Last week, my friend...hmmmm...my friendly acquaintance, Susan, was here to help me bring my home back into compliance with health code regulations. I was in my office busily moving piles of papers off the floor and onto my desk when I hear a soft, "Twila." I stopped rustling papers, and sure enough, I hear another "Twila" followed quickly by "HEY, TWILA!"
I went running to the staircase, leaned over and asked, "What's wrong?" She said, "Do you want to see the biggest spider you've ever seen in your life? A tarantula, I think." I looked. "Naw, that's just a wolf spider," I said, "and not a very big one at that." "What should I do?" she asked. "Well don't kill it. Just relocate it to the front yard."
She said ok and I retreated to my office. I had barely resumed my squat when I hear, "AIEEEEEEEEE! TWIIIIIILLLLLLAAAAAAA!" (Notice, she didn't call Durf.) I went running out. "What happened?" "I tried to pick it up with my mop but it escaped!"
So I relocated the wolf spider and life returned to normal.
Then this last weekend, I was strolling the neighborhood with a couple of friends (no, not new CO friends, but old CA friends) when one of them stops abruptly and bends over to examine some road kill. "Lookie here," he said, "a squashed tarantula." I rush over and kneel down so I can get a close look. "Not a tarantula," I declare. "It's a hairy rabbit bush flower." I pick it up and hand it to him, ostensibly so that he can examine it, but in truth to see if he would recoil. He didn't. Darn.
We continued our meandering and in short order, a woman comes flying out of her house and waves us down. (STG, I am not making this up.) In her hand is a jar and in the jar is...you guessed it...a wolf spider. She's breathless when she thrusts the jar in our faces. "I think I found a tarantula in my house. Doesn't it look like a tarantula to you?" "Wolf spider," I said.
That was last week. This week I am less sure that we have been seeing wolf spiders. I am now thinking that maybe these are funnel weaver spiders. For you budding naturalists out there, I'm happy to lay out my reasoning. For the rest of you, take heart. When you come to visit and find a giant spider in your bedding, I can (almost) assure you, it's not a tarantula.
Wolf Spiders ...venomous - non-aggressive
ReplyDeleteVenom toxicity - the bite of the Wolf Spider is poisonous but not lethal. Although non-aggressive, they bite freely if provoked and should be considered dangerous to humans. The bite may be very painful. First aid and medical attention should be sought as soon as possible, particularly as to children or the elderly.
Spider Identification - an adult is 1/2 inch to more than 1 inch in body length - mottled gray to brown in color, with a distinct Union Jack impression on its back. The female carries it's young on its back.
Habitat - this spider is a ground dweller, with a burrow retreat. It has a roving nocturnal lifestyle to hunt their prey and can move very rapidly when disturbed. Commonly found around the home, in garden areas with a silk lined burrow, sometimes with a lid or covered by leaf litter or grass woven with silk as a little fence around the rim of the burrow.
CLICK HERE - FIRST AID - Wolf Spider Bite
Yeah. It was the nocturnal part that got me wondering.
ReplyDeleteBig spiders.
ReplyDeleteColorado: +1