Trying to figure out whether or not they have a happy, healthy tarantula is one of the most pressing questions for new tarantula owners. It’s one of the most comment questions I get on my tarantula Tumblr blog, TarantulaCuties – so in this post I’m going to explain a few simple, hard-to-miss signs of having a healthy tarantula.

As a little disclaimer, it should be noted that when we talk about happiness when related to tarantulas, we are really talking about their temperament and health. There has not been much research into the emotional activity of tarantulas and spiders, so we cannot say for sure that they can or cannot process emotions. So for the sake of this post, I am referring to tarantulas’ emotional health as their temperament and behavioral signs. That being said, let’s get started!

Here are some ways you can find out if you have a healthy tarantula – you can watch the video below or scroll down to read on:

1. A healthy tarantula is neither obese nor underweight

A sign of a fat tarantula is an abdomen that is extremely large and out of proportion to the rest of its body (not connected to pregnancy). 

A lot of people are surprised to know this – tarantulas can suffer from obesity, too! A mistake that many beginners make is overfeeding their tarantulas, when in reality many adult tarantulas only need to be feed once per week (sometimes less). Slings tend to eat more frequently, but they too can be overfed by accident. Many adult tarantulas may even be fine only eating four or less prey items per month!

The metabolisms of tarantulas are very different and much slower than ours and they can go quite a bit without eating – which unfortunately makes it easy to overfeed them. Many people used to shun overfeeding because they felt it shortened the life spans of tarantulas. While this has been proven false, overfeeding is still dangerous and should be avoided because an overweight, plump tarantula is at a much higher risk for a ruptured abdomen if they were too fall or get injured.

If your tarantula is overweight, simply try cutting back on their feeding schedule and see how they respond.

 

2. A healthy tarantula is hydrated

Dehydration is one of the biggest concerns for tarantula health. While these creatures can go long periods without food, the same cannot be said for water.

A sign of a dehydrated tarantula is an abdomen that is getting smaller and taking on a “shriveled” appearance.

Tarantulas need water for many of their bodily functions to work properly. For example, bad molts have been connected to inadequate hydration. A hydrated tarantula has a round abdomen.

3. A healthy tarantula is free of spots or blemishes

Sometimes tarantulas get injured and can be patched up by their owners (see my guide specifically about tarantula first aid). If caught early, these tarantulas may go on to molt out of their wounds and live perfectly healthy, normal lives. However, sometimes they can develop more serious issues.

A sign of a more deadly problem – such as a tumor or abscess – can usually be seen developing on the tarantula’s body.

It’s important to periodically inspect your tarantula’s body to make sure they are not injured or developing a growth. I talk about this at length in my Illnesses + Injury Guide (which is also part of my larger tarantula guide).

4. A healthy tarantula poops regularly

While tarantulas may not poop very often and it’s hard to catch them in the act, it’s good to observe ocassional telltale signs that your tarantula is going to the bathroom. Generally, tarantula waste is white and they have a habit of doing this on the walls of their tanks or in their water dishes (no one knows why they love doing this). Many people do not know this, but tarantulas can have suffer from constipation and anal impaction. It can be fatal.

A sign that your tarantula is backed up is visible waste around its anal area and spinnerets. Other signs could be excessive grooming of its backside only and a bloated appearance, not connected to premolt or pregnancy.

5. A healthy tarantula has clean fangs

Tarantulas are very clean creatures, and they will usually clean themselves right up after a messy meal. If you can, either by picking them up or inspecting them when they are up against the side of their tank, check their mouth/fang area every once in a while to make sure the area is clean and that there are no parasites.

One particularly harmful parasite that infects tarantulas are called nematodes, which are little wormlike parasites that like to hang around tarantulas’ mouths. 

A healthy tarantula should have fully formed fangs with a bright, clean area around its mouth.

6. Healthy tarantulas have successful molts

Molting generally becomes harder for tarantulas as they age, but a healthy, young/middle aged tarantula should have no issues molting. Molting is a process in which hydration is extremely important, so as long as they have been given access to water and other good care requirements are in place, a tarantula is probably in a good position to have a successful molt.

A sign that something went wrong in the molting process could be a tarantula who has gotten stuck in its molt during the process or a deformity after the molt.

*It should be noted that sometimes even healthy tarantulas do not have successful molts for reasons that are not connected to their health at all – for example, an attack by a prey item that was not removed, or performing the molting process in a problematic position. Molting is one of the most difficult, risky processes for tarantulas but keeping them healthy and providing good tarantula care can increase their odds of succeeding.

7. Happy, healthy tarantulas are not stressed out

I can’t talk about physical health without talking about emotional health. Of course, as I said before we don’t really know if tarantulas have emotions, but they definitely do experience stress.

A tarantula that is stressed out will be roaming excessively, climbing the walls of its tank (if terrestrial), and excessively flicking its hairs (creating bald spots on its abdomen that are not connected to premolt). They may also behave more defensively than usual. 

Those are all signs of stress. It is pretty easy for tarantulas to get stressed out, so the best thing you can do to keep your tarantula’s stress managed is to create a very stable environment for it. A happy tarantula is basically a calm tarantula, and a calm tarantula is pretty much a “pet rock” most of the time. Tarantulas thrive in stability so giving them a calm environment where all their needs are met and they are left unbothered to do their secret spider stuff is the best thing you can do for them.

Anyway, I hope that gives you some good pointers on how to keep your pet tarantulas healthy! Noticing these things will go a long way for their health and help you spot issues before they become too serious to treat.

If you’d like to learn more about tarantula health, first aid, and illnesses and injuries, feel free to check out my Injury and illness guide. For that and even more, check out my whole guide! You can also get free tips by signing up for my weekly tarantula newsletter and YouTube channel!

Featured image via Insects Unlocked / Flickr