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Atlas / Library / Liphistiidae / Segmented / armoured trapdoor spider (Liphistius)
Intermediate
Liphistiidae

Segmented / armoured trapdoor spider (Liphistius)

Liphistius spp. (e.g. L. ornatus, L. desultor)แมงมุมฝาปิดโพรง

Part of this is not on the page we cite. We opened it on 10 Aug 2026 and some of the degrees above are not stated there. The values above may still be right, but we cannot show you where they came from, and nobody here has checked them against a second source. Anything about a sick animal goes to a qualified exotic vet, not to a page. en.wikipedia.org

Photograph: no rights reserved · CC0

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

Burrowing · temperate · humidFrom the sheet: 22–27°C, humidity 75–85%

The way of life is written in this sheet, word for word. The climate words summarise the two figures above them, they do not add to them.

National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Check your setup against this sheet I keep one 123 plants usable with this species
Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/liphistius-spp-e-g-l-ornatus-l-desultor

‹ All husbandry guides
Temperature22–27 °C
Humidity75–85 %
Diet7 days

The numbers

Temperature

152025303540 °C
22–27°Ambient

One ambient band, 22–27°C. This sheet states no warm side, no cool side and no night figure, so none are shown. Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet states22-27°C

Humidity

75–85%Target RH

The sheet states75-85%

Enclosure
Tall pot/enclosure with 10-20 cm deep substrate for one spider

Identity

Adult size

1.75 m1.5–3 cm
1520100400 cm
1.5–3 cmNose to tail, adult

The size the sheet states for a grown animal.

Why

Two drawings, because they answer two questions. The silhouette is at true scale against a 1.75 m person: it says how big this animal actually is, which no number does for someone who has never seen one. The bar under it is logarithmic and shared by every sheet here, so a 2 cm isopod and a 4 m python both stay readable on the same axis and two species can be compared at a glance.

Order / Family
Araneae
Origin
IUCN / CITES
several species range-restricted / data-deficient; CITES not yet in our data
Difficulty
Intermediate
Commonality
Specialist/collector; Thai native but seldom in general trade
Adult size
Body 1.5-3 cm; visible abdominal plates (segments)
Lifespan
Long-lived — potentially 10+ years (females)
Growth rate
Slow
Activity & niche
Fossorial: silk-lined burrow with a hinged trapdoor and signal lines; rarely leaves it
Temperament
Extremely shy; lightning-fast ambush from the burrow
Venom / defense
Mild venom, not medically significant; harmless bite: reclusive, not a handling species

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
22-27°C
Humidity
75-85%
Min. enclosure
Tall pot/enclosure with 10-20 cm deep substrate for one spider
Substrate
10-20 cm firm peat/clay/sand mix that holds a stable burrow, kept moist not swampy
Hides / decor / water
Deep substrate for burrow, some surface litter; light misting for moisture

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Diet

Feeding rhythm

every 7 dAs the sheet states
4Meals in 28 days

Twenty-eight days, one row. Each band is a meal window.

Why

The windows widen as they go because the interval is a range: four meals after a 10–14 day cycle land anywhere between day 40 and day 56.

The sheet statesCrickets, roaches offered near the trapdoor at night · 1 item weekly to biweekly

Staple food
Crickets, roaches offered near the trapdoor at night
Feeding frequency
1 item weekly to biweekly
Supplements
Not required

Behaviour and handling

HandlingNot recommended: fast, delicate and secretive; harmless venom
CommunalNo: solitary
Defense / stress signsSlams trapdoor shut, retreats deep, refuses food

Reproduction

Reproduction
Oviparous: female guards an egg sac inside her burrow; spiderlings disperse to make their own burrows

Common health problems

Common health issues
SignsBurrow collapse/dehydration if substrate too dry or loose; stress if disturbed
Red flags / quarantine
SignsProvide deep firm substrate immediately; QT wild-caught (most are WC); minimise disturbance

Good to know

  • A 'living fossil': the most primitive living spiders, with segmented abdomens and mid-body spinnerets
  • A 'living fossil' — the most primitive living spiders, with segmented abdomens and mid-body spinnerets

What it needs

A thermometerbecause temp — 22-27°C
A hygrometerbecause humidity — 75-85%
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « Tall pot/enclosure with 10-20 cm deep substrate for one spider »

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.

Sources

en.wikipedia.orgarachnoboards.comjournal.nsm.or.th

Others in this group

Regal jumping spiderPhidippus regiusTanzanian giant tailless whip spiderDamon diademaGiant vinegaroon / whip scorpionMastigoproctus giganteusWest African tailless whip spiderDamon mediusSouthern black widowLatrodectus mactansBold jumping spiderPhidippus audaxWestern black widowLatrodectus hesperusPantropical huntsman spiderHeteropoda venatoria

What this sheet states

69%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

This sheet states 5 of 7 of the fields this product runs on. What is missing turns something off: enclosure size audit, day/night engine and awake count on the globe. We show the gap rather than fill it with a plausible number.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.