Warm Fall Weather Sparks Tarantula Mating Season Across Bay Area
SONOMA COUNTY (KPIX 5) -- All across the Bay Area this weekend, the warm fall weather will bring out many thousands of male tarantula spiders looking for females partners.
"Great time of year. You only get to see it once a year," Sonoma County Reptile Rescue Director Al Wolf said of the tarantula mating season.
They mostly come out at night but during mating season, males roam around all hours of the day. Over these next few warm days, one may see them crossing roads, crawling through fields or fighting each other for female tarantulas' attention.
Wolf says despite this fight and being some of the largest spiders in the spider world, tarantulas are known to be docile and rarely bite humans.
"It's often the nicest spider of the groups. It's the littler spiders that we always have problems with. These big ones often don't do anything to you," Wolf said.
Wolf says male tarantulas live for about five years, but some females can live more than 30 years.
Joy Dolcini, who owns a ranch in Sonoma County, says some tarantulas are kept in the house as a pet.
If you come across one of these large spiders this weekend, just leave them alone; eventually, they will go about their business.