Animal Crossing fans are building tarantula traps, mazes, and more

When most of us see an Animal Crossing: New Horizons tarantula, we either run away as it comes after us, or we waffle our nets and miss capturing them completely. Some folks have gotten the tarantula timing down just fine. And then there are the players who are building traps, mazes, and even finding tarantula exploits.

Player @melon_dq10 discovered, for instance, that you can set up a series of pitfalls to jump into a safe area where the spider can’t get you. Once there, the tarantula will keep going in circles, making it easy for you to nab:

Fan @tanerunikki goes one step further and completely messes with the tarantula’s logic. By building out a specific set of pitfalls and rocks, the arachnid will get confused and stop coming after you, instead just going round and round:

It seems that tarantulas are programmed in a way that makes it easy to take advantage of them. Player @caoki8 discovered that if you trap one spider and have it be “active” in its chase for you, other spiders will become completely docile — making them a cinch to capture.

Some of these, you can’t enact unless you have multiple tarantulas on the map at once — which may not happen unless you’re on a dreaded tarantula island. For those of you who have advanced in the game enough, basically, if you buy a Nook Miles Ticket from Resident Services, the game will fly you to an island with resources — some of them are standard crafting fodder, while others provide, shall we say, unexpected fauna.

While some may consider tarantula island a total nightmare, it’s a good opportunity to learn how to actually nab the creepy critters:

Plus, tarantulas sell for a ton of money. So, whether you build a trap, confuse your prey, or just get it the old-fashioned way, there’s plenty of incentive to not run away when a tarantula appears.

Switch Lite

• $200

Prices taken at time of publishing.

Nintendo Switch consoles are often sold out, but you can still pick up the handheld-only Switch Lite, which is perfect for portable gaming.

• $200 at Best Buy