As cooler weather arrives, you may see a hairy, oversized spider walking down the road. Despite its alarming appearance, it is not on the prowl for human blood. Rather, this is a male tarantula out looking for a mate.
Our local tarantula is from the genus Aphonopelma, more commonly known as the desert tarantula. Tarantulas have eight eyes; two large eyes in the center surrounded by three eyes on either side. Even with all this hardware, they do not have good eyesight but sense vibrations picked up from their legs and body hairs. Tarantulas also have fangs (pedipalps) which, because of their great size, are quite impressive. Maligned as Hollywood monsters, tarantulas are actually solitary creatures, living in burrows, coming out only at night to hunt. A male may spend its entire life alone except during mating season.
There is no scientific evidence to support the lore that rain will follow within three weeks after a tarantula sighting. Although it's possible they can sense barometric pressure changes, it is more likely a coincidence of timing—late summer and fall is tarantula mating season. It is also a myth that female tarantulas always kill the males after mating. The male spider will continue searching for other females and die with the cold weather.
The female lays 600 to 650 eggs, spinning them in a web to create an egg sac. The mother keeps the sac in her burrow, watching over them until the spiderlings hatch in 2-3 weeks.
Tarantulas cover the entrance to their burrows with a silky web, climbing to the opening to wait for prey. Their preferred diet is insects, though they will also eat small frogs, mice, and lizards. Like all spiders, tarantulas have venom for immobilizing their prey. Nature's economy advocates they save their venom for something they can eat, so tarantulas rarely bite humans. If you manage to rile these docile creatures, they will rear up on their hind legs, make a hissing noise, and eject urticating hairs from their abdomen. These hairs have tiny barbs that work their way into the skin and cause itching, redness, and swelling—not life-threatening to you but quite painful up the nose of your inquisitive dog.
Commentaires