The Pink Prowler Spider Is Our Valentine’s Day Mascot

The Pink Prowler Spider Is Our Valentine’s Day Mascot

Happy (early) Valentine’s Day from Pointe Pest Control! This holiday is filled with every physical symbol of love and affection you can imagine. Candy hearts, beautiful flowers, and all things pink and red are everywhere this week, and we’re not mad about it.

Speaking of pink items, did you know there’s a pink spider? It’s only common in parts of Europe and Russia, so we don’t see it here in the United States. Despite this, Valentine’s Day has us fascinated with the idea of a rosy spider crawling around. Let’s dive into the quiet life of the prink prowler spider to learn more about its pest status across the pond.

Back to Basics

As always, we need to establish the basics of this pest before we get into the details of its life. The “prowler” part of their name comes from their slow, prowling movements as they search for prey and feel around their environments. The pink prowler spider is technically a hunter, but it’s nothing compared to our infamous hunting spiders, such as wolf spiders.

Pink prowler spiders are:

• Up to .2 centimeters long

• Pink or pinkish-orange in color

• Equipped with 6 eyes in a cluster formation

• Slow reproducers (a few eggs at a time)

Due to its small size and light coloring, the pink prowler spider isn’t the most noticeable arachnid in the world. It takes a keen eye and a bit of searching to see this spider. You can click here to see a brief video of a pink prowler spider (missing two legs) in action!

All In The Family

Let’s zoom out for a second. It’s easier to understand the pink prowler spider when you know the spider family they come from. Oonopidae is a family of 1,600 species of goblin species. All of these spiders are small hunters that prefer to live on the ground.

They have spinnerets to create webs or silk cells (more on this later) as their shelter. Goblin spiders can have up to 6 eyes — like the pink prowler spider — but some don’t have any eyes at all! These varieties live in dark caves, so they wouldn’t have much to see anyway.

Goblin spiders aren’t the most famous spiders in the world. Each spider is so small that it would be hard to determine which kind it is before you squish it. The great news is that most of them are harmless. The only ones that are dangerous to us are hidden deep in the wilderness, so we don’t have much to worry about there.

The Diet And Habitat

Like other goblin spiders, pink prowler spiders hunt their prey at night and retreat to their habitat to rest during the day. Found in the warmer areas of western Europe and Russia, these spiders often invade homes to gain access to a safe shelter. Outdoors, they’re found underneath natural debris, like stones and leaf litter.

Instead of traditional webs, the pink prowler spider creates silk cells. These small cocoon-like creations protect the spider and its egg sacs. When they’re indoors, they make their silk cells under or behind furniture. These aren’t as obvious as normal spiderwebs, so the pink prowler spider isn’t even easily discovered by its silken creations.

Once they leave their silk cell, pink prowler spiders look for tiny bugs to devour. Their favorites are booklice, mites, and other tiny insects. There are two main ways that the pink prowler spider catches its prey. One is by delivering a venomous bite while it restrains its prey. The second is by running and pouncing on its helpless prey, thus catching it by surprise.

Risky Spiders?

All of this talk about hunting spiders that are almost too small to see might have you wondering about their danger level. If you live in the U.S. (or anywhere besides Europe and Russia), you’ll be pleased to know that the pink prowler spider isn’t found here. And even if it was, it’s not known to be dangerous to humans or animals at all.

The only risks — if you want to call them that — of this spider are its strange habits that can be pretty off-putting. They can walk on the ceiling and keep their front legs extended while they move. Their tendency to walk slowly, then suddenly speed up while they’re hunting, is also a little interesting. Of course, it’s hard to see them do any of this since they’re so small.

Other than all of that, the pink prowler spider is nothing to worry about. It’s tough to prevent a spider that is so small and great at hiding. However, the fact that it’s only a common house spider in the United Kingdom makes it far less of a worry for us. And where there’s not a worry, there’s a pest-themed Valentine’s Day mascot for us to appreciate!

Feel The Love With Pointe’s Reliable Services

Whether you’re battling spiders or fending off ants, Pointe Pest Control has the dependable services for you! Our licensed technicians create a customized treatment plan for every customer because pest control shouldn’t be a generalized practice. We target each pest problem with the combination of treatments that we know to be efficient against the invaders. Our team is happy to address every question and concern you have along the way, as your complete satisfaction with our services is our top priority.

Valentine’s Day should be filled with love and sweet desserts, not pests. When you want lasting relief from your pest problems, contact us for a free quote on our services!

Citations

Oonops domestica. (n.d.). British Arachnological Society. Retrieved February 3, 2025, from https://britishspiders.org.uk/pink-prowler

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Oonopidae. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved February 3, 2025, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Oonopidae

Smith, H. (2013, December 4). Goblin spider researchers name 71 new Australian spiders. Australian Museum. Available at https://australian.museum/blog-archive/science/goblin-spider-new-australian-species/ (Accessed on February 3, 2025).