“I’m in Adelaide Hills – can someone tell me what lives in here?” a concerned Australian man asked as he posted a shot of a deep hole in his garden. The realization of what it was sent people fearing for their safety and got the man terrified about the potential threat it posed.
According to viewers, the hole resembled one that was dug by a trapdoor spider or wolf spider. It had no “door” or any form of covering over the hole. “That is probably a burrow of a trapdoor spider. Most of them don’t have doors,” a commenter wrote.
However, another countered this by writing that it’s “absolutely a lycosidae spider burrow (wolf spider).” According to this person, “trap doors are on the decline, the vast majority of burrows you find (everywhere from in your lawn to in native bush land) will be wolf spider burrows.”
The Australian Museum has said that it’s not surprising to see doorless holes from both species as they don’t always create doors after digging their burrows. So, the confusion is understandable.
More than just their holes, both animals also have similar sizes and well-developed fangs. They’re also known to be active hunters that release venom to subdue their prey. In other words, regardless of what animal resides in the hole, they both spell doom for the residents nearby and their pets.
However, if it’s any consolation, these spiders rarely bite humans, and when they do, it only causes some discomfort. Venoms from trapdoor and wolf spiders are quite harmless to humans. All we have to do is be careful and avoid provoking them to significantly reduce the risk of an attack.
Some commenters narrated their experiences with the spiders. According to one of them, “there are thousands of these holes in the park across from my house – they’re all trapdoor spiders. get a kick whenever I see people sunbathing or sitting on the grass, blissfully unaware of the horror sitting below them.”
“I will never forget the time I tried to catch and release a large wolf spider under a container, only to find it was covered in 100s of baby wolf spiders – who were small enough to escape in all directions,” someone else shared.
Despite the striking similarities between trapdoors and wolf spiders, there are also numerous differences between them. First, trapdoors typically live in underground burrows with covered entrances made from leaves or sticks to avoid predators.
Wolf spiders, on the other hand, are wanderers that make temporary habitats with leaves or may live in the ground with or without burrows. There are also noticeable differences in their feeding patterns and appearance, with wolf spiders having a more diverse range of colors than trapdoor spiders.
If you’ve noticed a trapdoor or wolf spider hole anywhere around your home, don’t be alarmed. You can get rid of them using insect repellents or pesticides. Other alternatives include sprinkling boric acid around their holes in small amounts and using spider traps.
Whatever you do, never attempt to squish wolf spiders, as the females are known to carry their young on their abdomens. As such, crushing them may release the smaller wolf spiders, leading to a bigger problem.
