FARMINGTON, Arkansas — October brings all sorts of creepy creatures out into the streets, and here in Northwest Arkansas that includes some with eight legs.
Lori Gold says her family was enjoying the day outside their Farmington home when they came across something out of the ordinary.
" [My] husband noticed something moving in the driveway and he looked and it was the tarantula kind of ran up underneath his pickup truck. And then he got a flyswatter and was trying to kind of get it out of there so he could kind of relocate it," Gold said.
It's something they haven't seen in the five years they've lived in the area.
"We used to see them all the time in central Arkansas, but not here," she said.
University of Arkansas entomologist Austin Jones says he became interested in tarantulas as a student in 2007. He explains that the Ozarks is the furthest east and north that a tarantula native species can be spotted.
"An Arkansas glade is an area where the bedrock comes very near the surface, and so you don't have much soil on top of it. And so what that means is that soil gets very dry in the summertime, which is when tarantulas are raising their young," he said.
Fitting for "spooky season," male tarantulas travel in October to mate. It's a rarity to see many in Northwest Arkansas, which Jones says is because of the heat.
"I think that that could have a factor playing into it," he said. "And I think that the fact that it's been so dry, could be playing into that a little bit too. It's going to open up new habitats that they can utilize because they like that hot dry stuff."
While their fangs and irritating hairs could be of concern, Jones says they don't pose any danger to your home. He considers any encounter with a tarantula his lucky day.
"You're seeing something that has survived a long time, it's eaten a lot of bugs, a lot of pests along the way to get there," he said.
Jones says it's best to leave the spiders alone but if you must move one, grab a bucket or containers with a flat piece of cardboard. Once the spider is inside, flip the bucket and then relocate it.
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