Subject: Spider
Location: fort morgan, colorado
April 12, 2013 8:36 pm
Please help, I have 4 children and one has been saying his backside hurts (he sleeps on the floor because he hates his bed) and I found this today in my basement bathroom. Is it dangerous, and should I have my son checked?
Solid brown, no stripes I can see.
Signature: Dunderwood
Dear Dunderwood,
We are relatively certain this is not a dangerous spider, however, we do not know its identity, which is why we are contacting Mandy Howe.
Hi Mandy,
Here is a distraught parent of four. Please help alleviate the anxiety with an identification.
Hi Dunderwood,
This looks like a female Alopecosa kochi, which is a species of “wolf spider.” Here’s another image of one for comparison: http://bugguide.net/node/view/505738/bgimage. Wolf spiders, when large, are capable of giving a painful nip if they are harassed or inadvertently pressed against the skin, but none of the species in North America are known to be “dangerously venomous” to people, so no worries on that front. I don’t know what might have happened to your son, but these spiders only bite in self-defense and that usually takes some significant squeezing or poking at the spider. In wolf spider bites I’ve seen on others in the past, it’s just localized redness and/or slight swelling for a day or so, similar to a bee sting. It’s more likely to be something else bothering your son, since spider bites are so rare.
This wolf spider looks gravid (pregnant) so if you or the kids are interested in keeping her as a pet for a little bit and feeding and watering, she’ll make an egg sac soon. 🙂 Once the eggs hatch, the mother tears a little hole in the silken sac so they can get out and then they all crawl onto the mother’s back and get a piggy-back ride for a week or so. You can see images of these dedicated mothers by googling “wolf spider with babies.”
Hope this helps a little!
Hi Dunderwood,
This looks like a female Alopecosa kochi, which is a species of “wolf spider.” Here’s another image of one for comparison: http://bugguide.net/node/view/505738/bgimage. Wolf spiders, when large, are capable of giving a painful nip if they are harassed or inadvertently pressed against the skin, but none of the species in North America are known to be “dangerously venomous” to people, so no worries on that front. I don’t know what might have happened to your son, but these spiders only bite in self-defense and that usually takes some significant squeezing or poking at the spider. In wolf spider bites I’ve seen on others in the past, it’s just localized redness and/or slight swelling for a day or so, similar to a bee sting. It’s more likely to be something else bothering your son, since spider bites are so rare.
This wolf spider looks gravid (pregnant) so if you or the kids are interested in keeping her as a pet for a little bit and feeding and watering, she’ll make an egg sac soon. 🙂 Once the eggs hatch, the mother tears a little hole in the silken sac so they can get out and then they all crawl onto the mother’s back and get a piggy-back ride for a week or so. You can see images of these dedicated mothers by googling “wolf spider with babies.”
Hope this helps a little!