Tarantula Help, Please?

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I need to catch a tarantula (and scorpion come July) for my museum. I?ve looked up ways to catch them on the internet but most of what I?ve found is years old. I?m also running into a problem where the tarantulas I?ve seen haven?t been following the behaviors that people have said they should be following. I?ve only seen five tarantulas & I know they?re rare so I?m not surprised that I haven?t seen more.

One of the things I?ve seen on several websites is that tarantulas don?t like places with a lot of trees. Three out of the five I?ve seen spawned out of trees, banged incredibly tight U turns and then went back into the same tree. They turn & get back into the tree so fast that there?s no way I can get my net out.

Another thing I?ve seen mentioned is tarantulas not liking flowers. The other two I?ve seen both spawned in one of my groups of hybrids. The first spawned in purple tulips, ran across one of my paths into more flowers. (I was one of my alts & didn?t have a net on me.) The second one spawned in a patch of hybrids and then just sat there. This one was particularly insulting because I had just saved & quit after spending over 2 hours looking for a tarantula. When the title screen came back up it panned over the group of hybrids and I watched the d*mn thing spawn & then sit there... taunting me.

One person on a different forum post from 2016 said they removed all of their flowers & trees to catch a tarantula & scorpion. I would really rather not follow this method if at all possible. I?ve considered walking round my town in stalk mode with my net out but I?ve read that both species become immediately agitated if you have your net out & that they sting you instantly. I know that they spawn between 7 PM & 4 AM but I?ve read that ?the peak time? for them is between 11 PM to 4 AM. All of the ones I have seen I?ve seen before 11 PM. I?m really not sure what I should be doing & when.

Has anyone caught a tarantula recently ? like within the last year? How did you go about catching it? Is there anything I can do to help improve my chances of catching one? Any advice would be a huge help. Thank you!
 
I have caught a few tarantulas in the past week. Been bitten by a few, too!

Truth be told, I think that it is just a patience thing. The most frustrating one ran behind my caf? to escape. But don't stalk them with your net out or you will be attacked.
 
I've caught a few tarantulas. They freeze for a couple of seconds if you have the net equipped so you have to get them while they're not moving.
 
First of all, take everything you've read and chuck it out a window.
In my experience, I've had them spawn in flowers, trees and tile paths, and I've NEVER had them spawn in big open areas contrary to everything I've read.
It's alway's been about 10-11pm when I see them, I had one crawl around my feet for a minute a few nights ago before falling off into the river. ( I didn't have my net!)
Everything in this game, spawn in counter-clockwise (I promise you, the best way to catch snowflakes, island beetles or feathers is to walk around your town in a counter clockwise circuit, I can catch 25-35 flakes/feathers in 10 minutes) so walk around town normally, working your way around to the right, with only the net in your pocket so you can pres the + to grab it.
Shoo off other bugs like crickets, lantern flies, moths etc, make your circuit, entering and exiting a building every 2-3 revolutions (4-6 minutes) to refresh the bugs.
Or they just sit in your yard and mock you as they dive off into the river or in a tulip patch.
But patience is the best thing.
 
I hate tarantulas and scorpions, they are such a pain. I never heard anything about them relating to trees/flowers I honestly don't even look for them(they find me, creepy buggers). If you just wander around they will turn up. They usually come out of nowhere and scare the crud out of me lol.
When I see them I tend to go the other way and then come back slowly(net out but I don't hold down the A button. I just approach slowly and if they move toward me I stop.. When they stop I keep slowly moving forward. If I manage to get close enough I swing and if I'm lucky I catch it. Once I get them for the museum I tend to not go out overnight til they are gone cause I don't wanna deal with them. Good luck
 
The mayor and 2nd player in my casual town caught both bugs on the same night. Each time I was just going about my daily tasks.
Mayor was fishing and there was a scorpion tail behind him. Turned around and switched to the net and caught it. Later he was doing some tasks for the villagers and he found a tarantula. At that time the mayor had a catch a scorpion for 2 meow coupons. It was very late when he caught them.

Two days ago it was the first day bug hunting for the 2nd player. Again she was doing a task for a villager and the clock went to 7pm. Twenty minutes later and she caught the tarantula. 25 minutes later and she caught the scorpion.

The town is new and does have some trees. I do like to plant random flowers in town so those bugs have a place to hide. Having some open space helps to see them better. I have caught those bugs in fully developed towns.
I never carry my net in hand. Carry a fishing rod and have the net only in my pockets. Noticed that the bugs are easier to catch since the update. 18 players have caught those bugs.

One poster gave a good tip that I haven't tried. They set their clock to 7pm when it was 2pm real time. They found it very easy to play because their eyes weren't tired. They played till all 3 player got the bugs. I've kept a town stuck on the same date until I've got the bug. Just changed the time where I left off.
 
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Don't think about and they will appear.

When it does, just slowly move away. It will freeze, then take out your net and swipe.
 
Im currently trying to catch one now i found one but it ran off
 
I started my second town about 4 days ago, and I had one spawn right near a pond. Sure enough, I didn't even scare it and it killed itself in the pond. Was hoping to catch it :/ In my main town I had kept getting them to spawn near bodies of water for some reason, and they had always gotten away so I've had lots of trouble. I think you just need to keep going at it and once you get one, approach it slowly and when it has it's back turned so it doesn't bite you. That's what I did in my main town.
 
Thank you all for sharing your tips & stories! I knew they'd be hard to catch but I really felt like I was doing something wrong. I'm glad to know they're just tricky, sneaky buggers. I'll make sure to have only my net and maybe my fishing rod on me. I'll also try Ably's counter clockwise idea. I'm a big chicken & don't TT so I probably won't try setting my town to 7 PM earlier in the day. I hope I get braver so I can try TTing if need be.

Hmm... none of the tarantulas I've seen have frozen for a second. Probably because I spooked them accidentally. I hope I can get them to freeze so I get a second to get my net out.
 
I just caught one i saw 3 within the 12 minutes of it turning 9
 
You saw 3? I've never seen more than 1 a night when I've seen them.
 
I saw one that ended up biting me in the corner of my town i caught one in my plaza then another one bit me after it ambushed me from the trees
 
I caught one a couple of nights ago... I'd love to help but I honestly have no idea how I did it hahaha. I just sort of... flailed.
 
They don't necessarily dislike flowers, it's just easier to see them. As for the trees, I cut all of my down so that tree bugs wouldn't spawn and I have only seen 2 or 3 this whole moth :c I finally caught one maybe a week ago, but yeah. If you find that they spawn in a certain area, check the area and then save and continue. Repeat until you see one, and then get your net out and go into stalker mode. Then try to get close enough to catch it. If it stops and 'hisses' at you, just go really slow, as if you were catching a golden stag c;
 
First of all, take everything you've read and chuck it out a window.
In my experience, I've had them spawn in flowers, trees and tile paths, and I've NEVER had them spawn in big open areas contrary to everything I've read.
It's alway's been about 10-11pm when I see them, I had one crawl around my feet for a minute a few nights ago before falling off into the river. ( I didn't have my net!)
Everything in this game, spawn in counter-clockwise (I promise you, the best way to catch snowflakes, island beetles or feathers is to walk around your town in a counter clockwise circuit, I can catch 25-35 flakes/feathers in 10 minutes) so walk around town normally, working your way around to the right, with only the net in your pocket so you can pres the + to grab it.
Shoo off other bugs like crickets, lantern flies, moths etc, make your circuit, entering and exiting a building every 2-3 revolutions (4-6 minutes) to refresh the bugs.
Or they just sit in your yard and mock you as they dive off into the river or in a tulip patch.
But patience is the best thing.

I would pay to see you write an honest guide on this game in every facet. Like, update the records with this tidbit of knowledge; I need to see this game from the viewpoint of someone who's got it figured out. :'o

You don't happen to know anything about villager AI when it comes to letters, do you?

- - - Post Merge - - -

Also, Lou, I audibly scream/yell everytime I see one, so to look it in the eyes with net bared and challenge it like that takes some serious moxy imo. I always thought there was a priority animation for them to jump at you first (read, being OP) so to even try to get near it like that is news to me. (My sister said she bravely charged one and caught it; after the hiss and they both came at each other in a roulette of reflex. It was epic. Game lost power, she was so upset she reset her entire village.

Yeah, she hasn't caught one since. I made my brother catch them for my museum the last two games. ;-; )
 
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Another option is to pick an open spot and just stand there with your net in hand and repeatedly save & continue. This resets the spawning chances each time. Because tarantulas and scorpions have maybe 1% chance of spawning under any situation, this can take anywhere from minutes to hours to produce a result. But when you see one just press A when it's not facing you and start creeping towards it, and freeze if it turns and faces you. Just don't let go of the A button when you freeze!. That pretty much guarantees you'll get bit.
As for the whole getting rid of trees and flowers, it does make them easier to see and reduces the amount of different types of bugs you have spawning, but the percent chance of spawning for each species stays the same. I found it useful to do but that's just me
 
I've had them spawn MAINLY on concrete, like outside the train station, however, I caught mine behind Vivian's house at around 8PM.

I've never seen one at the so called 'peak hours'.
 
I caught one last night. It was walking around in the grass near a bunch of trees. It was doing its own thing and walked past me while I was doing something else. I immediately stopped, equipped my net, and started walking towards the direction it went off-screen. It was just sitting there not moving. I stood there for several seconds and it didn't start moving. I tiptoed close enough to get in range, treating it like I would a beetle, and caught it first try.
 
I think they're called 'peak' because not as many other bugs appear/spawn, which is great, but I always see mine between 7pm-12am.
 
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