Animal Crossing: New Horizons Players Are Having a Harder Time Farming Spiders Now

Animal Crossing: New Horizons players quickly found when the game released that collecting and selling tarantulas was an easy way to make a lot of Bells in a relatively short amount of time, but farming that creature isn't so easy anymore. It's still a viable way to make money, but it's not quite as faithful a method as it once was. It's less effective now not because Nintendo was privy to the spider farming tactics and decided to nerf them but instead because there's a new insect that's spawning in New Horizons to mess up players' spider-hunting tactics, though there's still a fair bit of Bells to be earned.

For those unfamiliar with the spider craze, players have been creating "Spider Islands" by visiting random islands with their Nook Miles tickets and then creating the perfect setting for spiders to spawn. This involved clearing the island of most of its resources like flowers, trees, and rocks, a process which was a bit time-consuming and would probably cost players a broken tool or two. Doing so meant that spiders would be more likely to spawn since you removed the triggers for other types of insects to spawn except for a few pesky ones, and while it wasn't perfect, it greatly increased players' chances of catching the spiders which are worth 8,000 Bells each.

The problem with that plan now has to do with the giant water bug. It's a new insect that was introduced to the game when the latest wave of fish and insects was added as some left the game and others joined the rotation. These giant water bugs, as their name suggests, like to spawn in water. Players can't exactly get rid of water when they visit these random islands as easy as they can get rid of trees and flowers, so you'll be finding a lot of those water bugs.

If the water bugs are spawning, that's taking up a potential spawn slot that could be filled by a spider since an island will only spawn a certain number of insects at a time. Whereas other insects like the wharf roaches can be cleared away by running at them, the water bugs aren't so easily spooked. You pretty much have to catch them and then keep or release the bugs to remove them and hope for a new spider spawn. Water bugs like to nestle up against the side of a body of water, too, so players may run by them over and over without even knowing they're there.

These bugs are still expensive themselves, but they're not as lucrative as spiders. So while Spider Island is still a totally viable strategy for paying off your loans, expect to have some other bugs mixed into your inventory when you return home.