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Wolf Spider Motherhood

Wolf Spider & Egg Sac

Hitching a Ride

Ready to Run!

Steppin' on Momma's Face

Carolina Wolf Spider
Hogna carolinensis

The Carolina Wolf Spider is one of the largest species of wolf spiders in North America. But enough about this lady herself, this post is all about the miracle of motherhood and wolf spiders do it somethin’ special.

So, first off – wolf spiders don’t create a nice cozy web home. They are nomadic. They wander your yards actively hunting to survive. So when it is time for a brood, they weave up a tidy little egg sac and carry it around with them. The egg sac starts out shiny and white, but as time goes on it starts getting dark and dingy. That means it’s almost time for the babies to make their first appearance (9-27 days later)!

After the babies hatch, they climb on momma’s back and hang out for some time. They aren’t quite ready to go it on their own yet. So they’ll hitch a ride for a couple weeks until they are big and strong enough to hunt on their own.

Then, finally, when they are ready to go it alone – they start scattering! Momma is ever so patient and lets the kids crawl all around on her and then finally run amok off.

So these definitely aren’t all the same spider. I didn’t keep one with me and get to watch all this happens. I found the top spider in spring time at the front of the yard. I was hollering at J to run and grab me something to catch her in! Last summer I actually saw quite a few mommas carrying egg sacs. The one with the babies hatched was found in the backyard when I was pulling weeds in the grass. Again, I was hollering and yelling for J to run and grab me something while I kept an eye on her (oh, patient husband). We took a few quick shots and released.

Finally, the mom with babies ready to leave was an amazing stroke of luck. I was coming home late from my meetup and the porch was dark. I saw something huge move as I walked up. There she was – and the babies had just started to scatter. I brought her in and carefully took a few photos. When most the kids started getting rambunctious I took her back outside and let them go in the grass. Eek! How fun!

So, three different spiders over the course of the summer and I have at least a few pics of this awesome process. Maybe next summer I’ll be able to get better photos.