Typhochlaena seladonia (Brazilian Jewel Tarantula) 3/4-1" & Pro Complete Setup Ready To Use

Typhochlaena seladonia (Brazilian Jewel Tarantula)

The Brazilian Jewel Tarantula is argued by some to be the pinnacle of tarantula keeping, and whether or not you land there yourself, there is no debate that Typhochlaena seladonia, T. seladonia to most keepers, is the most colorful tarantula known to science. Adults carry blue and green legs, a blue and green carapace (head) with a cream outline along the sides, and an abdomen that displays every color of the rainbow at once. Here is the part most people miss: all of that color is camouflage. On bark in nature the sheer abundance of color can appear to be any number of things, water droplets, running sap, or the texture of the tree itself, breaking up the outline of the body completely from a distance and making them much harder to spot. Up close the effect may work the opposite way. Nobody has proven why the colors are this loud, but a startle display as the animal bursts out of its trapdoor is one reasonable idea, and mimicking something toxic while being nothing of the kind is another. This is also one of the only tarantulas in the hobby that builds a trapdoor on trees, grabbing chunks of bark and web into a door that matches the surface in both color and texture, then ambushing insects that walk across it and pulling them back inside, away from anything hunting it. Arguably the most advanced hunting behavior of any tarantula. If you want the most visually striking new world tarantula for sale anywhere, this is it.

Why do hobbyists keep Typhochlaena seladonia?

• Most Colorful Tarantula: No tarantula described by science carries more color than this one, with green, yellow, red, pink, blue and orange all present across the abdomen and blue green legs to match.
• Camouflage Master: Every one of those colors is doing a job. Against bark the pattern reads as water droplets, running sap and tree texture, and the trapdoor itself is built to match the surface it sits on.
• Unique Trapdoor Behavior: Builds a camouflaged bark trapdoor flush against the surface, ambushes prey from the entrance, then actively maintains and re-textures it over time. Genuinely rare behavior in tarantulas.
• Colorful Spiderlings: Even the babies are stunning, showing bright emerald green and pink abdomens with blue legs and pink femurs, small versions of the adults rather than the drab brown slings most species start as.
• Docile Temperament: Calm and easygoing, relying on camouflage and retreat rather than reacting.
• Dwarf Species: A true dwarf tarantula that needs very little space while delivering more visual impact than species five times its size.

How should Typhochlaena seladonia be kept?

• Adult Size: These hatch out around three eighths to half an inch and reach a max size of around 2.5 to 3 inches at full leg span, so there is a lot of growing to watch and one enclosure upsize to plan for along the way.
• Enclosure Included: You do not need to buy one. We do not sell a seladonia without it. Yours ships in a hand cut 2 by 2 by 3 inch dram vial setup with about half an inch of substrate, a piece of flat cork bark centered so it is not touching the walls, and shallow holes already drilled into the cork to give the trapdoor a starting point. We build to roughly 2 times the leg span for footprint and 3 times for height, and we size for where the animal is headed rather than where it is today, so this one is built for a 1 inch spider. That is a third of adult size, which means it carries the animal through a lot of molts while staying small enough to hold humidity and small enough that it finds its prey.
• Rehousing: Less than you would expect, and this is where seladonia differs from most arboreals. They do come out and move around, but they are mainly stationary, living at the trapdoor rather than roaming the way a pink toe does, so they do not need the same height. One upsize is all it takes. A 5 by 5 by 7 inch enclosure is the minimum we would suggest for an adult and it is genuinely enough for the rest of its life. If you want to do it properly though, an 8 by 8 by 12 glass enclosure set up bioactive, with live plants and a drainage layer, is fantastic for this species and they thrive in it. Wait until the animal is at least an inch before moving it into something that size, since they are very good at working their way into bark crevices and a small one can be hard to find again. Keep ventilation good and do not let the soil go muggy. At a medium to fast growth rate expect roughly 2 to 3 years to full size, faster if you keep them warm and feed them well.
• Temperature: Keep them at 80 to 85 degrees F. This one matters more than most keepers expect. Cooler and they grow very slowly and do noticeably less, and we have consistently seen them do better warm. If your home sits in the 60s, plan on a heat source for this species rather than a shelf in the living room. Get the temperature right and everything else about seladonia gets easier.
• Humidity: Keep the substrate lightly damp and let the surface layer run drier. Good ventilation is critical. Cross ventilation works best, but ample top ventilation can also be effective as long as the enclosure is not over-misted.
• Water: Provide a shallow water dish placed in an elevated position if possible. This is more natural for arboreal species and helps prevent crickets from falling in and drowning. On a dwarf this small a narrow vial style dish set into the substrate works even better, holding humidity without cutting into airflow.
• Diet: Prey length should run about a quarter of the leg span, which is roughly the width of the carapace (head). At three quarters to an inch that is a 3/16 to 1/4 inch cricket or a small roach nymph. Feed at least once a week. Pre-killed prey works well so they are sure to find it, and a well fed animal is far more likely to build and maintain its trapdoor than a hungry one that roams instead.
• Temperament: Docile and quick to disappear into its trapdoor when it feels disturbed.

Are there any additional notes or considerations?

• Pro Setup Included: Our tarantula specialists hand cut and set up every Brazilian Jewel enclosure personally before it ships, currently a 2 by 2 by 3 inch dram vial build for spiderlings. We developed this design over years of keeping this species when almost no information existed on it, across several hundred seladonia, and refined it into something consistent enough that it has been widely copied. Housing this species correctly is most of the battle, and this is that problem solved before the box is opened. It arrives complete and ready to use, so nothing is left to guess.
• Cork Bark Is Essential: This species will not behave naturally without proper flat cork bark to build on. A light dusting of fine bark or sphagnum on the surface helps them blend the trapdoor in, and you will watch them re-texture it over time.
• Success Formula: This genus is delicate, and three things carry it: consistent moisture, correctly sized prey, and minimal disturbance. Get those right and the rest takes care of itself. Anyone who has raised Avicularia or Caribena slings already has the skill set. The keepers who thrive with this species are the ones who ask questions, and we are here for exactly that, which is why this species is our specialty.
• Captive Bred: All Tarantulas are 100% captive bred.

Listing Notes

• This listing is for a Typhochlaena seladonia Brazilian Jewel juvenile measuring around three quarters of an inch to an inch in diagonal leg span, which is the size given in the title, unsexed with roughly a 50/50 chance of male or female. Several molts on from the three eighths to half an inch they hatch at, this is the tier most keepers are happiest with. The jewel toned abdomen is filling in, and it is usually building and maintaining a proper trapdoor already, so the behavior everyone buys this species for starts right away. Ships in a hand cut Pro Complete Setup. This is the tier we point people to when they ask about Typhochlaena seladonia for sale and want colour showing on arrival.