Tarantulas are among the most common arachnid pets. Their welfare capacity is uncertain but their needs in captivity are often misunderstood, and the trade drives wild collection.
The welfare capacity of tarantulas is genuinely uncertain — their nervous systems are extremely simple compared to insects, making conscious suffering unlikely though not impossible. The primary welfare concerns with tarantula keeping are therefore: first, whether physical suffering from inappropriate husbandry (dehydration, thermal stress) has any welfare significance; and second, the conservation welfare impact of wild collection on source populations. The latter is more clearly problematic — wild-caught tarantulas show stress responses during collection and transport, and collection pressure has driven some species to near-extinction. Captive breeding is increasingly common for popular species, reducing but not eliminating wild collection pressure.