Beware of the Huge Arachnids Marching Across Texas Right Now

(Austin, Texas) - Hi, I'm Michael Gibson and I classify myself as an arachnophobe. I don't know why I have such a fear of spiders but man do they give me the creeps anytime I'm near one. I just am and won't nothing to do with them.

Having said that, I do have this weird fascination with our eight-legged friends. I will observe them from a distance, despite the creepy crawlers that go down my spine, or watch them behind glass at the zoo. I don't want to mess with one in the wild.

Tarantulas are Huge But Harmless

A creepy fact is that Texas is home to 14 species of tarantulas (mysanantonio.com). They are, however, harmless to us humans. That doesn't take away the fact that they still look terrifying. If I were to see one in my backyard, my reaction would be to grab the nearest blow torch and use it extensively.

Texas is also home to many other species of spiders like Black Widows, which can kill you, Brown Recluse, which can kill you, or jumping spiders that can, well, jump. Ugh! If I were to pick a "favorite" spider, it would be the the green, black and yellow spiders that have the zigzag pattern in the middle of their web. Don't kill them, they catch a lot bugs around your home.

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Tarantulas Migrating Across Texas Right Now

The male tarantulas are migrating across our state looking for a mate. The female arachnid can lay between 100 to 1,000 eggs that can hatch between 45 to 60 days after laying. That's a lot of baby spiders.

How to Identify a Tarantula in Texas

They generally have a dark brown head, thorax and legs with a brown-black abdomen and are about 1 1/2 inches long (nps.gov). Something similar to the picture below:

Tarantula Collective via YouTube

Tarantulas are not common in East Texas but don't be surprised to see one here. Actually, it may be hard to see one as they live in old rodent or snake holes. I don't know what specifically made me so fearful of spiders but even wolf spiders give me the creeps.

I'm gonna have body shivers the rest of the day thinking about this story.

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