A horde of baseball-sized tarantulas may soon start roaming across several Southern states.
These hairy spiders, known as Texas brown tarantulas or Aphonopelma hentzi, are about to enter their mating season—which runs from late August until October—and may be spotted crawling out in the open and crossing roads as they seek out mates.
Measuring about 4 inches or more across, these creepy crawlies are native to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Texas and Louisiana, as well as parts of Mexico.
"Male tarantulas are moving around this time of year in the quest for a mate. Mating season is determined by temperature and microclimates," Andrine Shufran, director of Oklahoma State University's Insect Adventure, said in an OSU statement before last year's mating season.
"It can be earlier or later because the males are waiting on the right situation and cues to get on the move, but typically mating season is from late August through October," she said.
As its name suggests, the brown tarantula is predominantly brown and typically covered in tiny hairs. The spiders live in burrows in dry, arid environments, coming out at night to hunt for insects and other small invertebrates.
Females can live up to 20 or 30 years, while males usually live much shorter lives, typically only a few years after reaching maturity and mating. Mating typically occurs in late summer or early fall, and during this time these males can mate with over 100 females.
Males become much more active during the mating season, leaving their burrows in search of receptive females. They can travel considerable distances, compared with their usual range.
After mating, the female may produce an egg sac containing hundreds of eggs, which she guards fiercely until they hatch 45 to 60 days later.
For the arachnophobes out there, don't worry—these spiders are usually too large to get through the narrow gaps in doors, so they are unlikely to make their way into your home.
If one of these spiders does somehow find its way inside, experts suggest using a bowl and paper to safely remove it.
"Tarantulas aren't aggressive and they're not jumpers, so people shouldn't worry about them," Wizzie Brown, an entomology specialist in Texas A&M University's Department of Entomology, said in a statement this May. "But I can also understand people viewing them as a pest if they are finding them in the house."
She continued: "The thing to remember is they're shy and docile unless provoked, and a benefit because they eat pest insects. And this time of year, tarantulas are just hunting for food and a mate."
However, like all tarantulas these spiders can bite if threatened, though their venom is generally not harmful to humans and is comparable to a beesting.
"Tarantulas do have the capacity to bite if they feel threatened, but they're most likely to run away," Shufran said. "When there's no other alternative, they'll face off by standing on their back four legs and showing their fangs. This is typically when the spider and the human part ways and no one gets hurt. However, tarantulas will bite as a last resort."
The tarantulas can also release the spiny hairs on their bodies when threatened, which can cause an itchy rash on the skin.
"When they become disturbed, they release those urticating hairs by rubbing their back two legs across the hairs to create a sort of forcefield," Shufran said. "The hairs are carried by air movement and are incredibly itchy to people and animals. It's easy to see the stress level of a tarantula by how bare that urticating patch is."
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