Wolf Spiders are common to find across the world. There are thousands of species of Wolf Spiders that you can find around the world. So it is no surprise that people get confused when spotting the wolf spider and confusing them at times with other spiders.
What To Know About Wolf Spiders
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Wolf Spider carrying its egg sack Wolf Spiders generally hunt at night. This affects their eye design, which is distinctive in identifying the spider.
- Wolf Spiders hunt and live alone. They are known to carry their babies on their backs and carry an egg sack with them. But you rarely find more than one at a time.
- The wolf spider depending on their surroundings and species has developed various ways they hide, live and hunt. Unlike most spiders that spin the web and wait for dinner to show up the wolf spider has been known to hunt down (even chase down) it’s prey.
- Wolf Spiders do have a venom (as do most spiders) but their bite is not harmful to humans, except for a minor rash. Generally they don’t care about you at all (you’re a bit too big for their appetite) so if you are bitten by a wolf spider it is an accidental occurrence.
- The wolf spider is a great pest to have around your home to deal with other pests. If you don’t have other pests for them to hunt you are likely not going to find the wolf spider as much.
- Wolf Spiders have two eyes (eight total) that are unusually large in comparison to the rest of their eyes. This gives them a look that feels almost as if you are staring at something that doesn’t have eight eyes.
Think You Saw a Wolf Spider?
Wolf Spiders are often confused for the Brown Recluse spider here in Tennessee. In most cases, the misidentification comes because of markings on some wolf spiders can look similar to the violin marking on the brown recluse. One big distinction between the two spiders is their size. The wolf spider is much larger and thicker than the brown recluse. The set up of the eyes of the recluse and wolf spider is also very different, but who really wants to get that close to a spider to look into their eyes.
A fun thing you can do in your yard (especially with kids) is to go around the yard with a flashlight. The lights will reflect off the wolf spider’s eyes and give a little shine back to you. You can get this same shine during the daytime, but as we mentioned earlier, they are nocturnal hunters and are more easily findable in the evening.
This is a Wolf Spider. It is generally thicker in the body than other spiders you are going to find around the home. The Wolf Spider is harmless to humans, but can be a real problem if you try and kill one that has a few hundred baby spiders on it’s back. Unless these are sitting on your favorite chair it is suggested to let them be.
The Orb Spider (there are many versions of the Orb Spider) come in lots of different colors and patterns. Generally harmless to humans you will likely find the Orb Spider outside in the garden. You could fall victim to walking through one of their spider webs as you move through some bushes while doing your weekly gardening activities. Orb Spiders are overall helpful to the outside of your house as they feed on a number of the bugs that you would rather not have to fly around your head.