Breaking news-
A tarantula gave a coach from across the pond the scare of her life! Our son is at soccer camp in Snowflake for the week with coaches from the UK! I asked how her morning went and she gave me a look that signified something horrible had happened! Honestly I thought someone may have died, but apparently there are no giant spiders in the UK!
Here’s her story:
I got in the car this morning and went to push the pedal…I looked down and saw a huge tarantula. It was awful! I called the other coach over and he freaked out, so we asked the host mom if she could do anything. Thankfully a third coach came to look at it and he moved the tarantula for us!~Coach Katie
I felt so bad for her, tarantula’s are quite scary looking, but they are probably the most friendly spider I’ve ever heard of. I told her not to worry since Tarantulas are not biters, but she was still quite unsettled. Then I asked her if she’s ever seen a spider like that, and they don’t have tarantulas in England where she’s from. I told her my van has tarantulas and skunks all over because we do pest control, but she wasn’t interested in seeing them giant sized on the van. Maybe I can get her to check out the van tomorrow?
The other coach said he went on a hike saturday with the host family, and they saw a rattlesnake! At least these coaches can go back home with exciting stories of the Arizona wild creatures. Isn’t it funny how we take for granted things like crazy cool bugs and snakes?
I’m especially thankful we don’t have spiders like the do in Australia, but maybe the people there are as nonchalant about those giants as we are here about our beautiful tarantulas!
Fun facts about tarantulas:
- They can live up to 30 years in the wild!
- tarantulas leg span can be up to 11 inches
- Females molt throughout their life time, while males stop molting once matured
- Tarantulas typically don’t bite, unless you really harass them, and in most cases the bite would be similar to a bee sting.
- Tarantulas do not spin webs, but the female does leave a silk string for males to follow for mating
- The female will carry her eggs in a silk sac on her back
- it can take 10 years for a tarantula to mature
Have you seen any tarantulas this year? They migrate here in the White Mountains, if you’re lucky you may even see a large migration of them!