Do Spiders Remember You? (And Take Revenge!?)

Spiders probably cannot remember you and will not seek to get revenge, because their memory is not good enough for them to be able to memorize you or your actions, and they don’t feel emotions.

According to a study of the spider’s behavior when catching its prey, they are able to remember certain aspects about the prey such as its size and features.

However, it’s highly unlikely that their memory is good enough to remember you – additionally, they don’t have a good eyesight, which makes it even harder for them to memorize your face.

Can Spiders Remember You?

All of the data and scientific studies are pointing towards the fact that spiders can’t and won’t remember you, most likely.

It’s believed by many zoologists that spiders can’t remember you because they don’t have a good eyesight in the first place and rely on other senses such as vibrations instead.

Another reason for this is that they don’t have a good enough memory to remember you, and they can’t feel emotions.

So by far the most likely answer to the question of whether spiders remember you is no, at least according to the research that has been done so far (more research would help clear this issue).

Spiders Probably Can’t Remember You. Photo: Pixabay

But even though they won’t remember you or your face, spiders have better memories than most people think.

They have exceptional route planning capabilities and that’s where their memory serves them well. Most spiders are intricate web weavers, so they will need to have a good recognition of the space around them.

In addition, spiders have shown tremendous capabilities to adapt to their environment. For instance, they’re capable of recognizing threats around them and they have shown a good level of adaptability to avoid it.

For instance, they will learn about the behavior of predatory ants or wasps and take action to avoid them according to their own “research”.

Despite their exceptional orb-weaving skills, spatial recognition, and adaptability, spiders won’t be able to remember humans precisely. They don’t have good eyesight and rely on other signals to survive, such as vibrations in their webs.

Read Also: Are Spiders Afraid of Humans?

Can Pet Spiders Recognize Their Owners?

It’s not very likely that pet spiders, especially tarantulas, will remember their owners by just looking at them. They might use some other cues such as chemical cues. But, in general, they don’t understand humans. 

This is why handling spider pets is not recommended often. A venomous tarantula might not be able to recognize you when you touch it, so it might bite you and release its venom, which will be unpleasant if it happens.

Unfortunately, because spiders have bad eyesight and not the best memory that serves for remembering people, it’s unlikely that your spider pet will remember you, even though it would be nice to see them remember you.

Do Spiders Get Revenge?

No, spiders will not get revenge if you do something bad to it such as destroy its web, because it doesn’t have an emotional capacity to do so.

Revenge is a highly subjective act and very emotional, which is why it’s rarely seen in animals other than humans. We do have the capacity to feel emotions, which can then impact our actions that can lead to us taking revenge.

Spiders, however, cannot feel emotions and will not take revenge because of them.

While there is some evidence that a spider might feel some emotions, it’s highly likely that those emotions are pretty weak and not at all comparable to how we feel emotions. The emotions they feel are more of an instinctive nature, which allows them to survive.

For instance, they might feel fear when another animal tries to kill or prey on the spider. But the spider is not able to feel emotions like anger, love, hate, or other emotions that might inspire humans to take revenge.

That’s why spiders will not take revenge if you try to take their web down, for example.

Even though they can’t feel emotions, spiders are still intelligent in their own sense. They might have better spatial recognition features than most creatures, including humans.

And their ability to feel vibrations with their hairs they have all over their bodies allows them to have an advantage over other animals around them.

If You Scare a Spider, Will It Come Back?

If you scare a spider, it won’t come back to take revenge!

Spiders are naturally scared of us because we are imposing to them with our large bodies. This especially happens when you come close to a spider that’s not used to human company around them.

There are some spiders, like domestic spiders or tarantulas, that will get used to human presence and won’t get as easily scared. Some spiders that you have in your home might not get scared of you at all.

But the vast majority of spiders will get scared of you even if you try to come close to them.

Will it come back to take revenge?

Absolutely not!

If you don’t like the presence of a spider in your room, you can simply scare it away and don’t worry, it won’t come back to bite you.

Most likely, it will avoid you completely until you’re gone from the room, because they will start perceiving you as a threat to their existence rather than prey.

The main reason for this is the fact that spiders can’t feel the same emotions as we do. They do feel fear, and this fear is what keeps them away from you if you come too close. Apart from that, they don’t have the capacity to feel emotions that might fuel revenge, such as anger, for instance.

Conclusion

Most spiders don’t have the capacity to remember you because they have poor eyesight, and their memory is not meant to remember things, but to allow them to move in space better.

Instead, they have exceptional spatial capabilities and are able to create intricate webs with ease thanks to their spatial recognition.