I recently rewatched Snow White. During the scene of all the animals welcoming her in the forest, it occurred to me that if I had helped create that animation sequence, I would consider it my career’s crowning achievement
Disney’s SLEEPING BEAUTY was so ambitious its hand‑painted backgrounds and animation took almost a decade, making it one of the most painstakingly crafted films ever made.
The wolf spider crossing your garage floor is probably a mother, and she's one of the more attentive mothers of the spider world.
Female wolf spiders carry their egg sac attached to their spinnerets until it hatches, then let the spiderlings climb onto their back and carry them there for days. They're among the only spider species that do this.
If you see a large wolf spider moving with what looks like a cluster of tiny dots on her abdomen, that's dozens of babies riding on their mother, which is either terrifying or remarkable depending on your disposition toward spiders.
While she's doing that, she's also hunting. Wolf spiders don't build webs. They chase prey, which makes them more effective pest controllers than most spiders you'll encounter.
Cockroaches, crickets, earwigs, beetles, ants: anything moving through the dark corners of your garage or basement is fair game. She's been working those corners since before you noticed her, and the pest population in your home is lower because of it.
She's venomous, technically, but the venom is designed for insects. A bite, which only happens if she's grabbed or trapped against skin, produces swelling and mild discomfort.
There's very little serious risk to a healthy adult, and she has no interest in biting you. Her default response to a human is to run in the opposite direction as fast as possible, which, if you've ever seen a wolf spider move, is pretty fast.
The spider you've been meaning to deal with is raising her young and hunting your pests simultaneously. Leave her to it.