Back in the day when Duran Duran was singing about being hungry like a wolf, it is quite possible they were singing about the appetites of wolf spiders instead of the four-legged canine variety. And the appetites they were singing about just might have been for something other than food. It seems that being hungry like the wolf spider when it comes to romance is far more intense than being hungry like the wolf in search of food.
Romance and wolf spiders all in the same sentence? Has this bug blogger lost her ever-lovin’ marbles? Maybe. But hear me out. Wolf spiders might not be dimming the lights, lighting candles, or playing Marvin Gaye to get their potential mates in the mood, but both, males and females, have their own special way of kicking things up a notch. Unlike human women who pretend to be asleep to deter any advances made by their partners, lady wolf spiders play dead to attract their male partners to them. This is their way of flirting. The lady spiders stay super still to allow the men spiders to approach. It is the most subtle of come-ons, but it works for them, so who are we to judge?
With the ladies making it so easy for the men, there’s not much for them to do except show up. Forget the candlelit dinners or moonlit walks on the beach, all they have to do is stroll in, check out the corpse-like lady spider and the rest is history. Or is it?
Unlike most other spiders that would not pass an eye test even though they have a bunch of eyes to choose from, wolf spiders with their eight eyes have excellent vision. It is common sense where they are lacking, at least when it comes to whether or not their lady friend is just playing dead or is actually dead. Or maybe they just don’t care. Warm body or cold corpse, makes no difference to them. With the stamina equal to that caused by the little blue pill, wolf spiders have more than just a quick roll on their minds, sometimes lasting upwards of an hour and a half, a feat many can only aspire to.
Not wanting to tie herself to one male spider, the female will do her little corpse impersonation with multiple partners so that she can have a diverse brood of babies. Possessive males prefer to be the only baby daddy to fertilize the eggs, but that puts a big damper on the practice of promiscuity that the lady prefers. In fact, when the possessiveness of a partner is a mood killer and the lady has a change of heart, some female wolf spiders have developed a way of killing off unwanted sperm after a male has already deposited it in her body. If male wolf spiders want to pass on the family name to their babies, they better stay on the good side of the baby mama.
After a month or so of free-lovin’, mama’s will deliver around 200 eggs. Some wolf spider species will carry these spiderling babies on their backs until the little ones are old enough to become the next generation of baby daddies and promiscuous mamas. Not quite a parent’s dream, but whatever works.
Wolf spiders are found world-wide and there are over 2,000 species crawling around as well. They aren’t poisonous to humans but can scare the bejeebus out of you if they are cruising around your house, especially if you happen upon some males taking advantage of the corpses of the females. MY EYES! They are quite fond of dark places, like garages, basements, or any secluded place of your home. The only thing they need to survive is other insects. If there are insects for them to eat, they can be found virtually anywhere, including mountains, deserts, areas of high moisture, low moisture, in-between moisture, and so forth.
How To Get Rid of Wolf Spiders
If you have them and want to get rid of them so your kids don’t happen upon them and you end of having to have the birds, bees, and wolf spider conversation before you are mentally prepared for it, let HowtoPest.com help you out. Wolf spiders, no matter where you find them, when you find them, or how you find them (AGAIN, MY EYES!), are no match for the products HowToPest has for you.
