*This piece was written and submitted by Madeline Colli*

Tarantula fangs are a crucial piece of spider anatomy, but there are very often questions from beginners about whether or not tarantula fangs can be removed. While it may be a comforting hope for a wannabe tarantula owner or someone who is scared of spiders, the idea that a tarantula’s fangs are often removed in pet stores or by breeders is a myth.

In order for a tarantula to survive, their fangs are a necessity. A tarantula’s fangs play a major role in how the spider eats and hunts its prey. When a tarantula grabs ahold of the meal of choice, the fangs paralyze and then kill the victim, allowing the tarantula to turn the prey into a liquid soup that it can digest.

But there are always exceptions. Occasionally, a spider may lose their fangs during a bad molt. Although this isn’t a good scenario, it is not the end of the world. There are reports of a few very dedicated tarantula owners being able to keep their fuzzy friend alive through manual feeding and extra care until the fangs have grown fully back. Cricket soup is a safe meal to give to the spider during this time period.

If you suspect that your tarantula has lost its fangs, it is recommended to investigate the last molt and see if there were any complications. Inside the exoskeleton, you may see that there was an issue – or you may notice while your tarantula is still on its back that the fangs have not molted properly. Again, this is not an ideal situation because this will be very stressful on your pet – and yourself, because it could be several weeks to months that you will have to feed your tarantula manually. While it may take several weeks for tarantula fangs to grow back in the next molt, but many tarantulas do just fine.

There are some extremely heroic and dedicated tarantula owners who have nurses their fangless tarantulas back to life! You can check them out below:

 

The myth of “defanging” a tarantula is commonly perpetuated at pet stores. It is a tactic employees try to use on customers in order to sell the spiders. This in turn for them, creates more revenue. This is irresponsible, but some pet stores will go even further. Tom’s Big Spiders reported that “Tarantulas can be ‘defanged’ with a surgical procedure.” Sadly, this “surgery” is NOT a myth. Some extremely unethical pet stores will use scissors or nail clippers to cut off a tarantula’s fangs to “prevent biting”. This is extremely abusive and misleading to a customer who thinks they are getting a “defanged” tarantula – because a less experienced tarantula owner may not know this: It is impossible to defang a spider due to the fact that the fangs will always grow back with the next molt or two.

Many future tarantula owners are also unaware that they should never wish for a tarantula with its fangs removed, because this will prevent the animal from being able to feed itself and it will more likely to starve, leading to its death. A potentially life-threatening injury such as this, could cause an “emergency shed”.

Can tarantula fangs be removed? The simple answer is, no. A spider’s fangs will always grow back which make it impossible to be permanently, “fully removed”. In the case that your tarantula loses its fangs in a bad molt or your local pet store “removed” them, make sure that you provide the nutrition your tarantula needs for the time being. The fangs will one day come back.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons