The first official day of fall is less than a month away, and while you’re keeping an eye out for the leaves changing colors, you might also see something else — tarantulas.
Tarantulas will soon be seen walking through grasslands in Kansas looking for mates. While it may be referred to as a migration, the spiders are really just moving “across the road” to find females, according to state Department of Wildlife and Parks wildlife diversity coordinator Daren Riedle.
“The males kind of start going on a walkabout a little bit,” Riedle said. “Females tend to find a burrow that they lie in … the females are pretty much homebodies. But once the males reach sexual maturity, they will take off walking in search of females.”
Riedle said the tarantulas can be found in Kansas year-round, usually under rocks, fallen debris or trees. They will be more visible, however, when they search for mates during the late summer and early fall season. This will occur largely in southern Kansas.
“August through September, into early October, you will see the males cruising across the road,” he said.
While this may seem frightening, Rielde said you most likely won’t see huge numbers of the spiders on the move at once.
“You might see a dozen … just enough to really kind of say, ‘Oh, wow there’s a lot of spiders out today,’” he said. “As far as seeing huge numbers of them, I’ve never been that lucky, but when the weather is right [and] the conditions are right, there might be a few across the road.”
If you spot a tarantula in southern Kansas, it’ll be a Texas brown tarantula , scientific name aphonopelma hentzi.
Female Texas browns reach around 2 inches in size, while the males are usually a little smaller, measuring about 1.5 inches. These tarantulas feed off of insects they find while roaming in grasslands.
“For the most part, the group of tarantulas we see in the U.S. are pretty similar,” Riedle said. “Kind of a brownish …. to blackish color, the body tends to be more brown and the legs tends to be a lot darker.”
Texas brown tarantulas are venomous, but will only strike when provoked.
“The ones here, as far as humans go, at worse [the venom is] like a bee sting,” Riedle said.
Riedle said the Texas brown tarantula is the primary species found in Kansas. It can generally be found in states west of the Mississippi River , into New Mexico and Colorado, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
If you do come across a tarantula, don’t worry. They only strike when provoked, and their venom is similar to a bee sting.
If someone is extremely allergic, however, the bites can be serious. Healthline, an online medical community, reports the spot of a tarantula bite will become warm and red after striking. Other symptoms may not show up until later, but can include a rash, itching and swelling.
In severe cases, symptoms can include trouble breathing, rapid heart rate and eyelid puffiness. If you experience severe symptoms, contact a medical provider right away.
For non-severe spider bites, the Cleveland Clinic recommends you:
- Wash the bite with warm water and soap
- Ice the bite
- Take over-the-counter medications, like ibuprofen
If the bite is more severe, Cleveland Clinic says to ask your doctor about getting a tetanus shot.
