Color: Usually dark brown, often with paler (or sometimes yellow) stripes or markings
Legs: 8
Shape: Stout-robust body with long, spiny legs
Size: 3/8 – 1 3/8“ (female) 1/4 – 3/4“ (male)
Antennae: No
Region: Found throughout U.S.
Unlike most spiders, wolf spiders don’t hunt with webs. Instead, they chase their prey by running fast. These spiders are often big and hairy which alarms some people, but they are primarily nuisance pests. The US and Canada have 100 species of wolf spiders.
Wolf spiders actively hunt at night and usually rest in sheltered places during the day. They are often seen by people as they are fast on their eight feet when pursuing prey.
Wolf spiders feed on various insects, including crop pests, so they can help to farmers. Wolf spiders can bite, but only very rarely and, only if handled. If you have a wolf spider in your premises, it’s usually accidental.
Wolf spiders may enter buildings in search of prey. Although they don’t tend to tbe permanent residents in structures, once they get inside, they often stay. Indoors, wolf spiders tend to remain at or near floor level, especially along walls and under furniture. Outside, wolf spiders can be found under stones, landscape timbers, firewood, leaves and other debris.
To get rid of wolf spiders, seal cracks on the outside of the home and use screens on doors and windows. To remove them, pest management professionals, such as RK Environmental, will often place glue traps in buildings where the wolf spiders have been seen.
Wolf spiders feed on a variety of insects and other small prey, including crickets, ants, grasshoppers, and other spiders. These active hunters don't build webs. They run fast and chase down their prey or pounce on it from a short distance.
Wolf spiders can enter buildings through small cracks, gaps around doors and windows, and other openings in the exterior of your premises. They're often drawn indoors while hunting for prey or seeking shelter.
Wolf spiders are good for you in two ways. Firstly, they eat other nuisance pests—such as ants, flies, crickets and grasshoppers and even other spiders, so they help reduce the pest population around your home and yard. Secondly, this means you may need fewer chemical treatments for pest control.