Tarantulas Have Begun Their Mating March Across Texas

(Athens, Texas) - Hi. My name is Michael Gibson and I am an arachnophobe living in Texas. I don't have any memory of why I am so afraid of spiders. I just am and won't nothing to do with them.

Having said that, I do have this weird fascination with our eight-legged friends. I will observe them from a distance or if they're behind glass at the zoo. I don't want to mess with one in the wild.

Tarantulas are Virtually Harmless to Us

A creepy fact is that Texas is home to 14 species of tarantulas (mysanantonio.com). They are, however, harmless to us humans. That doesn't take away the fact that they still look terrifying. If I were to see one in my backyard, my reaction would be to grab the nearest blow torch and use it extensively.

Texas is also home to many other species of spiders like Black Widows, which can kill you, Brown Recluse, which can kill you, or jumping spiders that can, well, jump. Ugh! If I were to pick a "favorite" spider, it would be the the green, black and yellow spiders that have the zigzag pattern in the middle of their web. Don't kill them, they catch a lot bugs around your home.

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So Why are Tarantulas Migrating Across Texas?

The males are the ones doing the migrating and they are looking for a mate. The female arachnid can lay between 100 to 1,000 eggs that can hatch between 45 to 60 days after laying. That's a lot of baby spiders.

How to Identify These Eight Legged Freaks

They generally have a dark brown head, thorax and legs with a brown-black abdomen and are about 1 1/2 inches long (nps.gov). Something similar to the picture below:

Tarantulas are not common in East Texas but don't be surprised to see one here. Actually, it may be hard to see one as they live in old rodent or snake holes. I don't know what specifically made me so fearful of spiders but even wolf spiders give me the creeps.

I'm gonna have body shivers the rest of the day thinking about this story.

READ MORE: The Dangerous Rise of Swatting and Doxing in Texas

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