Horny tarantula hordes spotted in multiple states amid mating season

Love is in the air for tarantulas.

Certain states across the country can expect to see a web of spider sightings. It’s mating season for tarantulas, and with tens of thousands of spiders on the lookout for their perfect match, people are seeing them swarm the Southwestern US.

“If you’re lucky enough, you can sometimes see them in hordes crossing the roads at certain times of the year,” Dan McCamish, a senior environmental scientist with California State Parks, told USA Today.

States like California, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas can expect to see more of the eight-legged bugs in the next few months as they look for romance.

“At this time of year, when it’s time to look for the females, they risk their lives,” Ron Magill, communications director of Zoo Miami, told Today. “They leave their burrows. They go out searching until they can find those females.”

McCamish explained that tarantulas are nocturnal, so people are most likely to see them from late evening into early dawn.

Male tarantulas will travel as far as 20 miles to find a female to mate with — and they risk it all to do so.

“More often than not, after breeding with a female, the male dies and the female eats it,” Magill said.

“This is really giving it all up for love.”

If you come across a tarantula — or a swarm of them — experts advise leaving them be. Besides, the baseball-sized spiders are not immediately dangerous to humans.

While their large size often brings fear, they are gentle arachnids and their venom is not a risk to humans. However, some people might experience skin irritation when touching a tarantula due to the little hairs on their bodies, and some might end up being allergic and end up in the hospital.

“It’s a wild animal — it doesn’t want to be picked up and loved and hugged,” McCamish said. “In general, the species is very docile, but if you were to handle one, they could bite you.”

It’s best to leave them alone to avoid any potential risk — plus they “play such a huge role in keeping ecological balance,” acting as insect control, Magill said.

“In truth, they’re gentle, ecologically valuable animals,” McCamish added. “Mostly they’re interested in escaping from confrontations – especially with something they know could squish them.”