Tarantula Hawk Killing a Wolf Spider in My Backyard?

It was a nice day outside but the storms are rolling in. The dogs were getting anxious. I guess they could feel the barometric pressure changing as the storm built overhead. I walked outside with them knowing they would not want to be out there for more than a second if I closed the door and went back inside. The storm scared them. I guess they could hear the distant thunder rumbling.

Has it started to head towards the door, making sure they had both in their business, I noticed something moving on the wall of the house. At first I wasn't really sure what it was. I assumed it was probably another spider. I find them on a regular basis living in the grass near the edges the house. But this little different. It was a wasp dragging a wolf spider up the side of the house.

I looked around trying to figure out where this wasp is heading. There was a small mud filled by in the corner of one of the windows. The wasp was pulling its prey up to that corner. I quickly pulled up my cell phone and captured a short video. I wanted to do more research on what kind of wants this was. Then I want to head and promptly smashed both the spider in the walls under my flip-flop. There was no way I was going to have something that's things living on my house near my children.

Later the next day I did a little research on what kind of wasp I was looking at. I searched for blue winged wasp just to see what would come up. There were several kinds of wasps that seem to have blue wings. None of these seem to have the same characteristics as the wants one son wings. None of these seem to have the same characteristics as the wasp I saw.

I discussed it with one of my coworkers. He said he had seen a television show about the Tarantula Hawk. He said it had blue wings and it would take down huge spiders. I looked this up and found it looked very similar to the wasp I saw. I'm still not entirely sure that is what it was, but it seems to be the closest representation of the wasp that killed a wolf spider in my backyard.

There is a really good reason these wasps like to immobilize tarantulas. The spiders make long term meals for all the new baby wasp larvae. I hope I never die in this manner.

The was risks its own life as it attacks the tarantula. The spider can do just as much damage to it as it can to the spider. You can see in the video above the wasp is agile but the spider has more legs. They are evenly matched and the fight can go either way.

Once the wasp has stung the spider a few times, the spider will become paralyzed. The wasp will then carry the spider back to its nest and lay its eggs either on or inside the spider. When the larvae hatch, they will start feasting on a spider that is still alive, a spider that is unable to do anything about the fact that babies are eating its flesh from the inside out.

It is obvious this spider had been stung. It was almost completely paralyzed. I watched as its legs twitched. I have seen worf spiders around the house before. Some of them have been bigger than this one. They are quiet and they usually stay outside. I usually don't see them. If I think one is uncomfortably close to the house, I will kill it, but for the most part I leave them alone.

At the old house, in the middle of the night, if I went outside and shined a flashlight, hundreds of eyes would turn into my direction. That was one of the creepiest things I have ever seen.

this video made my skin crawl. I kept feeling the venom running through my veins. I felt the icy fingers of death running through me. How does it make you feel?

We were pulling out an old fence, preparing to install a new fence. I started moving a pile of lumber I had stacked on the ground a day or two earlier. When I lifted one of the boards I was surprised by a black snake. He didn't move at first. I don't think he felt threatened. I think he was a little annoyed that I moved his hiding spot.

i don't like to kill snakes. They will eat rodents and other more dangerous snakes. I stepped slowly towards him, urging him back to the woods. I suspect I could have picked him up, but I did not want to risk getting bit.