Wolf spiders can vary in size from around ½ an inch to a whopping 4 inches in diameter depending on their exact species. These spiders are typically brown, have stocky, robust bodies, and both their bodies and their legs are covered in hair. Though those factors can help identify them, wolf spiders are most easily identified by their unique eye arrangement — four small eyes on the bottom row, two large eyes in the middle row and two medium-sized eyes in the top row. These hairy spiders are typically found living outside, hiding out in piles of organic materials like grass, leaves, mulch, and rocks; they may also dig their own hiding spots in the soil.
An interesting fact about wolf spiders and a characteristic that contributed to their name is that these spiders do not build webs to catch their prey, but instead, they actively hunt down their prey, much like wolves do. Wolf spiders lay in wait in their hiding spots for their prey to pass by, they then chase it down and pounce upon it. These spiders are considered to be very beneficial and make great neighbors to have living near or on your property due to the fact that their feeding habits help to keep other nuisance insect populations in check! However, just like your human neighbors, just because you like living next door to them doesn’t mean you want to allow them to make themselves at home inside of your house! Listed below are some of the reasons why you want to make sure that wolf spiders do not invite themselves into your home:
- Wolf spiders have the potential to bite; while it is not common for wolf spiders to bite people, when living in close quarters inside a home, these painful bites are more likely to occur.
- Their bites can result in allergic reactions; the venom that wolf spiders inject during a bite is not typically strong enough to cause an allergic reaction in most people, but depending on the individual bitten, a serious allergic reaction could occur and may require medical attention.
- Female wolf spiders carry their egg sacs on their body until they are ready to hatch, and once the babies emerge from these sacs, the mother will carry them on her back to keep them safe for several weeks. This habit means that, though having one female wolf spider living in your home which may not seem like a huge deal, that one female spider can quickly turn into dozens of wolf spiders living inside of your home.
- Before invading your home, wolf spiders live outdoors and probably wander through some less-than-sanitary places. During their travels, these spiders may have picked up bacteria and pathogens on their bodies and legs that, once inside of your home, they will spread throughout your home and contaminate the surfaces inside your home and potentially even your food sources with.
- Wolf spiders enter into homes that offer them access to food sources. This means that if you have wolf spiders living inside your home, that means that you most likely have populations of other nuisance insects such as grasshoppers, earwigs, crickets, cockroaches, other spiders, and more living inside your home!
The best way to get rid of the wolf spiders that you find living inside your home and the insects that they are feeding on is to contact a professional pest control company. At Nozzle Nolen, our professionals have a lot of knowledge about wolf spiders, including how they got into a home, why they enter homes, where they hide when invading homes, and, of course, how to get rid of them and keep them from returning! If you are experiencing problems with wolf spiders in your home, don’t just place a bandage on the problem by trying to eliminate them on your own; instead, trust our professionals to get to the root of the problem and eliminate them from your home once and for all! By working together, we can keep wolf spiders and the insects that attract them away from your home. To learn more about our residential pest control options, get in touch with Nozzle Nolen today!
