If you have a Northern Hemisphere island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, this week is your last chance to catch tarantulas before they go out of season in May. The last day to catch tarantulas will be Thursday, April 30.
For many players, the eight-legged critters have been the most valuable bug you can catch since New Horizons launched in March, worth 8,000 bells on their own and 12,000 when sold to special visitor Flick. Crafty players have resorted to tarantula farming on deserted islands to get rich quick, but if you haven’t had the chance or you’re worried about losing a major income source for your island, don’t worry–while the tarantula won’t return until November, the nearly-identical scorpion will take its place until then. (If you have a Southern Hemisphere island, you’ll be saying goodbye to the scorpion in May, which will be replaced with the tarantula.)
There are a few reasons you should be scrambling to catch tarantulas last-minute, if you haven’t already. If you’re a completionist and haven’t caught a tarantula at all yet, it’ll be your last chance to log one into your Critterpedia and donate one to Blathers at the museum until they reappear in November. They’re also the most valuable bug you can catch this season, if you’re trying to make lots of bells. But an easily overlooked reason is Flick’s bug model commissions–if you want Flick to craft a tarantula model, you need to bring him three tarantulas, and catching them out in the wild is the only way to obtain them without time travel. Tarantulas don’t spawn on friends’ islands when you’re visiting, you can’t trade bugs or fish with friends, and deserted islands won’t spawn critters that aren’t in season.
Source: GameSpot