These two tarantulas are each hoving near the tops of their respective spidey holes in my backyard. Their burrows are only about twenty feet apart, so they are virtually neighbors.

Usually it’s hard to see the tarantulas because they don’t often spend time near the surface of their spidey holes. But these two seem to be champing at the bit for tarantula mating season to start in about two months. Or maybe, due to climate change, the mating season will be starting earlier and these two are ready to come out of the gate (or the spidey hole) sooner.

By the way, I don’t know if one of these is male and one is female. They could both be males preparing to go on the prowl for a female. I’m not sure why they are so eager, though. It seems that the female tarantula often make a post-coital snack out of the male.

And just for full disclosure, I did have to do some post-processing enhancements to these photos in order to more clearly show the tarantulas in their burrows. But they are legit photos, not deep fakes or AI generated.