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DENVER (KDVR) — As early as late August to the beginning of September, thousands of male tarantulas will start crawling across 433,000 acres of southeast Colorado in search of a mate. Before you get freaked out, don’t worry, you won’t see that many — as long as you stay in Denver.
You can find the creepy crawlers trekking through La Junta and southeast Colorado through September, October and sometimes November depending on the weather, according to Visit La Junta.
The determined males can travel up to 20 miles looking for a female. But even in southeast Colorado, you won’t find thousands. You’ll probably only see a maximum of 10 scurry across the prairie, said Visit La Junta.
They’re mostly seen on the Comanche National Grassland and south of La Junta on Highways 10, 350 and 109. Visit La Junta recommends popular sites such as Vogel Canyon, Sierra Vista and Timpas Picnic Area.
You may even find them skittering across the road.
If you’re crazy enough to seek out the spiders, Vist La Junta suggests looking around an hour before sunset in less populated areas.
However, La Junta has a few safety tips when it comes to tarantulas, and it’s more about driving awareness and protecting the park and spiders rather than the danger of tarantulas themselves.
When it comes to safety tips, La Junta asks people to pull as far off the road as they can, look both ways when crossing a street and respect the rock art.
Whether you like them or not, tarantulas aren’t life-threatening. They bite, which is equivalent to a bee string. Vista La Junta mentions that they are more scared of you than you are of them. While they are docile creatures, don’t disturb them or pick them up.
Enjoy the spiders’ mating season when the females produce golf ball-sized eggs and hatch hundreds of spiderlings. Or, stay in Denver which is far away from the 5-inch tarantulas.
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