One thing that I often get asked about from beginners is if they can put tarantulas together in one enclosure to save money and space. While I think there would be nothing more adorable and amazing to watch than two tarantulas instead of one in the same tank, most tarantulas CANNOT live together. Unless they are a communal species, a tarantula needs its own space or territory, or else there will be a fight!

But, some tarantulas do tolerate roommates, and even roommates of other species! Finding this out was SO exciting to me! I had seen an ADORABLE meme on the internet somewhere of a frog and tarantula standing close to each other and it didn’t look photoshopped so of course I had to investigate! The picture stated that some tarantulas hang around tiny frogs to protect their eggs. It turns out this was actually TRUE.

While it’s not certain how this relationship between the tarantulas and frogs works, it is thought to believe that the frog and tarantula benefit from each other in a way that biology refers to as “mutualism”. This pertains to a tiny frog species called microhylids (they’re only .5-3 inches long!). These little microhylids commune with big spiders (aka tarantulas), sometimes sharing a borrow. And despite the fact that the tarantula is definitely large enough to make a snack out of the tiny frog, they don’t (even though they might eat other frogs)!

How does this work? It might be down to the toxins in the tiny frogs’ skin. It was observed that when young spiders were picking up these microhylids, the spiders would taste them and then put them back down, implying that these frogs were not palatable to the spiders. And so, since the tarantulas were no longer considered a predator, it is thought that this is how the two species learned to coexist.

There is a theory about how this mutual relationship might work – the frog hangs around the tarantula because the spider offers them protection. After all, of course a tarantula will attack anything that threatens the safety of its burrow – and the frog is considered a guest or roommate, part of the tribe. As far as how the frog benefits the tarantula, it’s a little confusing.

Some researchers have proposed that the spider doesn’t like the frog, it just tolerates or ignores it. However, others have suggested that there is something in it for the spider because frogs are known to eat parasites and small insects like ants, which could attack a spider’s eggs and eat them. Since these critters are too small for the tarantula to get with their mouths, these are great food for the frog. And so it seems that in their own way, tarantulas and frogs offer each other protection and survival.