Very few people are thrilled at the sight of a spider around their property. And a big spider, anything other than the benign Daddy Long Legs, is even worse. Your instincts may kick in and command you to stomp and swat, do anything to crush that eight-legged offender, and keep it from getting any closer. But stop and take a second to think and really look. Because if you live in Oklahoma, the spider in question may actually be a Wolf Spider – and squishing them could turn your unpleasant surprise into a full-blown horror movie.
How to Identify a Wolf Spider
Wolf spiders range in size from about a half inch to almost an inch and a half. They have three rows of eyes, eight eyes in total, and eight legs along the sides of their cephalothorax and abdomen. At first inspection, they look like many other kinds of spiders and can even be mistakenly identified as a more-dangerous black widow or brown recluse. A good differentiator is to note that black windows tend to stay near or on their webs, and brown recluses, as their name implies, tend to make their webs and live away from humans. Wolf spiders don’t spin webs to catch their prey – instead, they run to ambush small insects like flies and ants and occasionally larger invertebrates such as cockroaches.
Choosing to hunt on foot is one thing that makes the wolf spider unique from other varieties, but there’s something else that separates it from the pack. And it’s this next quality that may keep you from hunting for the nearest boot if you ever cross paths with one.
Bring Your Child(ren) to Work Day
Traditionally spiders hatch their eggs on the web, where the babies have a spot to learn to hunt and spin as they mature. As we said before, though, the wolf spider doesn’t have a nest to call home. Therefore, when the mother spider has a sac of eggs to bare, she keeps them physically on her body. You can see this in more detail up close, where it looks like a loose bundle of grey string and pearls. If you were to stand at a distance, or even over the spider, you might act and stomp without really taking a good look. And, depending on the maturity of the eggs, that could result in hundreds of spiderlings spilling out from under you.
After you take the moment to recoil, you may want to know what you can do to get rid of wolf spiders if not squish them. In the moment you see a wolf spider, we suggest trapping it with a glass and paper and releasing it outside. And from that point on we have some precautions to offer that’ll not only dissuade wolf spiders from getting into your home in the future, but all other spiders as well.
Keeping Out Wolf Spiders in OK
Spiders as a whole tend to want the same things across the board, and if your property offers what they need they’ll quickly take up residence. Spiders like cluttered, undisturbed areas, like garages, basements and attics. So if you make an effort to clean these spaces on a regular basis there will be nowhere for them to hide. They also like to nest in piles of debris, like the firewood or building material some choose to keep stacked along their property. You don’t need to take apart the stack entirely – just move it so it isn’t touching the exterior wall and giving spiders a direct bridge into your home.
These are all forms of exclusion, and there can be more to do depending on the state of your home. Of course, knowing what you need for certain can be tricky, and it can help to have the experience and insight of an experienced pest control team.
We know Spiders
Arrow Exterminators in Broken Arrow OK specializes in pest and wildlife exclusion tactics for homes and commercial properties throughout Oklahoma. We can send a technician to inspect your property and figure out for certain what’s attracting spiders and what we can do to keep them from getting in. We understand that spiders are not the enemy and that, in fact, even the scariest species play an important role in the ecosystem. Still, an infestation is an infestation, and if you have a swarm of mamma and baby wolf spiders in your property you need to get them out for good. Arrow Exterminators can help! To get started, contact us today.
