Tarantula Hawk -- giant black wasp -- ack!!!

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No, you're safe! They're primarily in CA, NM, AZ, and TX though they've been spotted as far north as OR and down to Argentina.
 
Yikes.... Looks like maybe you should add a road runner to your flock for protection
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seeing as they are the only ones who can eat these.... Made me quiver just thinking about running into something like that here whewww!!!
 
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They're cool birds. I haven't seen one here in years, though I'm sure they're still around in less populated areas. I saw a clip on youtube of a ground squirrel(!) eating a tarantula hawk and we've got plenty of those evil little beasties, even allowing for the one that got zapped in the Rat Zapper. In our garage. Cheeky thing.
 
Saw one of these this year with a tarantula in it's grasp. Apparently they paralyze them and then lay an egg - the poor tarantula doesn't die (yes, I think tarantulas are cool). I've seen plenty of the tarantula hawks and tarantulas and never been bothered by either one here in SoCal.

Violet22 - Don't pull up milkweed!! It's the only host plant for Monarch butterflies!!
 
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So that is why maybe I have been seeing the Monarchs lately on my property? Ok, I will leave them.............I've never seen the wasps that I recall, so there isn't a problem.
Wow, I had to google the egg laying thing, Never thought I would feel sorry for a tarantula, but that is a horrible way to die to have the hatched larvae feed off of you til you die.
Actually, I wouldn't mind having the flies that do that to fire ants tho, it is sickening, but I have no sympathy for fire ants!
 
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The biologist friend whom I asked about the tarantula hawk also grew up in Alpine(!) and told me how she had once watched a TH dragging off a tarantula to its lair. Several youtube clips of this, too.

And I agree -- leave the milkweeds. The native milkweeds are necessary for the monarchs -- the alkaloids from non-native species won't protect them from predation. You can read about that here . Nurseries in our area sell Asclepius tuberosa which is native to the Eastern US. It has flashy, orange blooms but please don't buy and plant this one in the west. The Rocky Mtns. are a sort of dividing line for monarchs; east of that, they migrate to Mexico and west of that, they migrate along the CA coast and down to Baja (there are several big colonies in our area, most notably in Pismo Beach). Each group evolved eating the milkweeds native to their area which renders them unpalatable to birds.
 
Call me crazy but I'd take the TH over the big ol' hairy spiders ANY day!
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It is not cool, when you walk something out to the trash in the evening and cross path's with a Tarantula. We live in the San Fernando Valley, and we have Tarantula's and Scorpions (saw one the other day on the wall, and a week or two ago, one ran across my foot while I was mowing)
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. I know they're all here on earth to serve some purpose (nasty creepy purpose) but I wish I had one or to TH fly by every once in a while... just to take a few Tarantulas home with them.
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