On top of everything else, it’s tarantula season

Bandelier National Monument is cautioning folks inside the park and throughout New Mexico to be on the lookout for wandering tarantulas.

Not because the enormous and hairy spiders pose a threat, but because fall is when the normally reclusive predators begin their quest to find a mate.

Over the next couple of months, male tarantulas could be encountered on trails and roadways at any time of day throughout their U.S. range, mostly in southwestern states.

“This exposes them to many dangers, from hawks and skunks, which want to eat them, to fast-moving cars, to people who just find them creepy and think they should be squashed,” Bandelier National Monument stated in a news release.

The park asks hikers and motorists to watch out for them so they can admire them from a distance and leave them to their important business.

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“For the most part, they are easygoing creatures,” the news release continued. “They do have venom, but for the ones around here, it’s equivalent to a wasp sting.”

A sampling of tarantula fun facts, provided by Bandelier:

•  Tarantulas have existed for more than 16 million years and more than 900 species can be found worldwide.
• Tarantulas are carnivores that prey on beetles, centipedes, millipedes, and even smaller spiders.
• Tarantulas are also prey. Hawks, owls, coyotes, foxes, skunks, and snakes are among the critters known to snack on tarantulas.
• Female tarantulas can live about 40 years, while male tarantulas mature in 2-5 years and seldom live much longer  – “partly because of having to go out and find a female.”
• During the mating period, female tarantulas typically remain in their burrows. Males rely on hormone scents to locate females.”

Bandelier tells visitors to be unafraid, and even suggests that they might be able to help a tarantula if one has wandered into a precarious situation:

“If you see one of these males, be kind.  If he’s in a threatening location like a road or trail, and it’s feasible, consider helping him across with a piece of cardboard or a magazine for them to crawl onto. 

“Be aware for your own safety in that location! Place him off the road or trail in the direction he was traveling. Certainly, don’t squash him. Let him proceed on his mission to provide future generations of tarantulas. Hopefully these big hairy spiders will share the earth with us for another 16 million years.”