There is SO much we still don’t know about tarantulas, but we’re learning more every day. Today, I’m answering a super interesting question:

Can tarantulas swim?

If you’re a new or soon-to-be tarantula owner, you might be terrified that your tarantula might accidentally drown itself in its water dish. Misguided pet store employees will likely tell you that you need rocks or harmful sponges in their water dishes in order to prevent this (you DON’T). In fact, tarantulas are NOT stupid and WON’T drown – and I’ve actually seen a video of a tarantula SWIMMING in its water dish. For REAL, completely submerged. Check it out:

That video is from Tarantula YouTuber Tarantulaguy1976 (great tarantula channel) and when I first saw it I could not believe my eyes. It turns out that some tarantulas CAN swim – like the Hysterocrates gigas, one of the only swimming spiders (and only known tarantula that can)! They have been observed staying submerged under water for 2+ hours and have been documented catching/eating FISH. Here’s another great, longer video of Tarantulaguy1976’s H gigas swimming:

So what the hell is going on?! Well apparently, the answer to the question “Can tarantulas swim?” is YES! Some of them actually spend a great deal of time underwater!

But is the H gigas the ONLY tarantula that can swim? Apparently not!

While the H gigas may be the only known tarantula that can stay submerged and swim underwater, many other tarantulas have been caught on camera swimming. Not too long ago, a tarantula made headlines (and scared the crap out of everyone) in Texas when it was spotted doing the spider paddle across a small body of water. A video of this tarantula went viral when a Texas park posted it to Facebook, captioning it with “Did you know that tarantulas can ‘swim?’ With their legs acting as paddles, they can row across water.” Here’s the video:

According to a researcher with the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, most tarantulas usually only take to water when forced, such as being chased or falling in. The researcher believes tarantulas can detect they are in water through hygroreceptors on their legs, which also detect humidity. The researcher said in studying the way tarantulas react when they are put in water, most tarantulas float “on the surface film of water”, nothing “a layer of air trapped by the dense coat of hairs on the legs and body” was a critical factor. He researcher also said:

The larger (and heavier) the spider, the more likely it was to sink, in which case it tended to curl in its legs and not move, and needed to be rescued. However, most of the time the tarantulas floated on the
surface film of water. A layer of air trapped by the dense coat of hairs on the legs and body is probably an important factor here. The waterproofing ability of the spider cuticle, with its waxy outermost layer, was impressively demonstrated and the tarantulas emerged completely dry from the water, none the worse for their ordeal.

As for how their bodies actually move to perform their swimming movements, it’s a bit different from walking. Dunlop reported this from his studies:

“To return to the swimming question, careful observations were made of the way in which the tarantulas swam. The tarantula primarily used its first three pairs of legs to swim, while the last pair of legs tended to be dragged behind it (see diagram). The first three leg pairs were moved out of phase (as in walking); the arrows on the diagram show three legs simultaneously moving to propel the spider forwards. Also, the legs were angled sideways slightly so that more surface area of the legs was being used to push through the water (see diagram). The pedipalps were held out in front of the tarantula and generally did not contribute to the swimming process.”

And if this couldn’t get any more exciting, here’s a video of a friggen tarantula FISHING, hunting MINNOWS underwater! Now I don’t know if this is safe or the nutritional value of fish for tarantulas, but this is just insane and I am going to have to do a totally different Tarantula Tuesday on just this topic alone. But enjoy this video and it just goes to show how much more we need to know about tarantulas.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

By the way, check out my new tarantula magazine for more cool spider stuff:

I’m putting out issues every 2 months! If you’d like to be a part of that, you can visit the magazine’s Patreon page to subscribe or make a submission! You can also contact me at theavenmag@gmail.com for more info!

If you want to learn more about tarantulas, feel free to check out my big tarantula guide (I talk about lots of tarantula facts and enclosure/care tips). You can also get free tarantula tips by signing up for my newsletter or subscribing to my YouTube channel! I release new tips every Tuesday for Tarantula Tuesday! And I also sell some pretty cool tarantula t-shirts, if I do say so myself 😉