AUSTIN, Texas — Watch your step on Central Texas trails this time of year! There's one Austin-area creature that likes to enjoy these toasty temperatures, and you might bump into them on one of your walks.
It's tarantula mating season! There are six known tarantula species in Austin, and the most known one is the Texas brown tarantula.
Male tarantulas usually live underground for five to seven years, according to David Moellendorf, the store manager at ZooKeeper Exotics. After living underground for so long, they molt their skin one last time and go out looking for love.
"They ... use chemo receptors on their feet, and they can taste," Moellendorf said. "And if there's any silk or anything like that from a female around, the male is able to sense that. He will start looking in that area."
After that, the tarantulas mate. A female tarantula can have hundreds of babies.
After tarantulas mate, sometimes the female eats the male tarantula for more protein to create larger eggs.
So if you see one, what do you do? Moellendorf said leave them alone!
"A lot of times, people see them and they believe because the spider is so big that it must be some kind of dangerous spider," Moellendorf said.
But according to Moellendorf, tarantulas are actually quite harmless.
"Worst case scenarios, if you upset one, it might kick off some urticating hairs off its abdomen," he said. "Which could cause mild itching."
Only about 10% of tarantulas end up surviving because they either get killed by people, are run over by cars or are eaten by predators.
They tend to come out in the evening and into the night.
Some places here in Austin where there are big tarantula population include:
- The greenbelt on Texas 360 Loop
- Downtown Kyle
- The Bastrop-Travis County line
- Austin's Georgian Acres neighborhood, across from Red Lobster
Redbud Trail