the spider to ensure it appears in good health

  • They may be hunched up and still - this is normal. A limp spider who is not hanging on to the paper towel or is upside-down is NOT normal
  • It is also typical for some spiders to come flying out of the shipping vial ready to go! Be sure to have everything ready and to do this over the floor or a table to limit potential fall distance or prevent escape
  • We recommend setting the entire shipping vial inside of the enclosure and allowing the spider to come out when ready. You may also gently use tongs to remove the entire paper towel padding from the container and set it in the enclosure

Step 4: Place the enclosure in a warm, quiet spot away from direct sunlight or drafts so your new addition can acclimate in peace. Keep in mind for most tropical species, warmer temps of about 76-82F are great and can help boost energy in a stressed spider.

  • It will be difficult, but do not offer food, handle, or disturb for at least a full day other than to provide fresh mist

Notes: We do not have exact molt dates for most of our spiderlings, but most have molted within the last 1-2 months. Your spider was fed within 3 days of receiving so we recommend not offering food for at least another 1-2 days for acclimation and to limit stress.

Any questions, concerns, or comments, always feel free to reach out!