Is it true? Can tarantulas swim? You will often hear stories of tarantula keepers not wanting their tarantula to fall into their water dish for fear of drowning, but if they could swim and get back out, would it even be possible? Read on to find out.
Tarantulas can swim. Having said that, they really aren’t excellent swimmers. Most of them only swim when they’re being chased by predators or accidentally fall into the water.
Using their long legs, they paddle across the water while the air pocket created between their abdominal hairs help them stay afloat.
So now we’ve answered the basic question, I guess the next thing to know is whether all of them can swim or not.
There are about 1000 documented species of tarantulas all around the world, and all of them can swim. Though they are all capable of swimming, how good can they swim varies with the species.
Can A Tarantula Survive A Fall Into The Water?
Whether a tarantula can survive a fall or not totally depends on the size of the spider. As with falling onto the ground, falling into water is exactly the same.
If they have a large abdomen, there is a huge probability that they will rupture it (think water balloon) and sadly die.
The exception to this is arboreal tarantulas that are found in the wild. These tarantulas have a lighter build, and believe it or not, they can survive a fall even from a treetop!
How Do Tarantulas Breathe While In The Water?
Before we discuss how tarantulas breathe in the water, we need to give you a quick lesson on the respiratory system of spiders and how they function.
Not just tarantulas, but all spiders, in general, have a pair of lungs known as “book lung” located on the dorsal side of their abdomen.
Their lungs are called book lungs because of the presence of thin and soft plates that resembles the pages of a book.
These plates come in contact with the surrounding air through the slits in its abdomen. These slit openings expand and close like a human lung does when we breathe.
So, just like humans, when a tarantula is swimming on the water’s surface, the book lung opens to water, and it can’t breathe.
Fortunately, tarantulas have found out a unique solution to tackle this problem.
When a tarantula swims, it coats its abdomen with water bubbles, and the slits of the book lung open up to this bubble, and gaseous exchange takes place. Very clever!
It is important to note though, that whilst they can breathe on the water surface, tarantulas are land creatures first and foremost and don’t prefer swimming.
Many studies have been conducted into behaviour of swimming tarantulas and it has been found that tarantulas aren’t fond of water.
It has also been found that the receptors on the legs of tarantulas known as the hygroreceptors can identify the moisture, possibly causing an aversion to water.
Only when the spider was threatened or when it suspected danger did they step into the water to escape.
Can Tarantulas Float?
Yes. They have tiny hairs called setae on their body which are primarily used as sensors, but they also can trap air between them.
Due to the presence of trapped air between these setae, a tarantula can float with ease. It is these air bubbles that are trapped in their setae they use to breathe while they are in the water.
They keep their setae dry by coating them in a waxy secretion, effectively waterproofing them.
If you take a tarantula out of the water, you can see that they remain dry.
Larger tarantulas can’t float on water as easily as smaller ones, obviously they can’t float with just the use of trapped water bubbles.
Even if they are capable of floating, they can’t float for longer periods. They simply curl in its legs and stay still in the water.
Watch this video of an Arizona Blond (Aphonopelma chalcodes ) just hanging out beneath the water.
It appears dead but as soon as it is touched, it springs to life. Also note how dry it is upon exiting the water.
How Fast Can a Tarantula Swim?
This depends on the size, but as a general rule, larger tarantula’s can usually swim about five to eight cm per second.
Can Tarantulas Dive Underwater?
Not all tarantulas can dive underwater except the burrow-dwelling spiders, also known as the diving tarantulas.
As their name suggests, these big guys live in deep burrows that remain submerged during the rainy season.
These diving tarantulas have a similar mechanism like the others to breathe in water. It is just that the diving tarantulas can do it more efficiently.
What makes these diving tarantulas different from others is the fact that they have a very low metabolic rate than the terrestrial tarantulas.
It means that they can considerably reduce their oxygen demand and stay submerged for long.
It is estimated that diving tarantulas can remain submerged for 24 hours straight by surviving using the trapped air. Beyond which they must resurface for air.
Maningrida Diving Tarantula
For example, located approximately 500 km east of Darwin in Arnhem Land, Maningrida boasts a 10-km-long floodplain that is thought to be home to the world’s highest concentration of tarantulas, estimated to be 25,000-strong.
The Maningrida diving tarantula, discovered in 2006 is a tarantula that lives here, in burrows, and is capable of not only swimming but diving underwater.
These fascinating tarantulas are excellent swimmers and are even able to breath underwater when they dive.
They coat themselves with a waxy secretion that keeps them dry while protecting their book lungs (more on book lungs later) and use coated air bubbles to breathe underwater.
Check this out!
That being said, not all tarantulas possess the ability to actually dive underwater!
So in summary, whilst tarantulas can swim, most of them prefer not to venture into the water and to either walk on land or live in trees (arboreal).
We hope you found this article interesting and useful and look forward to bringing you more informative content!
Until next time, stay spidery!