Handling Your Pet Tarantula

Some people will want to handle their tarantula. As a general rule of thumb, only handle your tarantula when it’s absolutely necessary. They don’t like to be handled and especially with old world species you should be wary of being bitten, even if tarantulas don’t bite often.

That being said, there are some species that are more susceptible to being handled than others. 

In this tarantula handling guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about how to handle your tarantula.

Can you handle pet tarantulas?

The short answer to this is yes, you can handle your tarantula. Tarantulas don’t bite unless they are provoked or confuse your hand for prey. Ouch!

Handling a tarantula requires you to be keen on some safety measures though, both for you and for your tarantula.

Should you handle your tarantula?

Tarantulas can burst their abdomen even if they fall a short distance to the ground. Because of the risks to the tarantula and to you when you handle it wrongly, generally you should avoid handling your tarantula.

Tarantulas are wild animals and should be treated as such. Keeping a tarantula as a pet will mainly give you the benefit of being able to observe it, not to play with it.

Some people do however handle their tarantulas a lot and never get bitten by it.

Generally, you could handle your tarantula if you wish to show someone that they’re not as dangerous as they seem. Helping spread understanding of tarantulas and dispelling common misconceptions is to my mind an ethical reason to handle your tarantula.

Just don’t overdo it, and let it mind it’s own business most of the time.

Now that we’ve covered some of the things that had to be said about the ethics of handling a tarantula, let’s jump into how to actually handle it safely and responsibly.

How to handle your pet tarantula

Key to handling your tarantula is to get it out of its habitat. Tarantulas generally re programmed to defend their habitat and their behaviour will change once you remove them from the habitat.

Once you successfully get it out of the habitat, it’s time to let it Wal on your hand.

Let it decide 

It’s important throughout the entire handling that you don’t force the tarantula to do anything it doesn’t want to do out of its own volition.

This means that you should offer your hand to the tarantula as a possible surface for it to walk on. Once the tarantula walks on your hand out of its own, it will be in a more relaxed that than when you simply place it on your hand or push it on it.

As the tarantula walks up, you can place your other hand in front of where the tarantula is walking. Keep juggling it this way between your hands, so that it doesn’t walk all the way up your arm.

Asses at all times the distance to the ground and the possibility of the tarantula falling of. This is something you want to avoid at all cost.

Be gentle and don’t force it

Just let the tarantula explore your hands as it walks around. Don’t force it in any particular direction. You can rotate your hand and arms if the tarantula is inclined to walk down or up all the time. This way it will change direction on its own.

Distance to the ground

Ideally, you want to handle your tarantula right above the ground. Any fall higher than a foot could already lethally injure your tarantula.

It is wise to cover the ground with a soft blanket above which you handle your tarantula. So that when it does fall, bolts away and falls, or decides to jump, st least you minimise the risk of it bursting its abdomen.

Account for jumping

Yes, tarantulas can jump. And especially so with arboreal tarantulas. Keep the possibility of a pouncing tarantula in mind at all times when handling it.

Once it’s time to put the tarantula back in its own habitat, simple place your hand next to it and let it walk off. Don’t pick it up or push it.

If you follow these steps, your handling of the tarantula will be the most pleasant both to you and the creature. And yeah, that was pretty cool – you just had a hairy eight legged arachnid walk all over you!