The tarantulas of the San Francisco Bay Area are one of its lesser known residents. These giant spiders prefer to roam the hills and are seldom seen except in late summer and early fall.
Katie Garchar, a naturalist from the East Bay Regional Park District, told The Epoch Times in an email, “Mid-August to late October is tarantula mating season.”
She said that’s when mature males leave the safety of their burrows to embark on a journey to find accepting females. They wander around until they find a female’s burrow and tap on her silk webbing to let her know his intentions. After the mating is done, the male sets off to find another female, which makes this time of year the best time to see a tarantula out and about.
Tarantulas can be found around the Diablo region as well as in the Sunol Regional Wilderness and other areas around the East Bay and South Bay.
Hikers don’t see tarantulas because the creatures are nocturnal and they’re also fossorial, which means they live underground, naturalist Ken Lavin told the Pleasanton Weekly.
Ms. Garchar stated, “The tarantula life-cycle is similar to the general spider life-cycle: eggs, spider-lings, and spider.”
A tarantula spends most of its life in its underground burrow, which it dug out using its fangs. Outside the burrow, it places its silk. The silk, being sensitive to vibration, alerts the spider to prey.
If the silk is triggered, the spider will rush out to pounce on the cricket or beetle that ventured too close to the burrow, Mr. Lavin told the Pleasanton Weekly.
Ms. Garchar said, “Not only do tarantulas eat lots of bugs helping to keep the bug population at ease, but they also are a food source to animals like lizards, snakes, and birds.”
Tarantulas have eight eyes, which face the sky. Since they spend most of their time underground, their sense of sight is mostly useless. Instead, tarantulas use their hair to feel vibrations that help them understand what is happening around them, Mr. Lavin told the Pleasanton Weekly.
Ms. Garchar said that at the Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve, a 6,000-acre park located north of Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County, there are tarantulas of the species Aphonopelma iodius, in which males are mature and ready to mate around the age of 7 and die shortly after mating season, while the females can live for over 20 years.
She said, “I decided to do a tarantula hike during mating season in hopes to educate people about the reason tarantulas are out right now and to respect their journey; although I cannot guarantee a tarantula sighting, I can guarantee lots of cool facts and info for the enthusiasts and hopefully change the minds of the not-so-enthusiasts.”
Ms. Garchar recommends the hike for people who might be a little apprehensive about tarantulas.
“These hikes are great opportunities to overcome your fears in a safe, natural setting,” she said. “The goal is not necessarily to spot tarantulas everywhere, although that’d be really cool, the hike is more geared toward education, creepy crawly appreciation, and fun.”
She shared that recently on a nature walk with a group of fourth graders, a beautiful tarantula graced them with its presence. The kids got so excited that they all wanted to run over and crowd it.
Ms. Garchar said, “I, of course, stopped them and told them we will get in a single file line and slowly pass the tarantula on the far side of the path, the kids were in awe as they respectfully walked past, most commented about how cool it was while one kid said they wanted to step on it, which is not an uncommon thought.”
That’s when she stopped the group of fourth graders to have a discussion about the tarantula’s mission and how they are actually more afraid of us than we are of them.
“The kid still wasn’t excited about passing it by, but at least he didn’t feel the need to step on it anymore,” she said.
She said tarantulas are not dangerous to humans and if you were to get bitten by a tarantula, from a pain perspective it would be similar to a bee sting.
“Tarantulas do not want to bite you; they need their venom for prey and/or predators; once they use their venom, they need time to regenerate it, so by biting you, they may have to skip their next meal,” she said. “Some people think that tarantulas are very durable creatures, but they are actually very fragile and can easily die if dropped from short distances.”
Tarantulas are gentle giants that want nothing to do with humans. Please let them prowl in peace, she said.
On Saturday, Oct 21, at the Black Diamond Mines (Antioch, California) Upper Parking Lot, people age 7 and up can drop in and join Ms. Garchar for a tarantula hike from 9:30 a.m. until noon.
