Rewilding My Lot

I often see Rabid Wolf Spiders (Rabidosa rabida) in the Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora) behind the house. It must be a good place for them to live. They don’t build webs to trap food; instead, they hunt at night. And despite their name, they do not carry rabies!

Recently I was trimming back the Frogfruit and came across this female carrying an egg sac. At first I wasn’t sure if it was just a coincidence that she was close to the white thing, but then she moved and it was clearly attached to her. I have never seen a spider egg sac before.

So then off I went to learn more about the lifecycle of Wolf Spiders.

Female Wolf Spiders lay about 100 eggs and encase them in a bag made of silk, attached to the spinnerets at the end of her abdomen. Most spiders don’t carry their eggs sacs with them, but Wolf Spiders are unique in this property. Amazingly, these females can still hunt while dragging their eggs behind them. After about two weeks, the spiderlings hatch and climb up onto the mother’s back, where she carries them around for another several weeks. At that point, they’re large enough to disperse and fend for themselves.

I don’t know if I’ll get to see babies here, but I did find this video of someone who isolated a Wolf Spider with a mature egg sac and who watched the spiderlings emerge before releasing her (with babies on her back) again a few days later.