Wolf Spider

Wolf spiders are usually a darker brown with light brown or yellowish markings. They have no antennae, but their eight legs are long and fairly needle-shaped. Wolf spiders can vary in size, the females being larger than the males, with bodies ranging from about 1/4 inch to over 1 inch, not including leg span. Wolf spiders have a distinctive eight-eye pattern: a pair of medium-sized eyes above a pair of large eyes, both set above a row of four smaller eyes. Their eyesight helps them hunt in the dark, as wolf spiders are primarily nocturnal. They are also solitary.

 

Wolf spiders get their name from hunting, not with a web, but chasing down their prey (like a wolf), reaching speeds of more than 3 feet per second. The females will create a silk egg sac that they carry around with them. In the event they have to drop their egg sac to escape a predator, they will go back and search for the sac, or even pick up another abandoned egg sac to care for. Once the spiders hatch, they will ride around on their mother's back for several days before they go off on their own. Males will usually only live up to a year but females can live for several years.

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Wolf spiders are often mistaken for brown recluse spiders, but they are not aggressive and their venom isn't dangerous to humans or pets (in the absence of an allergy).

 

Wolf spiders can be helpful with natural pest control, preying on cockroaches, ants, crickets, and other nuisance pests.  Inside your home, wolf spiders are likely in lower levels such as basements, garages, and crawl spaces. They can also be found near access points, such windows and doors, near house plants or in storage areas.  In outdoor spaces, they tend to favor wood piles, timbers, and general garden debris (rocks, fallen leaves, low-lying plants).

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For more information on wolf spiders, read our blog post