Desert tarantula
A large, gentle desert spider with a pale, hairy body that spends its days in a silk-lined burrow and comes out on fall evenings to look for a mate.
Desert tarantula at a glance
Aphonopelma chalcodes duh-ZURT tuh-RAN-choo-luh; Aphonopelma chalcodes is af-oh-noh-PEL-muh kal-KOH-deez
- Type
- Invertebrate · spider
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Size
- With its legs spread, a big female is about the size of an adult's open hand, roughly 4 to 5 inches across. Its furry body alone is about as long as your thumb.
- Lifespan
- Females live a very long time for a spider, about 20 to 30 years. Males live only about 10 to 12 years and usually die within a year after they grow up and leave to find a mate.
- Conservation
- Not evaluated (not on the IUCN Red List; no special legal protection)
Eats crickets, beetles, grasshoppers, other insects, sometimes small lizards
A desert tarantula waits near the mouth of its burrow at night and grabs insects that wander close. It bites with two fangs, adds venom that turns the prey's insides to liquid, then sips its meal. It can go weeks or months between big meals.
Should you worry?
Small. A desert tarantula is shy and slow and would rather run or hide than bite. If it is cornered it can bite, and for most people the bite feels about like a bee sting. It can also flick tiny itchy hairs off its belly. The rule is simple: look, don't grab, and never pick up a wild tarantula.
For most of the year a desert tarantula is a spider you would never notice, because it is underground. A female digs a burrow, lines it with silk, and may spend her whole long life within a few feet of that one hole, waiting near the mouth at night to grab a cricket or beetle that wanders past. She bites with two fangs, adds venom that turns the insect’s insides to soup, and sips the meal. Then she can go weeks or months before she needs another. In the Sonoran Desert around Saguaro, that patient, hidden life is the ordinary one.
The season people actually meet a tarantula is fall. Grown males leave their burrows and set out walking, sometimes long distances, looking for females, and that is when one turns up crossing a trail or a warm evening road. A big female with her legs spread is about the size of a grown-up’s open hand, and the furry body alone is about as long as a thumb. Despite the size, this is a gentle animal, a slow walker that does not leap and does not chase.
If a tarantula is truly cornered it has two defenses, and neither is very frightening. It can bite, which for most people feels about like a bee sting, and it can kick a cloud of tiny barbed hairs off its abdomen with its back legs, which itch and sting the eyes and nose of whatever is bothering it. Both only come out when the spider is handled or trapped, so the rule takes care of itself: look, don’t grab, and never pick up a wild tarantula.
Did you know?
- In autumn, grown males leave their burrows and walk long distances looking for females. That is when hikers most often see tarantulas out in the open, crossing trails and roads.
- A female lines her burrow with silk and may spend her whole long life within a few feet of that one hole.
- When something scares it, the tarantula can kick a cloud of tiny barbed hairs off its abdomen with its back legs. The hairs itch and sting the eyes and nose of an attacker.
Common questions
Are desert tarantulas dangerous to kids?
Not very. They are shy, and their bite feels about like a bee sting to most people. Just don't try to catch or hold a wild one and it will leave you alone.
Do tarantulas jump at people?
No. Desert tarantulas are slow walkers. They do not leap or chase.
Why do tarantulas come out in the fall?
Grown males leave their burrows in autumn to walk around looking for females, so that is when people see the most of them.
What do tarantulas eat?
Insects like crickets, beetles, and grasshoppers, and now and then a small lizard, all caught at night near the burrow.