Once you locate a pair of shining eyes, hold the flashlight steady on the spider as you walk up for a closer look. After completing the activity in this section, your students will, hopefully, understand spiders better and be less susceptible to arachnophobia . The wolf spider is just another interesting and harmless creature preoccupied with making a living in a world filled with natural enemies. Wolf spiders hunt rather than build a sticky web to catch prey. They use their silk to line the top of their burrows and prevent cave-ins.
Scrub burrowing wolf spiders have a slow metabolism and can survive for days without eating.
Scrub burrowing wolf spiders conserve energy year round by spending most of their life in the insulated burrow. Newly hatched male and female spiders stay in their mother's burrow and live on the reserves from their yolk sacks. When ready for a meal, adult females will rush out to pounce on passing prey. Young males venture out at reproductive age in search of females, but die after mating. Scrub burrowing wolf spiders can live for two years, which is longer than the one-year life span of most spiders.