This tarantula was found crossing the road. Several other smashed tarantulas were also found on the same road in the general vicinity. This road separates a subdivision from open fields.

Observation Details

CountyTarrant
CityBenbrook
DateMay 21, 2011
Time of DayAfternoon
TemperatureHot (greater than 89°F/32°C)
WeatherPartly Cloudy
HabitatThoroughfare – Secondary Road
Type of BehaviorRoaming
GenderMale
MaturityAdult
ObserverJohn AllendorfObservation Location

12 Replies to “Texas Brown Tarantula – Road Crossing”

  1. I live in Collin County and have seen large spiders that I thought were Tarantulas cross the road on 3 separate occasions. My husband makes fun of me and tells me that I’m hallucinating because no one else has seen them. So I did a Google search that brought me to this page. It’s nice to have proof that there are big spiders crossing the road.
    Thanks,
    Tanya

  2. My children and I have also seen these spiders crossing the street right outside our house. We live in far northwest McKinney (Collin County). New construction is occurring where fields once were which is apparently forcing the spiders to relocate.

    1. Hi Krista,

      Thank you for the report. Male Tarantulas wander at this time of year. It is very typical behavior, and probably only marginally related to the construction.

      So, what do your kids think of those giant spiders!

  3. I am a brand new resident to the area. I live in an apartment complex that is in a new developed area and our complex is surrounded by decent brush. We live in North Oak Cliff right off of I-30 and Cockrell Hill. I was out walking my dog around 9:30 pm and panicked when I saw this giant crossing my normal route. I definitely found this site useful because I was really freaked out. Thanks for the somewhat calming info.

  4. I saw them on road 59 south on my way to Laredo, at a distance they looked like a bunch of black dots as I got closer I realized that they where spiders, it was a very weird scene. And I’m not talking about two or three, there was a lot of them, many people don’t believe me but I know what I saw.

  5. I first saw a tarantula crossing US Route 277 near Munday,Tx. while on a family vacation in June 1962. Dad was driving and slammed on the brakes, stopped and backed up the car until he saw what it was. The car windows were rolled up very quickly. A few days later we spent the day at a park in Buffalo Gap outside Abilene, Tx. On the way back to Abilene, there were hundreds of them crossing the roadway and squishing as the tires rolled over them. I’ve been to Texas many times since then and have not seen the same spectacle.

    1. Oh my gosh, thanks for telling this story! We moved north from Houston in 1986 and I have a very vivid memory of this happening just over the border in Oklahoma. Hundreds running across the road and we were running them over! I was 8 and it was traumatizing!! When I tell the story to others people tend to think I’m exaggerating when I say there were hundreds of them scurrying across the road. I was starting to doubt that memory myself, but your story validated mine!

  6. I live in on lake Weatherford and this weekend me and my kids saw a large spider crossing the road so we stopped to take a closer look and after taking pictures and looking it up later we discovered that it was indeed a Brown Tarantula. This was the first time I have ever seen a Tarantula other than in a pet store, was a cool experience ( From a distance lol..)

  7. I grew up in far east Plano and we used to drive down Dublin Rd in Parker quite often to go to the pool. In the late afternoon there would be many of these spiders out crossing Dublin Rd. It was always exciting to drive along and see them as a young child. We also used to have them in our neighborhood off Cottonwood Creek. I used to catch them in buckets.

  8. Just saw one this at a gas station down the street from my home in Copperas Cove, TX! First time I had ever seen a tarantula in nature! Coolest part was that seven of us saw it and nobody wanted to kill it. We just let it be and it went about its business.

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