Found a good size wolf spider.......

[AudreyElizabeth]

Plopped a deli cup over a big wolf spider tonight at my work, (I work in a deli!! )
it is the biggest one I have seen personally, it has a legspan bigger than a U.S, 50 cent piece (not by much). Dark brown with lighter brown markings, and a very distinct pattern on it's abdoman..... I think it found a way in to escape the cooling temps. I also think it found it's winter home with me.....
I've got it on peat moss with a water dish and hide, and it does nothing but sit and constantly groom itself. Going to buy some crickets tommorrow, I have heard these guys are very good hunters with big appetites!!

 

[AudreyElizabeth]

Originally posted by HerpInvertGirl
Plopped a deli cup over a big wolf spider tonight at my work, (I work in a deli!! )
it is the biggest one I have seen personally, it has a legspan bigger than a U.S, 50 cent piece (not by much). Dark brown with lighter brown markings, and a very distinct pattern on it's abdoman..... I think it found a way in to escape the cooling temps. I also think it found it's winter home with me.....
I've got it on peat moss with a water dish and hide, and it does nothing but sit and constantly groom itself. Going to buy some crickets tommorrow, I have heard these guys are very good hunters with big appetites!!

It is a VERY good eater!!

 

[scottfro]

i found one that was probably about 2 inches across last weekend....my girlfriend would not let me keep it though

i had never seen one that large before.

 

[ChokeOnSmoke]

I'm not sure if the ones around my parts are wolfspiders or huntsmans but whatever they are they get to 3 inches easy I will post pics this spring(a couple more months here)

 

[WithCerberus]

I kept a large burrowing wolf spider (about 3"-3.5" leg span) that was just a blast. It was a super aggressive feeder who seemed to be constantly hungry. I used soil from the area and made her a starter burrow. I let her go after about two months when she developed an egg sac. Youll have a blast with it.

Bobby

 

[coco]

haha

haha and as usual in sweden they hardly grow so much they are visible to the eye haha well at least not over 0.5 inch

 

[Mikey_G.Rosea]

Where i live, we have them that burrow and they are a good 4" almost look like Tarantulas, but they are wolf spiders or "jumping spiders" i am not sure. They are full gray with red jaws. Any ideas? I haven't seen them around in a couple years, but i see there moults here and there!

 

[protheus]

Where i live, we have them that burrow and they are a good 4" almost look like Tarantulas, but they are wolf spiders or "jumping spiders" i am not sure. They are full gray with red jaws. Any ideas? I haven't seen them around in a couple years, but i see there moults here and there!

I thought jumping spiders were always pretty small, though, it would be cool to have a tarantula sized jumping spider

Chris

 

[Elizabeth]

Where i live, we have them that burrow and they are a good 4" almost look like Tarantulas, but they are wolf spiders or "jumping spiders" i am not sure. They are full gray with red jaws. Any ideas? I haven't seen them around in a couple years, but i see there moults here and there!

Are you sure they aren't tarantulas? I had someone who I thought was knowledgable tell me that there were no tarantulas in California, hence large spiders here were just large wolf spiders. The Carolina wolf spider is the largest wolf in the US and I don't believe they reach 4". Maybe a google-trip is in order.... :?

 

[protheus]

The Carolina wolf spider is the largest wolf in the US and I don't believe they reach 4". Maybe a google-trip is in order.... :?

I've also seen this stated before, regarding the Carolina wolf spider, which, IIRC, is maybe about half that large, but I don't recall whether it was legspan or body-length that they were counting.

Chris

 

[Scorpiove]

There are indeed tarantulas in california, close to where I live infact. here is a link for my areas website, click here. Look at the pic on the right. Its a tarantula.

 

[Brian S]

wolf spider

I know the wolf spider that you are describing. They are quite common here in South Missouri. The largest ones that I have seen have a leg span of around 2 1/2 - 3 inches. I have kept them before and they would tackle grasshoppers as large as they were. So yes they are very agreesive feeders and fun to keep.

 

[Mikey_G.Rosea]

I haven't seen them in about 2 years, if i can find a good moult i will post a pic of it next to a quarter or something so you guys get the idea, or a ruler! But i haven't seen them around for a couple years, even now the toads are just starting to come back!

They are all a very light gray, almost white! They have read jaws, and don't have hair on the jaws. They are big. I would say a good 2" (retracting from my previous statement). They pounce on anything they can, my dad wanted to see it fight my T, but i was like no no no no no! lol, he's a crazy mofo!

Anyway they are pretty common usually, except these last few years have been pretty calm for those guys! I will try to find a moult for you guys though!

 

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, at 2" maybe it is a wolf spider then... The coloring sounds wrong for a T in California, eh? (Our local Ts are dark brown.) Looking forward to the pics when they come!

 

[Wade]

Carolina wolf spiders can easily exceed 3 inches legspan in the resting position, and 4 inches stretched out. The chelicerae of some western ones are dusty red or orange.

Wade

 

[Elizabeth]

Do you mean there are western Carolina wolf spiders? As far west as California?! Boy, would I love to see one! This will make me scan the ground more for a while! The little info I printed doesn't mention their range...

 

[Wade]

The Audubon Guide lists them as occuring "throughout the US and Canada" which is kind of vague, but yes I believe they are in California. They do build permanent burrows, so you don't encounter them as often just running around.

Wade

 

[cricket54]

Our neighbor found a "wolf spider" in his garage and the kids brought it over to us. They know we have tarantulas so I guess they thought of us. Thats cool. This one has an eggsack attached to its back half. I am thinking she is a huntsman spider and not a wolf. Wolf spiders don't get as large here in NJ as in NC where we used to live. So, we have this girl in a jar and are feeding her small crickets which she is eating. Doesn't even try to escape. We were thinking about keeping her till the babies hatch and then letting them all go in the garden. We have two jumping spiders also which have molted and it turned out they are 2 different kinds. The big one has an egg sack now. With jumping spiders, its amazing to watch them hunt. We have a little one that handles crickets 3 times its size. They seem more ferosious then my tarantulas. I was surprised that once the jumping spiders saw that we would drop crickets in they're jars, they would not try to leave the jar and go elsewhere. I can just leave the jar open while I fetch them a cricket.
What I was going to say is, the markings on this spider the neighbor gave us look more like a huntsman spider, but this one is as large as the wolf spiders we have here in NJ. I didn't know huntsman spiders got this big here.

Sharon

 

[Wade]

If it's holding the eggsac on the tip of the abdomen, it's likely a wolf spider. Huntsmen carry their disk-shapped eggsac in their pedipalps.

Wade