Why Does My Tarantula Keeps Roaming Around The Terrarium?

Did you provide the right kind of soil for your species of a tarantula?

Are there any places in your terrarium where tarantula can hide?

Did you made a burrow for your tarantula?

Do you have a male tarantula?

Some species of tarantulas need bone-dry soil and others are dependent on moisture. If the soil’s moisture does not meet their needs, tarantulas may try to move away from it and because they cannot do it they will roam endlessly in the enclosure.

Tarantulas need to be able to locate an adequate place to hide. For arboreal tarantulas, this means adequate climbing areas where they can create tunnel webs. For terrestrials and fossorials, this means enough dirt to dig into and a starter burrow and hide for terrestrials – such as with cork bark. The starter hide needs to be big enough for the tarantula to fit inside of and to be able to flip onto its back to molt.

When we're creating burrows we have to make sure that our human-made burrows meet tarantula's needs. Tarantulas will roam if they need something and cannot find it easily within all the space they are given.

If your tarantula is roaming around seemingly endlessly, it could be a mature male looking for a mate. Mature males follow their instincts to mate upon maturity with a sense of urgency to pass on their genetics. They do not have much time to live past maturity. All sexually mature males have bulbous pedipalps. Mature males from numerous species also develop noticeable tibial hooks.

Tarantulas are ambush hunters that wait for prey to come across their burrows so they can feed. If food and water are not provided adequately in the enclosure, a tarantula in captivity may begin roaming to follow instincts to have these needs met. You can tell if a tarantula is underfed by observing the size of its abdomen – it should be larger than the carapace. You can tell if a tarantula is dehydrated if the abdomen seems a bit sunken – particularly at the end near the spinnerets.