The Wolf Spider or Do You Have an Appointment
Look who we found lurking around the door at work recently. The ladies from the accounting office were not very excited, but knew the education staff would be interested. They were obviously right since we even abandoned our lunches to have a look at this visitor. (Don't worry, we finished eating after the excitement died down).
Upon closer examination we decided our visitor was not "A Really Really Gigantic Spider", but instead a Wolf Spider. Since she was carrying around a whole bunch of babies, a female wolf spider.
Wolf Spiders get their name because they chase their prey, instead of creating webs to catch it. They are brown, hairy and really fast. The female will lay her eggs in a sac that she attached to her spinnerets and carries until the eggs hatch. The babies will ride on her back for a few days after being born.
This Wold Spider had a lot of babies. After we spent a while looking at her we moved her to a more suitible location (the front door wasn't going work). I'm sure they are all doing great.
Fascinating! I didn't know that Wolf Spiders carried their babies this way. "Step into my parlor said the spider to the fly." Hope this is the scariest thing that happens to you this Halloween!
ReplyDeleteThe babies were the creepiest part. They kept scurrying around her. One spider is fine, a herd of spiders is not.
DeleteSeriously cool! May they eat every bad bug within 10 miles of your garden! :)
ReplyDeleteI see these occasionally around here but never have seen a female with young. Nice find.
ReplyDeleteThe accounting department gets credit for seeing it. The education staff were the weird ones who caught and photographed it.
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