Seeing a spider in your house can be startling, especially if it’s big! One type of spider that commonly makes its way indoors is the wolf spider. They’re usually patterned in shades of black, gray, and brown, making them blend in easily.
This article will tell you everything you need to know about wolf spiders in your house, their behavior, and how to handle them. We’ll also cover why these spiders are actually beneficial and how to make sure you’ve properly identified the spider you’ve seen.
Identifying Wolf Spiders: What Do They Look Like?
Before you can figure out how to get rid of wolf spiders, you need to know how to identify them.
Physical Characteristics
Wolf spiders can grow to be about an inch and a half in body length, and adults may measure several inches from leg to leg. These arachnids are typically hairy, and they have eight eyes that are not compound eyes. Instead, their eyes are arranged in a very specific pattern.
Distinguishing Wolf Spiders from Other Spiders
Wolf spiders tend to have shorter legs and a more robust appearance than spiders that spin webs. Also, unlike the brown recluse spider, which prefers to hide, the wolf spider is fast-moving and agile.
Behavior, diet, and habits of wolf spiders
Wolf spiders are active hunters, and unlike many other species of spiders, they don’t spin webs to ensnare their prey. Instead, they use their strong jaws, or chelicerae, and fangs to capture and eat whatever they can.
Luckily, wolf spiders tend to dine on pests like flies, ants, fleas, earwigs, and even bed bugs.
These spiders live in a variety of environments, including woodlands and suburban gardens. Some species prefer suburban gardens, and many build burrows in the ground. They’re also sometimes found indoors, especially in the fall, as they seek warmer places to hang out.
Wolf spiders aren’t usually aggressive toward people. When threatened, they tend to run away or rear up on their hind legs in a defensive posture.
Wolf spider bites: What to expect
Good news: wolf spider bites are usually no big deal for adult humans. If a wolf spider bites you, you might experience some pain, redness, and swelling around the bite. But that’s usually it.
If the area gets worse, or if you have an allergic reaction, you should seek medical care just to be safe. Otherwise, you’re probably fine.
Should you get rid of wolf spiders?
Having wolf spiders in your house isn’t all bad. They’re natural pest control. Wolf spiders hunt and eat other insects, which means they can help keep down the population of things you definitely don’t want in your house.
Some people like having wolf spiders around because it means they don’t have to use chemical pesticides. Of course, if you’re someone who really doesn’t like spiders, having them around might not be worth it, even if they do eat other bugs. Ultimately, it’s a personal choice.
Managing wolf spiders: Prevention and control
No one wants to share their home with spiders, even relatively harmless ones. Here are steps you can take to keep wolf spiders out of your house.
Preventive measures
- Keep the house clean and tidy. This eliminates food sources for the pests that wolf spiders like to eat.
- Seal cracks and crevices. Seal any openings around the outside of your house to keep spiders from getting in.
- Maintain the exterior of your home. Clear away leaves, firewood, shrubs, and vines from the outside of your house.
Dealing with wolf spiders indoors
If you spot a wolf spider, try to gently relocate it outside. Avoid squashing it, particularly if it’s carrying spiderlings on its back. If you kill a female wolf spider, you could wind up with dozens, or even hundreds, of orphaned spiderlings running around your house.
When to seek professional help
If you think you have a large infestation, or if you’re concerned that you’re misidentifying wolf spiders and the spiders in your house might be dangerous, it’s time to call a professional pest control service. They can help you with integrated pest management solutions that are right for your situation.
Uh oh, is that a baby wolf spider?
One of the most interesting things about wolf spiders is their parenting style. Instead of building webs, female wolf spiders carry their egg sacs around attached to their spinnerets. When the spiderlings hatch, mom tears open the sac and lets them crawl all over her back. She’ll carry them around like that for weeks until they’re big enough to fend for themselves.
That’s why squashing a wolf spider is never a good idea. If it’s a mom, you’re just unleashing dozens of spiderlings into your home!
Conclusion
Wolf spiders get a bad rap, but they’re actually beneficial to have around. They eat a lot of insects, which helps keep the pest population down.
It’s important to know how to identify them and to take steps to keep them from getting inside your home in the first place. But most of the time, they’re nothing to worry about. Wolf spiders are generally not dangerous and can be valuable members of your home’s ecosystem.