If you happen to be in Southern Colorado sometime in the next two months, and witness thousands of hairy brown tarantulas migrating like waves across the desert plains, don’t worry. It isn’t a sign of the apocalypse. It’s just an annual cross-country arachnid sex-capade.
And it’s just in time for the season of creepy crawly Halloween things, too.
The spiders, “Oaklahoma browns,” are not generally harmful to humans. In fact, many people keep them as pets, since they aren’t deadly and they can live for up to twelve years.
And who wouldn’t want one of these things hanging out in their house for over a decade?
All the same, the bites of Oklahoma browns still hurt like a bitch. And, if you spook ‘em, they might hurl their hairs at you in defense… which, apparently, can be pretty irritable if they land in your eyes, mouth or nose.
Aside from that, though, there’s no real reason to fear this army of arachnids as they pass through our state, on their annual quest to get laid. Most of the tarantulas are 10-year-old males seeking out a mating partner; looking for furry females burrowed out in Colorado’s prairies. They aren’t looking for fights, they’re looking for love.
If that’s something you want to stay the hell away from, consider yourself warned. The spiders won’t venture any further north than Pueblo.
If, however, that’s something you might want to check out, drive down to Highway 9 just south of La Junta, Colorado. The peak day of this tarantula migration is expected to be around September 10th and 6 PM is generally when the spiders are most active — just in time for nightfall. Find a place to park near the Comanche National Grassland and kick back to watch these furry freaks march.
It’s no place for an arachnophobe, to be sure, but it’s a pretty cool Colorado phenomena and a good'n'strange way to kick off the season of spook.
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