How to Find a Wolf Spider

Wolf spiders can be found in desert areas and close to riverbanks and swamplands as they use these areas to fend off the surrounding desert temperatures. They are also found in coastal areas. The spiders use their strong fang-like appendages to kill their prey but they also sting humans. Spiders are generally swift, but wolf spiders have the ability to reach fast speeds while on the chase for prey. They have a total of eight eyes, which serves them well as they wait furtively to attack their prey. Wolf spiders can be found in several states in America.

Instructions

• 1

  Know what a wolf spider looks like before you try to find one. Recognize that some Wolf spiders have distinguishing brownish stiff hair on their legs and body that gives them the appearance of a tarantula. A wolf spider can be almost 4 inches long and it is rarely found in groups because wolf spiders are lone hunters, lurking about and pouncing on an unsuspecting prey that passes by, says the Wolfspiders.org website. This spider uses its hairy legs to advantage by detecting when a target moves in its surroundings.

• 2

  You can find wolf spiders on the ground in almost any habitat, according to the Wolfspiders website, and this arachnid species prefers to lie in ambush where prey can be found, such as around doors, near plants, windows, humid basements and garages.

  Wolf spiders can be found across the country because they are one of the most abundant type of spiders in America, the website notes. Wolf spiders are, however, plentiful in California, where some of them are called California wolf spiders. You will find wolf spiders in Texas, where you also will find the Texas rabid wolf spider, which is one of the largest spiders in Texas, according to the website article.

• 3

  Observers will notice that wolf spiders look like shiny green eye-like objects darting about across the roads at night. The eye shine is caused by a membranous layer in the eye that reflects light rays back through the eye retina that ultimately enhances the spider's night vision.

• 4

  One species of wolf spiders known as the Schizocosa mccooki can be found in an area covering southern Canada and Michigan, across central Texas and the Southwest and into central Mexico and to the Pacific coast, says the Desertusa website article.