Spiders in Curaçao
Curaçao has no deadly spider. The only ones with venom that genuinely affects people are the widows, and on this arid island that means the brown widow and the native Caribbean widow, both of which live outdoors under things rather than indoors. Several species on older Curaçao lists — the redback, the black house spider, the tree funnel-web and the St Andrew's cross — are Australian animals that have never lived here.
On this page
- What spiders live in Curaçao?
- Which Curaçao spiders are actually dangerous?
- Where you meet them on the island
- When spiders are most obvious in Curaçao
- Look-alikes, misnames and non-spiders
- Common Spiders in Curaçao
- Biggest Spiders in Curaçao
- Most Venomous Spiders in Curaçao
- Less Venomous Spiders in Curaçao
- Living with Curaçao's spiders
- Frequently asked questions
What spiders live in Curaçao?
Curaçao is a small, dry island: cactus and divi-divi scrub over limestone terraces, a hilly north-west around Christoffel, salt pans and mangrove inlets, and a narrow band of gardens, hotels and landhuizen where most people live. Arid islands carry short spider lists, and Curaçao's is made up of drought-tolerant hunters of rock crevices and leaf litter plus a set of tramp species that arrived in cargo and now live wherever people do.
Indoors and on verandas you meet the same cast as the rest of the Caribbean. The common house spider slings untidy tangles in ceiling corners and under eaves, the long-bodied cellar spider hangs upside down in bathrooms and storerooms and shivers its web when disturbed, and small jumping spiders hunt on sunlit walls and window frames.
Outdoors, orb-weavers string wheel webs between cactus and shrubs, trapdoor spiders hold silk-lined burrows in the hard ground, and the island's largest spider — the flat, fawn pantropical huntsman — runs across walls and ceilings at night hunting cockroaches. None of these is a danger to anyone.
Which Curaçao spiders are actually dangerous?
One group, and it is small. Widow spiders of the genus Latrodectus are the only spiders on the island whose venom has a real effect on people. In practice that means the brown widow, Latrodectus geometricus — tan to charcoal, faintly banded legs, an orange hourglass underneath and a pale egg sac covered in short silk spikes — plus the native Caribbean and South American widow Latrodectus curacaviensis, the species that carries this island's name. Both sit under raised objects outdoors: patio furniture, meter boxes, rolled hoses, the rim of a planter, the lip of a boat trailer.
Widow venom is a neurotoxin. A bite gives a sharp pinprick, then cramping muscle pain builds over an hour or two and spreads to the abdomen, back or thighs, with sweating, nausea and restlessness. Brown widow bites are usually milder than those of the black species and often stay local. Most people recover with hospital pain relief, and antivenom is kept for severe cases.
The rest of the danger list inherited from the original page is wrong, and plainly so. The redback, the black house spider, the northern tree funnel-web and the red-headed mouse spider are all Australian animals with no established population anywhere in the Caribbean, and the same goes for the St Andrew's cross spider on the harmless list. Curaçao has no funnel-web spiders in the dangerous Australian sense, and no recluse population either. Necrotic wounds blamed on spiders here are, as across the region, usually bacterial skin infections.
Bitten? Wash the site with soap and water, apply a cold pack and keep the limb still. Photograph the spider if it is safe. Go to hospital straight away if cramping pain spreads, or if sweating, vomiting or chest tightness follow, and for any bite on a small child. Do not cut, suck or burn the wound.
Where you meet them on the island
Houses, verandas and storerooms
Air-conditioned rooms are dry and short of insects, so most spiders live on the outside of buildings. Cobweb spiders take ceiling corners and shutter boxes, cellar spiders hang in bathrooms and laundries, and the huntsman appears on a wall at night and disappears behind a picture frame by morning. Our guide to house spiders covers the indoor group.
Gardens, patios and boatyards
This is widow habitat. Anything raised a few centimetres off the ground and left alone is a candidate: stacked pots, a garden chair, an outdoor sink, a trailer frame. Gloves matter far more than insecticide. The same gardens hold orb webs between shrubs and jumping spiders on sunlit walls.
Cunucu, cliffs and mangrove
Out in the cactus scrub, ground hunters shelter under limestone slabs, in rock crevices and under fallen cactus pads, and trapdoor spiders keep silk-lined burrows sealed with a hinged lid. The salt pans and mangrove fringes support their own web-builders, and the karst cliffs along the coast give crevice dwellers the deep, humid cracks they need through the dry months.
When spiders are most obvious in Curaçao
Curaçao sits below the main hurricane belt and its rainfall is low and concentrated: a short wet spell roughly from October to January, then a long dry season. Spider activity tracks that. Insect numbers rise with the rains, webs get larger and more numerous, and female orb-weavers reach full size in the weeks that follow.
Through the dry months from February to September, many species retreat into crevices, burrows and shaded litter and are simply harder to see. Heavy rain or an unusual tropical system pushes ground spiders and huntsman into buildings for a few days, which is when most reports of spiders indoors arrive.
Look-alikes, misnames and non-spiders
The common harvestman on older Curaçao lists is not a spider. Harvestmen have one oval body segment instead of two, no silk glands, no venom glands, and fangs of no consequence to a person. Tailless whip scorpions — flat, brown, with long feeler-like front legs — live behind shutters and in rock crevices across the island and are the animal most often reported as a monstrous venomous spider; they are harmless.
Among true spiders, the confusion that matters is a pale immature cobweb spider taken for a widow. A widow female is glossy and globular and carries her hourglass on the underside; the spiky egg sac of a brown widow is the surest clue of all. The huntsman is the other regular false alarm: big, fast and flat, but a cockroach hunter whose bite, in the rare cases it happens, causes brief local pain and nothing more.
Common Spiders in Curaçao
- Common House Spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum)
- Common Harvestman Spider (Phalangium opilio)
- Trap Door Spider (Ctenizidae)
Biggest Spiders in Curaçao
- Pantropical Huntsman Spider (Heteropoda venatoria)
Most Venomous Spiders in Curaçao
Cobweb Spiders/Tangle Web Spiders (Theridiidae)
Cobweb SpidersBrown Widow (Latrodectus geometricus)Identify the brown widow (Latrodectus geometricus) by its orange hourglass and spiky egg sac, and learn how its bite compares with a black w
Cobweb SpidersRedback Spider (Latrodectus hasseltii)Identify the redback spider (Latrodectus hasseltii): the female's red stripe, the gum-footed web, where it lives, and how dangerous its biteDesidae
Funnel Web Spiders
Less Venomous Spiders in Curaçao
Orb Weavers (Araneidae)
Cellar Spiders
Living with Curaçao's spiders
The risk here is low enough that spraying is rarely justified. These spiders eat mosquitoes, midges, cockroaches and moths, and a cleared corner is reoccupied within a fortnight.
- Wear gloves for garden furniture, meter boxes, hoses and pot rims — that is where widows sit.
- Knock down widow webs and dispose of the spiky egg sacs rather than leaving them on the ground.
- Shake out shoes, beach bags and towels left outdoors overnight.
- Leave the huntsman alone indoors; it is doing the cockroach control for you.
Neighbouring Aruba shares almost the same fauna, the genuinely dangerous funnel-webs belong to Australia, and our round-up of the world's most venomous spiders puts Caribbean widows in context.
Frequently asked questions
Are there venomous spiders in Curaçao?
All spiders have venom, but only widows matter medically on Curaçao. The brown widow and the native Caribbean widow can cause cramping pain, sweating and nausea that hospitals treat routinely. Every other spider on the island, including the large huntsman and the trapdoor spiders, causes nothing worse than a brief sore spot.
What is the biggest spider found in Curaçao?
The pantropical huntsman, Heteropoda venatoria, a flat fawn spider with a leg span of eight to ten centimetres that runs sideways at speed. It builds no web, hunts cockroaches at night and hides behind frames and furniture by day. It is not aggressive and its venom is medically insignificant.
Do redback spiders live in Curaçao?
No. The redback is an Australian spider, and no population exists in Curaçao or anywhere else in the Caribbean. It appears on older island lists by mistake. The widow you can genuinely meet here is the brown widow, recognised by its orange hourglass and spiky, golf-ball-shaped egg sac.
Are there funnel-web spiders in Curaçao?
Not in the dangerous sense. The tree funnel-web and other Atracidae are confined to eastern Australia and have never been established in the Caribbean. Some Curaçao spiders build funnel-shaped retreats in walls and rock, but they belong to unrelated families and their bites carry no medical significance.
What are the most common house spiders in Curaçao?
The common house spider in ceiling corners and under eaves, the long-bodied cellar spider hanging upside down in bathrooms and storerooms, small jumping spiders on sunlit window frames, and the huntsman on walls at night. All are harmless, and all of them feed on the mosquitoes and roaches people want gone.
Are trapdoor spiders in Curaçao dangerous?
No. Trapdoor spiders keep silk-lined burrows sealed with a hinged lid and almost never leave them. A defensive bite can be painful because the fangs are relatively large, but the venom has no medical significance for people. They are reclusive animals that would rather retreat underground than confront anything.
How do I tell a brown widow from a harmless house spider?
Look underneath. A brown widow is glossy and globular with a bright orange hourglass on the underside of the abdomen and faintly banded legs. The clinching feature is the egg sac: brown widows build a pale sac covered in short silk spikes, unlike the smooth sacs of every other local spider.
How likely are tourists to see spiders in Curaçao?
Seeing one is likely; being harmed by one is not. Web-builders are obvious on verandas and in gardens, and a huntsman on a wall at night is a common sight in older houses. Checking shoes and garden furniture and wearing gloves outdoors removes almost all realistic risk of a bite.
When are spiders most active in Curaçao?
During and just after the short wet season from about October to January, when insect numbers rise and female orb-weavers reach full size. Through the long dry months most species shelter in crevices and burrows. Heavy rain briefly pushes ground spiders and huntsman indoors, which is when reports of house spiders peak.
What should you do if bitten by a spider in Curaçao?
Wash the bite with soap and water, apply a cold pack and keep the limb still. Photograph the spider if that is safe. Seek hospital care immediately if cramping pain spreads from the site, or if sweating, vomiting or chest tightness develop, and for any bite on a young child. Never apply a tourniquet.
Published December 4, 2023 · Last updated September 14, 2026