THE ARACHNID RENDEZVOUS

October is peak mating season for tarantulas in California. The hulking, furry males don't always come out alive.

- BY LILA SEIDMAN

It's a crisp night in the rugged mountains above Los Angeles after the first rains of fall.

This is the night of the lustful tarantula — and it's filled with peril.

Every year, male tarantulas strike out from their burrows in search of a lover. Finding one can be fatal, whether she's in the mood or not. Females are known to snack on their suitors.

"If the female is not receptive, you better run," said Rodrigo Monjaraz Ruedas, assistant curator of entomology for the Natural History Museum of L.A. County.

"Even if the female is receptive and they mate — after they mate, the male needs to be really fast and sneaky because otherwise the female can also eat the male as well."

In California, October is typically a prime mating month for the bulky, hirsute spiders. Natural cues are key, with autumn's initial precipitation generally triggering the march. Experts suspect males are following pheromones to hunkered-down females.