That and the whole 8 eyes thing, that really gets to me.
Yeah, all those eyes. My barbecue grill outside has a large, black cover that reaches almost to the ground. Black widows live under the cover during the months the grill isn't in use. I would say that hairy spiders freak me out; but the shiny, sleek body of the widow seems actually creepier and more threatening. And the egg she lays is gigantic - as big as the bulbous part of her body.
I have those plug-in sonic insect repellants in the garage, and here and there around the house. Do you think they work? I think they have kept the crickets out of the garage, which in turn might keep spiders out. The spider I worry about is the brown recluse. I have so many boxes in my garage - perfect places for brown recluses.
I used to see the occasional fairly large beige spider around. They weren't hairy, or slick/shiny, but were rather smooth, soft-skinned looking. And they wouldn't dart around in a furtive, lightning-fast way, but would generally hang out on a wall somewhere. I actually saw one jump on a cricket one day.
Guess I haven't seen any beige spiders lately because the crickets don't come around anymore - thank god. I do have some really cool geckos (a mom, a dad, and a baby) that hang out by my porch light. I have the porch light on a timer, so the geckos know that every evening, at a guaranteed time, bugs will be attracted to that light. The baby geckos are *really* cute!
I've got a resident 5 legged spider. Don't know what happened to it's other 3 legs (well actually, I haven't asked).
Unfortunately, the 3 it's lost are all on the same side. So it seems to spend a lot of time walking around in circles.
Poor thing! I wonder if a bird tried to pick him up as a snack, but just grabbed a few legs that broke loose in mid-air. You just have to know that your spider survived a traumatic event and lived to tell the tale.
It might just be me, bu spiders also seem to crawl toward us more often than other bugs.
I think that's probably true. And just think how inherently aggressive that is. I mean, if a human saw a creature standing there, a hundred thousand times bigger than himself, he'd be terrified and would run and hide. But the spider comes forward, on the offense. Really amazing when you think about it. (And *REALLY* scary!!! Yikes!!!)
Ewww, have you ever seen pictures from a Brown Recluse bite? <shudder>
My spider looks a lot like a female Common Garden Spider but they're supposed to die in the Autumn after only living about a year. This one showed up last fall after the house got infested by ladybug-looking beetles from the soybean harvest and is still going strong.
I've never thought about a name-maybe Lolth, after the Drow spider-goddess from D&D?
Jeff
Edit-Suggested name: Sidney.
Nah, too cutesy for anything that attacks its dinner with the ruthless aggression this lady (I think) does.
Ewww, have you ever seen pictures from a Brown Recluse bite? <shudder>
My spider looks a lot like a female Common Garden Spider but they're supposed to die in the Autumn after only living about a year. This one showed up last fall after the house got infested by ladybug-looking beetles from the soybean harvest and is still going strong.
I've never thought about a name-maybe Lolth, after the Drow spider-goddess from D&D?
Jeff
Edit-Suggested name: Sidney.
Nah, too cutesy for anything that attacks its dinner with the ruthless aggression this lady (I think) does.
"Lolth" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, though, does it? She's much chunkier-bodied than I had envisioned. Urgh - those thick hairy front legs. Wonder why they are so differentiated from her other legs? Maybe she's a "prize fight" spider. Or maybe those beetles are SO slick that she needs extra gripping power. (eek!)
there's plenty more quotes from that ep to play with, here's a few:
Homer: WE HAVE A KITCHEN!?/!1
...
Otto: Yeah, I can still crash here, right?
Homer: Get out.
Otto: Remember when I dropped my keys and you thought the phone was ringing?
Homer: Oh yeah.. ehehehe... Get out.
.
back to the spiders... one time, while camping out in s. dakota, another dood from my tent happened to be cleaning up. he noticed the black widow (no, not Jeanette Lee), in my sleeping bag. apparently the little bugger just wanted to cuddle. so, after chasing it for a while, we caught it, and extinquished it.
I had seen a Nature program on spiders and they are amazingly adaptible. They can even live under water...well, swim. They create a bubble of air to breathe under water. Some even trap FISH.
Also, when they are tucked into there hole...they'll attach a "trip wire" to their leg that is attached to their main web...so even when asleep...they can be awakened when the "trip wire" gets pulled by prey trapped in their web.
When I was young I used to capture ants and water bugs and drop them onto webs just to watch the spider attack and wrap them up for future feasts...mooooohhahahhhaaaaa!
I usually don't kill spiders either... as long as they're minding their own business in an out of the way corner. I'd rather have them catching the other more undesirable bugs. I'll actually let the little jumping spiders crawl on my hand but am too freaked out by most of the others (well daddy longlegs are ok too).
Last good spider encounter I had was taking out the garbage a few weeks back. I had everything packed up and opened the garage side door and almost walked smack dab into his web. One of those big garden spiders had stretched a web across the whole doorway, and was sitting in the middle right about head height. Man I would've freaked out had I run into that. He was cool looking though, pretty big, his abdomen was probably the size of a dime or penny. I think he has some colors on his abodmen. His web was huge, covered up the whole upper half of the doorway, that classic spiral pattern.
I decided to let him stay and took my garbage out one of the car doors instead. He left a couple days later.
(Hmm....sounds remarkably like the human male! Yes? No? )
Just think. The black widow's mate is very small and risks his life every time he has sex. (hahaha - that would certainly add a dimension of 'lethal excitement' to ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill, arachnid procreation - or any other kind of procreation. ) heh
thats really cool. looks like a freak needs to try some benzedrine. all i've discovered about animals and the iLegals, is that my cat seems chill with the smokeage blown in her face. she didn't weave any cool webs though. but she did seem interested. maybe i'll get some spiders as pets, and do some "research". do tarantulas grow webs? or are they just like intimidation spiders, looking all badass?
Damn I wish I owned a digital camera. Reading through this thread last night, I suddenly remembered this spider I spotted on the fence a few days back. It's only about the size of my little finger nail but really impressive. Black with a pattern of pale yellow spots on its back and reddish brown spots on the under side. And it's got thorns protruding from all over it's back. Don't know whether it's trying to look like something else or just scary.
But get this. When I was out in the yard just now I've noticed that several of the main structural threads of its orb web are attached to the electrified wire at the top of the fence (no I don't live in Stalag 13 - it keeps the cows out).
I guess silk isn't a great conductor and I know spiders can "throw" web strands but I would have thought it would have had to go up onto the electric wire at some stage in the web spinning process.
Could it "feel" the current and know to avoid it? I can't believe it could survive touching it. It'll give a human a hefty jolt. I'm sure a spider would be fried.
Anyway, it's doing very well for itself in the food department. A veritable smorgasbord of spider delights trapped in there.
My mother was a country girl from South England. When she found a spider in the house, she scooped it up carefully and put it in the garden.
She quoted an old folk saying from those parts
"If you want to live and thrive,
Let a spider run alive"
Peace
eric j
Letting other critters live is generally a good practice. Even though I'm not a big fan of spiders, I always catch them in a cup and let them go in the garden, much to the chagrin of my friends, who appreciate bug squashing.
Just a couple of minutes ago I was lying on my floor, when I saw a black blur descending towards my face from the ceiling at a very, very high velocity. I had just enough time after rolling away and catching my breath to notice a little (much smaller than it previously appeared) spider scuttling away under my scarf. Poor thing must have been pretty scared (it gave me quite a chase around my room with a glass), although it DID try to pounce on my face...
Comments
Originally posted by Carol A
You definitely should name your spider.
Carol
Boris the spider...
get that song!
Originally posted by PURE
Boris the spider...
get that song!
He's creepy crawly.
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
That and the whole 8 eyes thing, that really gets to me.
Yeah, all those eyes.
I have those plug-in sonic insect repellants in the garage, and here and there around the house. Do you think they work? I think they have kept the crickets out of the garage, which in turn might keep spiders out. The spider I worry about is the brown recluse. I have so many boxes in my garage - perfect places for brown recluses.
I used to see the occasional fairly large beige spider around. They weren't hairy, or slick/shiny, but were rather smooth, soft-skinned looking. And they wouldn't dart around in a furtive, lightning-fast way, but would generally hang out on a wall somewhere. I actually saw one jump on a cricket one day.
Guess I haven't seen any beige spiders lately because the crickets don't come around anymore - thank god. I do have some really cool geckos (a mom, a dad, and a baby) that hang out by my porch light. I have the porch light on a timer, so the geckos know that every evening, at a guaranteed time, bugs will be attracted to that light. The baby geckos are *really* cute!
Originally posted by crazychester
I've got a resident 5 legged spider. Don't know what happened to it's other 3 legs (well actually, I haven't asked).
Unfortunately, the 3 it's lost are all on the same side. So it seems to spend a lot of time walking around in circles.
Poor thing! I wonder if a bird tried to pick him up as a snack, but just grabbed a few legs that broke loose in mid-air. You just have to know that your spider survived a traumatic event and lived to tell the tale.
Originally posted by Eugene
Maybe it's a male spider and it doesn't want to ask for directions.
The name really 'should' start with an 's', don't you think?
Originally posted by Eugene
It might just be me, bu spiders also seem to crawl toward us more often than other bugs.
I think that's probably true. And just think how inherently aggressive that is. I mean, if a human saw a creature standing there, a hundred thousand times bigger than himself, he'd be terrified and would run and hide. But the spider comes forward, on the offense. Really amazing when you think about it. (And *REALLY* scary!!! Yikes!!!)
Ewww, have you ever seen pictures from a Brown Recluse bite? <shudder>
My spider looks a lot like a female Common Garden Spider but they're supposed to die in the Autumn after only living about a year. This one showed up last fall after the house got infested by ladybug-looking beetles from the soybean harvest and is still going strong.
I've never thought about a name-maybe Lolth, after the Drow spider-goddess from D&D?
Jeff
Edit-Suggested name: Sidney.
Nah, too cutesy for anything that attacks its dinner with the ruthless aggression this lady (I think) does.
Originally posted by jeffyboy
Carol A-
Ewww, have you ever seen pictures from a Brown Recluse bite? <shudder>
My spider looks a lot like a female Common Garden Spider but they're supposed to die in the Autumn after only living about a year. This one showed up last fall after the house got infested by ladybug-looking beetles from the soybean harvest and is still going strong.
I've never thought about a name-maybe Lolth, after the Drow spider-goddess from D&D?
Jeff
Edit-Suggested name: Sidney.
Nah, too cutesy for anything that attacks its dinner with the ruthless aggression this lady (I think) does.
"Lolth" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, though, does it? She's much chunkier-bodied than I had envisioned. Urgh - those thick hairy front legs. Wonder why they are so differentiated from her other legs? Maybe she's a "prize fight" spider. Or maybe those beetles are SO slick that she needs extra gripping power. (eek!)
I'd chat more but I gotta hit the shower. Byeeee.
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
I hate you.
there's plenty more quotes from that ep to play with, here's a few:
Homer: WE HAVE A KITCHEN!?/!1
...
Otto: Yeah, I can still crash here, right?
Homer: Get out.
Otto: Remember when I dropped my keys and you thought the phone was ringing?
Homer: Oh yeah.. ehehehe... Get out.
.
back to the spiders... one time, while camping out in s. dakota, another dood from my tent happened to be cleaning up. he noticed the black widow (no, not Jeanette Lee), in my sleeping bag. apparently the little bugger just wanted to cuddle. so, after chasing it for a while, we caught it, and extinquished it.
Food, Sex, Power.
I had seen a Nature program on spiders and they are amazingly adaptible. They can even live under water...well, swim. They create a bubble of air to breathe under water. Some even trap FISH.
Also, when they are tucked into there hole...they'll attach a "trip wire" to their leg that is attached to their main web...so even when asleep...they can be awakened when the "trip wire" gets pulled by prey trapped in their web.
When I was young I used to capture ants and water bugs and drop them onto webs just to watch the spider attack and wrap them up for future feasts...mooooohhahahhhaaaaa!
Last good spider encounter I had was taking out the garbage a few weeks back. I had everything packed up and opened the garage side door and almost walked smack dab into his web. One of those big garden spiders had stretched a web across the whole doorway, and was sitting in the middle right about head height. Man I would've freaked out had I run into that. He was cool looking though, pretty big, his abdomen was probably the size of a dime or penny. I think he has some colors on his abodmen. His web was huge, covered up the whole upper half of the doorway, that classic spiral pattern.
I decided to let him stay and took my garbage out one of the car doors instead. He left a couple days later.
Originally posted by Artman @_@
What do spiders think about?
Food, Sex, Power.
(Hmm....sounds remarkably like the human male!
Just think. The black widow's mate is very small and risks his life every time he has sex. (hahaha - that would certainly add a dimension of 'lethal excitement' to ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill, arachnid procreation - or any other kind of procreation.
What do spiders think about when they're smoking the aforementioned doob?
Beware the Bennie-popping Spider! It be trippin!
But get this. When I was out in the yard just now I've noticed that several of the main structural threads of its orb web are attached to the electrified wire at the top of the fence (no I don't live in Stalag 13 - it keeps the cows out).
I guess silk isn't a great conductor and I know spiders can "throw" web strands but I would have thought it would have had to go up onto the electric wire at some stage in the web spinning process.
Could it "feel" the current and know to avoid it? I can't believe it could survive touching it. It'll give a human a hefty jolt. I'm sure a spider would be fried.
Anyway, it's doing very well for itself in the food department. A veritable smorgasbord of spider delights trapped in there.
My mother was a country girl from South England. When she found a spider in the house, she scooped it up carefully and put it in the garden.
She quoted an old folk saying from those parts
"If you want to live and thrive,
Let a spider run alive"
Peace
eric j
Originally posted by eric j
Hi,
My mother was a country girl from South England. When she found a spider in the house, she scooped it up carefully and put it in the garden.
She quoted an old folk saying from those parts
"If you want to live and thrive,
Let a spider run alive"
Peace
eric j
Letting other critters live is generally a good practice. Even though I'm not a big fan of spiders, I always catch them in a cup and let them go in the garden, much to the chagrin of my friends, who appreciate bug squashing.
Just a couple of minutes ago I was lying on my floor, when I saw a black blur descending towards my face from the ceiling at a very, very high velocity.
Originally posted by eric j
Hi,
My mother was a country girl from South England. When she found a spider in the house, she scooped it up carefully and put it in the garden.
She quoted an old folk saying from those parts
"If you want to live and thrive,
Let a spider run alive"
Peace
eric j
That brings up something I've thought about from time to time:
Would it be more humane to catch the spider and take it outside? It can obviously survive in here, but it won't get the chance to reproduce.
I guess since it presumably came in of it's own choice I'll keep it here.
J