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Thursday, October 3, 2013
Wolf Spiders
I mentioned the benefits of having wolf spiders in the garden back in July. They will eat other small insect pests such as flies, mosquitoes, crickets and
beetle larvae. They are our good friends.
Well, earlier in the summer, I think it was in July, I caught one with an egg sack. I thought it was a little early, but I haven't studied much on their life cycle until now.
Female wolf spiders can live for several years. When she lays her eggs in an egg sac, she keeps it with her and tends to it until her young have hatched.
Last week sometime Frank saw one on the porch and told me that it was covered with a million baby spiders and that we needed to get it off of the porch so the spiders wouldn't move into the house. I didn't know they carried their babies around on their backs! It was the neatest thing to see! Even though I was supposed to be getting it off the porch, I didn't want to squish anyone and the babies came off and were running everywhere. For survival reasons, when the spider is threatened, the babies run off in all different directions. It was amazing to see!
The other day when I was digging up sweet potatoes, I was blessed with a close-up opportunity with another wolf spider. This time I didn't knock all of the babies off, but it was nice enough to come out from under the leaf so I could get even better pictures.
I think this is just fascinating, and except for a few arachnophobes out there, I figure you will find it fascinating too.
Wow, thank you for the great picture. I had an encounter with one of those last night in my garden, from tip of front legs to tip of back legs it was about 3″ long. Didn’t know what kind of spider it was so I tried to poke it along out of my way and it turned and attacked my twig!! Bugs have been bad this year so I left it alone, maybe it will get big enough to eat my voles, wishful thinking, but then I would probably be to scared to go in my garden.
We had a beautiful and large "Garden Spider" in a shrub by our step. She was there all last summer and so interesting to watch, This summer there was a smaller version. Perhaps one of her last years young. They are interesting to watch and learn about. We also have Preying mantis!
Wow, thank you for the great picture. I had an encounter with one of those last night in my garden, from tip of front legs to tip of back legs it was about 3″ long. Didn’t know what kind of spider it was so I tried to poke it along out of my way and it turned and attacked my twig!! Bugs have been bad this year so I left it alone, maybe it will get big enough to eat my voles, wishful thinking, but then I would probably be to scared to go in my garden.
ReplyDeleteNetter
I'm glad you figured out what kind of spider you have. They can get big. Now if only they would eat the rabbits too......
DeleteFern
We had a beautiful and large "Garden Spider" in a shrub by our step. She was there all last summer and so interesting to watch, This summer there was a smaller version. Perhaps one of her last years young. They are interesting to watch and learn about. We also have Preying mantis!
ReplyDeleteFiona