Pest Library

Characteristics

The Carolina Wolf Spider is known to be the largest wolf spider in North America. They are also known for their speed, heightened sense of touch, and sharp sense of sight. They have eight legs that are the same as the length of its body. They have eight eyes that are situated in two rows of its head. The wolf spider is ½ to 2 inches long. They are hairy with orange-brown to gray and brown color, and stripes of color.

Habitat

The Carolina wolf spider does not web to nest, but they reside in deep burrows underground. They are natural hunters that do not need to capture their food in a web. These spiders can be found burrowing in different habitats, such as forest floors, farm fields, ground tunnels, between firewood, under leaf litter, ground clutter, or around garden shrubs.

Behavior

While the Carolina wolf spider looks terrifying, they do not bite. They may show their fangs and rear up their hind legs to defend themselves, but they will run from anything that is larger than them. They are hunting spiders and can just sit and wait for their prey near their burrow, or they can run out at night to search for food. This spider is a poor climber and will just remain on the ground, hidden from view at the edges of rocks, or will just stay in their own shelters that they dig.

Food

The wolf spiders can live anywhere that insects are found. And, because of their large size, they can easily capture large preys such as grasshoppers, crickets, and other large agricultural pest.

Life Cycle

The female wolf spider normally lives for over three years, while the male’s lifespan is shorter. When the female wolf spider lay her eggs, she will do it in a secluded dark place. She can lay eggs, around 100 at a time, then spin a silk, globe-like sac around her eggs. After that, she will attach the sac on her lower abdomen so she can carry it anywhere she goes. After two weeks of gestation, the eggs are ready to hatch. The female wolf spider will tear the sac open to release the young. The young spiders will climb onto the mother’s abdomen to be with their mother while the mother will take care of them for about a month. After the young are capable to leave their mother, they will leave her by “ballooning” that involves letting them be carried away by the wind into a new location with the use of releasing a stream of silk from their spinnerets, or they can just drop to the ground and find their own way.

Other Information and Tips

When these spiders enter homes, they do it because of the onset of the cooler weather in autumn. They will normally be seen on the floor since they are not able to climb up. Seeing people, which are bigger than them will make them flee. However, they can still bite, especially if they feel threatened. Their bite, though, is not considered dangerous and may even be compared to a bee or wasp sting. To avoid their entry make certain that your home is protected. Seal cracks by caulking gaps around windows, and around doors.

Photo by Noah J Mueller (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons / resized from original