Wolf spider carries 100 babies on her back

At the end of summer it’s not unusual to see a lot more spiders as they grow larger or as young spiders hatch. There are several dozen types of spiders, and the most common garden spiders do not spin webs.

Any gardener that picks flowers knows to shake them vigorously before bringing them inside to knock off any unwilling hitchhikers. And sometimes I disturb Wolf spiders that live in shallow underground burrows, when I dig in the mulch. Today I noticed this momma wolf spider climbing to a high spot by the front door of the Wild Birds Unlimited - East Lansing store.            

Wolf spiders are brown spiders with dark stripes and have eight eyes arranged in three rows. The bottom row consists of four small eyes, the middle row has two very large eyes, and the top row has two medium-sized eyes.

This one happened to be about the size of a nickel and had many, many babies on her back. Females often carry their egg sacs with them, and then for two weeks after her eggs hatch, the mother spider carries her young on her back until they disperse aerially.

Related Articles:
- Marbled Orb Weaver http://goo.gl/kECUu1
- Small black spider with egg sac http://goo.gl/dcldGj
- Largest Orb-weaving Spider in Michigan! http://goo.gl/TYFuyN
- Harvestmen or “daddy longlegs” http://goo.gl/eyzAjr