topic Re: Tarantulas in Among Friends

Tarantulas

Bonkers1 — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 14:41:24 GMT

There was a story on the news today that hordes of them will be coming out soon in certain states. Do you live in a state that will be subject to this?

Re: Tarantulas

Desertdi — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 14:55:47 GMT

We ALREADY have plenty of them in Arizona (nothing new here). I've seen them the size of dinner plates...sipping water out of swimming pools...

Re: Tarantulas

kitcat51 — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:00:04 GMT

No & I never will.

Re: Tarantulas

Bonkers1 — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:00:13 GMT

@Desertdi

Holy moly.

Re: Tarantulas

gizmogal — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:05:40 GMT

If the thread isn't creepy (or crawly) enough here's an extract from today's USA Today article describing the why and where these hordes of male taranturlas, looking to mate, are most likely to appear:

Tarantulas prefer dry climates and primarily live in Western and Southwestern states with arid and semi-arid habitats. They are prevalent in Arizona, California, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oregon and Washington.

But they're in other places as well. South Florida has the Mexican red rump and the Texas brown can be found in Oklahoma and Missouri.

I'd guess people living in those states are quite fmiliar with tarantula appearancess.

I mostly looked it up to make sure these things weren't likely to appear in Brooklyn, NY. Yes, that's a matter of personal interest, since I would die on the spot seeing one.

Look out for a tarantula holding a rose. He's probably a bachelor looking for love. It's still ewwww in my book...

Re: Tarantulas

Kachina624 — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:10:35 GMT

It happens annually in the desert, the tarantula migration.

I live in the desert and I've never seen s tarantula or a rattlesnake or a scorpion.

Re: Tarantulas

just bee — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:12:31 GMT

I've lived in Albuquerque for 30 years and I've seen only one out and about. And it was beautiful.

Yes, they're out there, but they mostly keep to themselves.

Re: Tarantulas

wagirl — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:16:11 GMT

OK---GREAT!!!!! I can handle many critters---snakes, rodents, reptiles, bugs---but not spiders in any size!!! In fact just that word----makes me shudder----now I live in Washington---the western side and have never, ever heard of those things being around--eastern WA is hot and dry tho------😧

Re: Tarantulas

just bee — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:20:06 GMT

We do have wolf spiders here in the high desert. They're a good size and they appear even larger because they carry the entire family on their backs.

I'll refrain from posting photos.

Re: Tarantulas

KittySoftPaws — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:42:26 GMT

@gizmogal The Mexican Red Rump LOL! I live in Southern Florida and I have yet to see one. I used to be really afraid of spiders for no reason other than their looks and 8 eyes. But I never harm them and I try to respect they have a place in this World and it's ecosysytem. I have only see a tarantula once and that was in Arizona. I wasn't afraid of him, just really fascinated. It was also in AZ that I first saw a scorpion. I was on my way to the bedroom of my Dad's friends guesthouse. He was heading to my room ahead of me. Needless to say I didn't sleep well that night.

Re: Tarantulas

We rescue cats — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:45:51 GMT

I was always petrified of spiders so running into a tarantula when I camped on the Amazon about killed me. But I've learned to let them be . . . but a friend had a massive Wolf Spider in her woodshed and I nearly fainted. Thank heaven it went in a different direction.

Re: Tarantulas

Citrine1 — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:58:33 GMT

@Desertdi The size of a dinner plate? Oh my, I think I'd die right on the spot. LOL

Re: Tarantulas

Desert Lily — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 16:11:24 GMT

@Kachina624 If you haven't come across any of those, you're lucky.

We lived in a brand new apartment while waiting for our house at the top of the mountain to be done when we moved to the desert west. The 1st week I opened the door (ground level), there was a rattle snake trying to get into the next door apartment! It was 6:30AM, too early for management. My child & I stayed home until management arrived & did a search.

We went to the post office one day, & I saw something hopping around. I thought it was a dark tumbleweed. It was a huge tarantula! It was bigger than my dad's fist. I tried to scream, but I was so scared that nothing came out! I ran back into the car & left. That same post office was invaded by hundreds of scorpions after a monsoon & had to close for 2 days.

I saw scorpions every year, mostly in the hot weather. On occasion, maintenance would be called to kill one that was trying to get in the office building entrance. But, my neighbors & I would see them on the sidewalk, the block fence walls, etc. I NEVER let my dogs outside without me to watch for them.

Scorpions would try to get in the house whenever we had a decent rain or monsoon. They angle themselves sideways to slip in. I always sprayed my yard, lower outside stucco, the block fence, garage, & my roof with a perimeter strong bug killer, and I resprayed after every rain.

Over the 20+ years I lived there, I saw 3 scorpions come in my house during rains. I learned to sit up all night if that's when it rained. Once, my fur baby was wagging her tail & staring at something in the back hall during a rain ... it was a scorpion! I yelled Bug!! , scooped her up, & put her in my bedroom. I then sprayed & smashed the scorpion. And then cleaned it up carefully.

It was the 3rd one I saw. I resealed my back door and put so much caulking, weather seal, etc. that it looked ugly. But, it kept those nasty scorpions out after that.

Both next door neighbors there got scorpions in their houses & garages several times per year, but they didn't spray & seal like I did. One of them had a huge mostly dead mesquite tree where scorpions lived that he let grow over his roof. His wife threatened to leave, so he finally had the tree removed.

I fear & hate tarantulas, snakes, & scorpions. Those & the heat made the desert not for me and were factors in my moving East.

Re: Tarantulas

Travone — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 16:20:50 GMT

@just bee

@Kachina624

I'm hoping the road runners in my neighborhood take care of these for me. 😁

Re: Tarantulas

just bee — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 16:31:43 GMT

@Travone wrote:
@just bee
@Kachina624

I'm hoping the road runners in my neighborhood take care of these for me. 😁

@Travone

Aren't they fabulous?

Re: Tarantulas

Travone — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 16:35:03 GMT

@just bee I love them. And I love that they don't run away when you go outside. They look at you like what are you doing in my yard?

Re: Tarantulas

haddon9 — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 16:39:26 GMT

Thank God, NO!!! UGH!!

Just the thought of it gives me a shiver up my spine!

Re: Tarantulas

just bee — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 16:40:27 GMT

@Desert Lily

We left Chicago for Prescott when I was ten years old.

It was an opportunity to meet -- up close -- every bug I'd ever seen in my set of World Book Encyclopedias.

Here in New Mexico we have our own unique set of critters. Really large centipedes...

Re: Tarantulas

just bee — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 16:43:33 GMT

@Travone wrote:
@just bee I love them. And I love that they don't run away when you go outside. They look at you like what are you doing in my yard?

@Travone

Exactly!

What are you doing in their yard?

All seriousness aside, I appreciate how bold they are. And I love it when they stop and pose.

Re: Tarantulas

haddon9 — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 16:43:36 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
It happens annually in the desert, the tarantula migration.

I live in the desert and I've never seen s tarantula or a rattlesnake or a scorpion.

@Kachina624 Lucky you! I would freak if I saw one of them!! I have seen videos of a rattle snake under the kitchen sink of someone's home and they had to get a professional to remove it.

My mother lived in South Florida for 30 years and in all that time neither of us actually saw a gator in the wild! Yet there are bodies of water (behind her condo) all over FL.