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What pet insects and invertebrates cost

3 insects and invertebrates priced the same way: what each costs to get, set up, the first year, a typical year and over its life. Cheapest to keep: Tarantula, about $70 a year. Priciest: Land hermit crab, about $140. More are added every day.

• TarantulaOne Chilean rose hair tarantula (Grammostola rosea), a docile ground-dwelling beginner species, bought as a captive-bred spiderling and kept at room temperature in a 5–10 gallon terrestrial enclosure; lifespan assumes a female$70 a year, $1,600 over its life
• Emperor scorpionOne adult emperor scorpion (Pandinus imperator) kept alone in a heated, humid 20-gallon long tank with deep, damp substrate$100 a year, $900 over its life
• Land hermit crabA group of three small Caribbean land hermit crabs (purple pinchers, Coenobita clypeatus) in a heated, humid 20-gallon long glass tank with 6 in of sand-and-coir substrate, fresh and salt water, and spare shells$140 a year, $2,400 over its life