Can Tarantulas Climb Walls?

can tarantulas climb walls

Welcome to our comprehensive article on the question of can tarantulas climb walls. You may have seen your tarantula climbing up the side of his glass enclosure and thought to yourself, “hang on a second, what’s going on here?” or you may be worried that you’ll find one sitting on your living room window or door one day when you come home from work.

Whatever the reason, let’s find out.

In short, yes, tarantulas can climb walls.  They have tiny claws on the ends of their feet that enable them to get a firm grip onto even the slipperiest of surfaces and shoot sticky threads of silk from microscopic spigots on the bottom of their feet which prevents them from falling.

 

So now you know that it’s perfectly normal for a tarantula to climb a wall, let’s look into it in a bit more detail.

Tarantula Feet

Unlike spiders, if a tarantula falls from height, it could result in death via a burst abdomen. It cannot be stressed enough just how fragile they are.

One of the most popular tarantula keeping Youtubers recently had a tarantula leap out of her enclosure and burst her abdomen upon landing. Unfortunately, despite all of his best efforts, she passed away. Here’s a link but be warned, you may find this video upsetting.

Tarantulas, although mostly nocturnal, can be quite inquisitive when hunting prey or looking for a mate and therefore, to prevent this from happening, they shoot sticky thread from their feet to hold them up.

Spider silk is the equivalent of being five times stronger than steel so unless they make a fatal mistake, they can be assured of their hold.

can tarantulas climb walls
Look closely, you can see the little claws!

This is coupled with tiny claws at the end of their feet which allows them to grip rock, walls and even glass.

 

 

Why do Tarantulas Climb Walls?

As previously mentioned, tarantulas will crawl up walls in search of prey or a mate.

They will also climb if they wish to hide, or if they want to put anchor points down if they’re arboreal tarantulas (tree dwelling).

Sometimes, if kept in captivity, this behaviour can also be related to issues with their substrate.

For example, if the enclosure isn’t suitably ventilated and the substrate becomes too wet or has a fungus growing on it, you will find your tarantula trying to seek refuge on higher ground.

Inappropriate climbing could be an indicator that your tarantula is stressed.

Arboreal Tarantulas

Poecilotheria regalis
Indian Ornamental Tarantula (Poecilotheria regalis)

Arboreal tarantulas, for example the Poecilotheria regalis,  live in trees in the wild, so naturally, the same applies to arboreals kept in captivity.

The main thing to concern yourself with here is not deep substrate, but height within their enclosure.

It goes without saying that compared to their ground dwelling relatives, you can expect to see them hanging out on the side of their enclosure quite often.

As they obviously don’t burrow into the ground, they create anchor points between twigs and leaves high up in trees used to help build their home.

In captivity, you should fill their tall enclosure with plants and pieces of cork bark to enable them to create these anchor points as necessary.

Stress

As briefly mentioned previously in this article, stress can be a contributing factor to a tarantula climbing and trying to reach higher ground.

If the substrate is not deep enough, or is too wet for example, a tarantula will constantly wander his enclosure looking for a dryer, more suitable area.

As a general rule, ground dwelling tarantulas should explore their new surroundings for no longer than 24 hours after they have been re-housed although they should be left for at least a week to settle in.

If you find your tarantula is always on the glass of its enclosure, check that the substrate is suitable and deep enough.

Ensure the humidity is set correctly and there is no fungus growing.

Finally, try moving around your tarantulas hide, or decorations.

You may find it’s as simple as your tarantula not being happy with the “layout” of his enclosure.

Tarantula Can’t Climb

What do you do if your tarantula can’t climb? Is that a problem? Yes. Occasionally, the hairs on a tarantula’s legs get damaged (this should resolve itself at the next molt) or their claws get filled with substrate.

If your tarantula can’t climb or stick to the glass of his enclosure, you will need to place an alternative, such as a piece of cork bark.

In doing this, your tarantula can use its claws to climb.

Please note, it is extremely important to provide something for climbing.

Tarantulas get very stressed if they can’t climb which can lead to a reduced appetite and sometimes even death.

So we have learnt today not only that tarantulas can climb walls but that it’s a perfectly natural and essential part of their life-cycle.

We hope you found this brief article helpful and look forward to bringing you more new and original content here at Spider Advisor.