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Are there tarantulas in Colorado?

Last checked November 3, 2026 against official sources.

On this page
  1. The answer
  2. More official answers
  3. Which ones
  4. Where in the US
  5. Sources

Yes.

CSU Extension says tarantulas are found in southeastern and southwestern Colorado.

Colorado State University Extension: “Tarantulas are found in southeastern and southwestern Colorado.” Source

How we answer questions

The 3 on Colorado's list

No confirmed photo of Tarantulas

Tarantulas

Aphonopelma spp.

Not stated

Venom
No official source we use states whether this animal is venomous. That does not mean it is harmless: do not handle it.
Where in Colorado
Tarantulas are found in southeastern and southwestern Colorado. Colorado State University Extension
Oklahoma brown tarantula
Photo: xpda · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized

Oklahoma brown tarantula

Aphonopelma hentzi

Not stated

Venom
No official source we use states whether this animal is venomous. That does not mean it is harmless: do not handle it.
92 records by month.

All spiders in the state: Colorado spiders.

Where tarantulas live in the US

Texas: on an official sourceCalifornia: on an official sourceMissouri: on an official sourceLouisiana: on an official sourceFlorida: nonnative, on an official sourceArkansas: on an official sourceColorado: on an official sourceOklahoma: on an official sourceNew Mexico: on an official sourceKansas: on an official sourceArizona: on an official source
Official presence. 11 states where a state list or official source names it. Gray means no official record in our data, not that it is absent.
  • Native or listed
  • Nonnative or not established
  • No official record in our data
Texas: 524 recordsCalifornia: 586 recordsMissouri: 18 recordsLouisiana: 5 recordsArkansas: 13 recordsColorado: 105 recordsUtah: 66 recordsOklahoma: 74 recordsNevada: 30 recordsNew Mexico: 110 recordsKansas: 8 recordsArizona: 478 records
Observation records. Open-licence records on GBIF for all tarantulas (family Theraphosidae) in 12 states. Records are sightings people shared, not confirmation that a population lives there.
  • 1–9
  • 10–99
  • 100–999
  • 1,000+

Tarantulas: identification, range and danger

When spiders are seen in Colorado

3,428 records (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY).

Other questions about Colorado

Sources

  1. Spiders in the Home (Fact Sheet 5.512). Colorado State University Extension. Published September 2013; checked November 3, 2026.
    Quoted passages (2)
    “Tarantulas are found in southeastern and southwestern Colorado.”
    “Widow spiders, particularly the western widow (Latrodectus hesperus), are common in Colorado.”
  2. Tarantulas (Colorado Arachnids of Interest). CSU Extension, Western Colorado Insects (Tri River Area) - Colorado Insects of Interest. undated page; checked November 3, 2026.
  3. Brown Recluse Spiders in Colorado: Recognition and Spiders of Similar Appearance. Colorado State University Extension. Published February 2008; checked November 3, 2026.
    Quoted passages (1)
    “The brown recluse, and all other recluse spiders, are extremely rare in Colorado.”
  4. GBIF.org occurrence records, human observations licensed CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0 only, accessed November 3, 2026. The datasets behind these counts are listed on our Sources page.