- I'm Coyote Peterson.
Tonight, we're in the Sonoran Desert
and I'm looking for something big and hairy.
That's right, spider lovers,
I'm talking tarantulas.
(lively music)
- [Voiceover] There are many things that crawl
in the night,
and on this dark, monsoon-threatened evening,
the crew and I were headed out into
Arizona's Sonoran Desert to find such things.
Our mission was to search out a dry,
walkable wash which is an area that
water flows through the desert during a monsoon.
A wash is a great place to look for creatures
at night because animals will use it
as a highway to either move up and down
or they have to cross it, moving from one
section of the desert to another.
We're looking for wash so that we can travel down
it and hopefully encounter some cool creatures.
One of the most likely candidates has been
causing nightmares for centuries,
and if we located a giant arachnid,
the goal would be to get the cameras
up close and myself even closer.
All sorts of little holes down here,
but I don't see anything yet.
So, the reason that I'm shining the light
down the length of the wash
is that spider's eyes reflect light in the dark
and this will actually give them away
and give me the advantage to get close to one,
and hopefully get my hands on it.
Let's keep going and see if we can find one.
(gravelly footsteps)
- Bugs.
- Ooh, got a good set of eyes.
You go, get the light on. get the light on.
Got movement right up here by this rock.
Look at that.
Finally.
All night, I thought all we were gonna find
is anthill mounds and there you have it.
One big spider.
Wow.
Okay, just kind of approach slow.
That is a tarantula.
Wow, we have been out here searching,
for what, a solid two hours now.
Seen nothing but ants and moths
flying around by our lights.
And just when I thought we weren't gonna
come across anything, you have it right here.
And it is, this is a desert blonde tarantula.
It's a male and the way I can tell is that
the males have dark brownish black legs,
females have light, tan legs
and this is about as big as they get.
Males grow a little bit larger than the females.
Now, I wanna stay as calm as possible
in this situation.
If I stay calm, the animal will stay calm.
And, they actually use all these little hairs
on their legs to kind of sense the ground
as they're walking so it can feel all the vibrations
(patting the ground)
in the ground and you see that little
defensive pose right there?
He's pointing his abdomen up in the air
and you see all those tiny little furs
on the back of the abdomen,
you get too close to those
and those little hairs kind of flick off
and they really cause a real, kind of
nasty itching sensation.
I know for those of you out there
who have arachnophobia,
this is probably your worst nightmare.
Wow.
That is a big spider right there.
Look at that.
What a handsome fella.
I feel all those little tiny hairs on his legs
crawling up my arm.
Hold on, I don't want you going up there.
No, I don't want you going up there.
Now, he is up and on my back.
Is he on my back?
- [Voiceover] On your backpack.
- This is one of the most common
species here in the Sonoran Desert.
Thankfully, they don't eat coyotes
and where is he?
Is he off?
- [Voiceover] There he is, - [Coyote] Oh, cool
he's coming around the corner. - [Coyote] Alright.
Alright, there we go.
Alright, I feel a little bit better now.
These spiders are out this time of night.
They're mostly nocturnal,
trying to avoid the heat of the day
by staying in burrows
and what they're looking for is insects.
And, a spider of this size could even
take down small lizards or small rodents,
believe it or not.
Wow.
Absolutely beautiful.
Alright, I'm gonna put him down
and gently pick him up
so I can show you the underside,
and see if we can take a look at his fangs.
I wanna get him off of my arm for this.
Come down here, buddy.
There we go.
Now, this is in no way causing
any injury to the spider.
It just will allow me to kinda get him up
so you guys can see those fangs.
I'll tell you what, if you're a moth
or any of the other little bugs
that run out here in this wash,
you meet up with that set of fangs,
it's gonna be the last meeting you ever have.
I definitely don't wanna be bitten by this spider.
It is venomous and it's not a venom that's
really gonna cause you any more discomfort
than a bee sting but still I wanna be
as careful as possible.
Arachnophobia is one of the most common fears
that people suffer from.
Obviously, I'm not afraid of spiders, but I won't lie.
Holding a tarantula this size
definitely gets my heart racing.
Have you guys ever seen a spider this big?
Have you ever held a spider this big?
Tell me about it in the comments section below.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave.
Stay wild.
We'll see ya on the next adventure.
Alright, I'll put this big guy back into the wash
so you can go feast on some beetles.
See you later, fuzzy butt.
If you thought that was one wild adventure,
check out these other animal encounters,
and don't forget,
subscribe to follow me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
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