New tarantula owners usually make a few mistakes as they get into the hobby – and I know because I was one of them, and I made A LOT of mistakes! One of the most common ones has to do with the most important supplies – the tarantula terrarium! Most of the cheapest and easiest enclosures to buy come with mesh lids included on them, and many tarantula owners won’t know just how dangerous they are until it’s too late!

Why are mesh lids bad for a tarantula terrarium?

Not only have many tarantula owners reported that some of their bigger, stronger tarantulas have literally BITTEN THROUGH their mesh lids, these wire lids are incredibly dangerous for naughty tarantulas that like to climb. Many terrestrial tarantulas like Spidey, my Grammostola rosea, like to pretend they’re a tree spider and climb up their glass so they can hang upside down on their lids. While this is a pretty impressive trick, it’s incredibly dangerous and could lead to serious injury or death if they fall!

In my own experience, I have had to rescue Spidey twice and was fortunate that her naughty adventures didn’t result in her losing a leg or falling. Let me assure you – it’s extremely stressful to have to rescue a tarantula who is hanging by a leg from her lid and flailing all her other legs around! And did she learn her lesson?! No – she was trying to get back up there the next week!

So you have to do something to make your tarantula terrarium safer.

The safest thing you can really do is get rid of the mesh lid. A great alternative is a sheet of plexiglass with some ventilation holes in it, and this is what I intend to get for Spidey in the near future. But if you’re strapped for cash or just can’t get a different lid for your enclosure just yet, there is something you can do in the meantime to make your tarantula’s home safer, and I explain it in this DIY tutorial. The only thing you’ll need is some packing tape like this and you’re ready to go!

What to do:

Basically, you’re just going tape the edges of the mesh lid’s underside to prevent your tarantula’s naughty little paws from being able to grab and climb onto the mesh. Here’s the directions:

• flip your mesh lid over
• cover the outside perimeter of the mesh with the packing tape (make sure to leave some mesh uncovered for ventilation)
• If your tarantula is large or has long legs, you may need to put another layer of packing tape inside the first layer in case your tarantula’s legs can bypass the first layer of tape

Pretty simple! To follow along with me, watch my tutorial:

I hope this helped you! 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 😉