Wolf Spiderlings!

Photos taken:
2023-06-16

Okay, very quick wolf spider update: the babies hatched!!

(I've hidden the photos behind a details tag again just in case, so click below to see some high quality parenting action. Also be sure to read my previous blog post if you haven't already or this one won't make much sense lol)

Click here to see even cuter spiders!

Photo of a light brown spider resting on some rocks. She has two large eyes at the front of her head which are reflecting the sun's glare in a way that makes her look very cute. On her back is a large mound of tiny baby spiders which are mostly transparent in colour.

Hehe! Look at them!

It's a bit silly to get emotional over a little spider, but I'm proud of her. She seems to be doing a great job.

I briefly saw her again the day before these photos were taken, and at that point the egg sac was still there, so it's likely these spiderlings are less than a day old here!!

Bird's eye view of the same wolf spider. The clump of spiderlings covers her entire abdomen and some parts of her head.

Mum seemed to be a little more cautious than usual — tucking herself and the babies under the rocks — so I couldn't get super close photos, but I did manage to get a macro photo where you can see one of the spiderlings up close!! It's interesting that even at this extremely young age, the wolf pups have their trademark large eyes. The patterns on their abdomen appear to have already started developing too which is neat!

Close up photo of the wolf spider's head. Of note here is the single spiderling clinging to the side of her body. It has two large visible eyes and a light brown abdomen with a symmetrical pattern of white markings on it.

I probably won't take any more pictures of them. She's a busy woman who has a few dozen kids to look after, the last thing she needs is me poking a camera in her face. I'll keep an eye out though, it's been fun watching her for the past few weeks and it'll be nice to see how the spiderlings get on.