Tarantula Enrichment: The Spider Sat Still in Both Enclosures
A six times larger enclosure did not make tarantulas more active and they did not prefer it. They did use more of it, and they were bolder afterwards in a strange room.
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Tarantula Enrichment: The Spider Sat Still in Both Enclosures
There is exactly one controlled tarantula housing study, and it is unusually honest about what it did and did not find. For everything else about them, see our complete Tarantula care guide.
Given an enclosure six times larger with six times as much structure, tarantulas were no more active, used 77 percent larger home ranges, were 150 percent more likely to be active in a novel environment afterwards, and showed no preference when offered both. All four of those results are from the same study, and a guide that quotes only the flattering ones is not telling you the truth.
What the Research Actually Says
Stalter, Dorleus, Milone, Sincage, Skurski and Leeds published a preliminary behavioural study of Brazilian black tarantulas, Grammostola pulchra, in PLoS ONE in December 2024. Counterbalanced design, Standard versus Complex housing, Complex being roughly six times larger with six times as many structural elements.
Activity did not change. Budgets were approximately equivalent in both, and inactivity accounted for nearly all observed behaviour.
Space use did change. Home ranges were 77 percent larger and core areas 113 percent larger in the complex enclosure. Given more, the spiders used more.
Boldness changed. In a novel environment test, tarantulas had 150 percent greater odds of being active after living in the complex condition, which the authors read as a more neophilic response.
Preference did not appear. Offered both simultaneously, the spiders showed no clear preference, splitting their time roughly evenly.
The authors' own conclusion is that welfare may be improved by complexity, on the strength of space use and the novelty response, while noting plainly that broad behaviour patterns were similar, no preference emerged, and the sample was small.
The preference test is the result that ought to make everyone cautious. It is the closest thing to asking the animal directly, and the answer was a shrug. That does not mean complexity is worthless, and it does mean the case for it rests on inferred measures rather than on the spider choosing it.
Substrate Depth, Which Beats Everything Above
Nothing in that study displaces this. The most common genuine welfare failure in tarantula keeping is a terrestrial burrowing species kept on a shallow layer of substrate in an enclosure designed to be looked into.
Deep coconut fibre substrate that holds a burrow shape without collapsing, and other sizes and volumes are available. Depth is species-dependent: an obligate burrower needs far more than a terrestrial species that mostly sits under a piece of bark, and an arboreal species needs height and a vertical retreat instead.
Get the species right first. Our tank setup guide covers depth, ventilation and humidity by type.
A Retreat
Every tarantula wants somewhere to be out of sight. Cork bark laid down as a starter burrow for a terrestrial species, or mounted vertically for an arboreal one, gives the spider a structure to web into and modify.
Let it modify things. A tarantula that rearranges substrate and webs up the entrance is doing the closest thing to construction this animal does, and an enclosure it cannot alter is one less thing to do.
Water, Always
A shallow water dish, kept full, for every species including arid ones. Chronic dehydration is a far more common cause of death than anything else on this page, and it is entirely preventable.
Overflowing the dish to dampen one corner is how most keepers manage humidity, rather than misting the whole enclosure into a swamp.
Size, With the Study's Caveats
The space result is real: the spiders used 77 percent more home range when they had it. Go larger than the minimum where you sensibly can.
Two limits. An enclosure so large a terrestrial spider can fall a significant distance is dangerous, since a tarantula's abdomen ruptures easily and a fall can kill it. And a very large enclosure can make a small spider hard to find and hard to feed. Height is the risk, floor area is the benefit.
Structure to Move Through
The other half of the complexity finding. Cork flats, leaf litter, low branch, moss, sphagnum, anchored so nothing can shift onto the animal.
Keep it low for terrestrial species. Everything about tarantula enclosure design comes back to not letting the spider fall.
Feeding
Live prey moving in the enclosure, which is what the ambush is for. Feeder roaches or crickets released rather than presented, and vary timing.
Do not leave uneaten live prey in with a spider approaching a moult, since crickets will chew on a soft tarantula and that is a real killer. Our moulting guide covers the signs, and our feeding guide covers sizing and frequency.
Do Not Read Stillness as a Problem
Worth stating outright, because the study makes it unavoidable. Inactivity was nearly all of the observed behaviour in both conditions. A tarantula sitting motionless for days is a tarantula.
The trap runs the other way too. Because a still spider looks the same whether the setup is right or wrong, the husbandry has to be judged on substrate, humidity, ventilation and water rather than on how busy the animal looks.
Priority Order
- Substrate depth and enclosure type matched to the species
- Water, always available
- A retreat the spider can web into and modify
- Correct humidity and ventilation
- Floor area beyond the minimum, without adding fall height
- Low structure to move through
- Live prey released rather than presented
What Not to Do
Do not keep an obligate burrower on shallow substrate for the sake of visibility. Do not give a terrestrial species height it can fall from. Do not let the water dish run dry. Do not leave live prey in with a pre-moult spider. Do not handle, covered in our handling guide, since the risk to the spider from a fall is far greater than the risk to you. And do not treat a motionless tarantula as evidence of anything at all.
For the rest of their care, see our Tarantula cost guide, health issues guide, and tank setup guide, or browse the rest of our Invertebrates care guide category.
Sources & Further Reading
3 sources
- Stalter L et al. (2024). Tarantula welfare may be improved with greater environmental complexity: a preliminary behavioral study with Brazilian black tarantulas (Grammostola pulchra). PLoS ONE 19(12): e0314501
- Correction: Tarantula welfare may be improved with greater environmental complexity. PLoS ONE
- Tarantulas in captivity: raising and breeding. Springer
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Is there enrichment research on tarantulas?
Yes, one controlled study. Stalter and colleagues housed Brazilian black tarantulas in Standard and Complex enclosures, where Complex was about six times larger with six times as many structural elements, and published the results in PLoS ONE in 2024.
What did it find?
Three things, and they do not all point the same way. Activity budgets were about the same in both, with inactivity accounting for nearly all observed behaviour. Home ranges were 77 percent larger and core areas 113 percent larger in the complex enclosure. And in a novel environment test, tarantulas had 150 percent greater odds of being active after living in the complex condition.
Did the spiders prefer the complex enclosure?
No. Offered both at once they showed no clear preference. The authors were straightforward about that, and about the small sample size, and still concluded complexity probably helps.
So does a bigger enclosure help or not?
The honest answer is that the evidence is mixed and leans yes. The spiders used considerably more space when they had it and behaved more boldly in a novel setting afterwards, which are reasonable welfare signals. They did not become more active overall and they did not choose it.
Does a tarantula sitting still mean something is wrong?
No. Inactivity accounted for nearly all observed behaviour in both housing conditions in that study. Tarantulas are ambush predators and sitting motionless is the normal state, not a symptom.
What matters most in practice?
Substrate depth appropriate to the species, a retreat, water, and correct humidity and ventilation. A terrestrial burrower on shallow substrate in a display enclosure is the most common genuine husbandry failure, and it matters more than anything on the enrichment list.
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Written by Michael Ryan
Mike keeps two rescued bearded dragons, Dex and Cera, and writes the care guides on BeastlyFacts from his own research and mistakes. He is not a veterinarian.
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