It is with great sadness that we announce the recent passing of Ocho, NMWC’s ambassador Oklahoma Brown Tarantula. Ocho came to NMWC in October 2024 as a donation from another education facility. We were looking to expand our educational programming to include more invertebrates and arachnids, and Ocho was a welcome addition to the team. Ocho helped countless visitors see tarantulas as not a creature to fear, but as a vital part of our ecosystem. 

As NMWC’s first tarantula Ambassador Animal, the education team was excited to see how she would fit into our programming, and we let Ocho tell us how best to utilize her through behavioral observation. While invertebrate welfare is still a newer subject of study, research concludes that reduced handling and travel is key to reducing stress in human care. With this knowledge in mind, it was determined that Ocho would be a display only ambassador, staying on site in her new, larger habitat. She showed her comfort by choosing to bed down in her viewing hide, confidently exploring her enclosure and even building a soft web bedding during breeding season – all natural behaviors we strived for in her care. Visitors young and old delighted in finding Ocho despite her effective camouflage coloration and observing her quietly from a safe distance.

In January 2026, Ocho began showing signs that she was going into molt, a highly energy-intensive process that is stressful in even the best conditions. Molting in the wild leaves adult tarantulas highly vulnerable to dehydration, injury and death for the weeks leading up to and after the molt. As this was Ocho’s first molt since moving to the Center and out of an abundance of caution and respect, the education team decided to pull her off display to a darkened, quieter space. We ensured her habitat had all the necessary materials for her to be set up for success. Ocho completed her molt over the course of two days and looked amazing! 

For the days following, Ocho remained off display and heavily monitored for any changes. Unfortunately, a few days after she molted, staff noticed Ocho became less and less active and seemed unlike her usual self. Our on-site hospital’s postmortem examination determined she suffered from a hemolymph leak or “bleeding” obtained from a tear in her soft exoskeleton. While wounds like these can sometimes be addressed, it is often a fatal injury. 

Ocho is heavily missed by her care team. She helped staff and guests address their fear of spiders through education and exposure. Ocho was a charismatic ambassador that was a pleasure to work with and proves that even the smallest animals can make a large impact on those around them.

Please share your memories or stories of how Ocho or other arachnids have touched your life by sending an email to info@newmexicowildlifecenter.org.