Spider appreciation thread

[PinkFloyd]

I normally don't like spiders but this little guy (not so little!) made a web on the outside of one of my windows and it's been fascinating watching him at work..... over the past couple of months he's gone from pretty small to quite a fat well fed spider..... he's constantly repairing his web and eating flies and other insects.

The window will not be washed until this little guy has finished his business... here are a few pics I took of him on Saturday.... he goes by the name of Septimus (he appeared in September and sounds a cool name for him)

 

[Usagi]

 

[PsychoZX]

Sorry couldn't resist.

 

[fewtch]

He's a mean looking one... quite ugly.

P.S. someone needs to start an "appreciation appreciation thread." Isn't it nice to be able to appreciate all these fine fauna?

 

[setmenu]

That He is a She, Araneus-diadematus.

My own favorites are jumping spiders spiders such as the Zebra spider.
These amazing spiders stalk their prey and when within range pounce on it like a cat .
They move incredibly fast and have amazing binocular eyesight.
[check the huge eyes in the pic]
Whilst the eyes appear to be fixed they are not, the internal components move to
enable accurate range finding!


.

 

[KYTGuy]

Ya beat me to it, setmenu...

Here in The Great NorthWest, we have the Hobo Spider...and the Brown Recluse, both pretty poisonous.

 

[muckshot]

Awesome thread... My roomate and I decided not to kill any spiders we found in our appt because we both liked them quite a bit. That was nice for a while, but after a few months I could easily count about 5-7 VISIBLE spiders in each room. Well, we then decided it would be better to not have so many and we began throwing them outside whenever we found them. That took care of the indoor spider population, though I did spare one that lives in my light, he/she's got style so it can hang out with me

I had a friend a few years back that was in love with this black beetle that lived in his basement carpet. When it died he was visibly upset...

 

[Bleed]

heres my Rose Hair Tarantula. I have her for almost 5 years now. the good thing about spiders is, they can go for months without eating. I handle her every once in a while, pretty docile.

Im thinking of getting a Mexican Redknee next

 

[Edwood]

My wife really really hates spiders.

I don't mind them at all. We have a lot of them around us, they do a great job at catching insects, namely flies and termites (those pesky swarmers).

-Ed

 

[The Monkey]

I like spiders...in theory.

In practice, they give me the willies.

 

[wakeride74]

"Spiders is good... they eats the cockroaches"

 

[The Monkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wakeride74 "Spiders is good... they eats the cockroaches"

Yes, exactly why I can tolerate them. Good god do I hate roaches.

 

[ken36]

Pink,

I'm on your side. Those suckers never get discouraged. You knock down the web and they start building again. Persistence and determination. If only we could all do this. We would be wealthy beyond imagination.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken36 Pink, I'm on your side. Those suckers never get discouraged. You knock down the web and they start building again. Persistence and determination. If only we could all do this. We would be wealthy beyond imagination.

Thing is... when do they disappear? It's been on the window for a couple of months and I don't want to kill it or move it, surely it won't be there forever?

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkFloyd Thing is... when do they disappear? It's been on the window for a couple of months and I don't want to kill it or move it, surely it won't be there forever?

Surefire way to find out if there is still a spider there, get an insect of some kind (a small one), and put it on the web so it get's stuck. If you find the insect all cacooned up the next day or so, you still have a spider living there. If no insect, or it's still there untouched, then clean up the web.

As long as you don't use a vacuum cleaner when cleaning webs, you probably won't kill the spider, it will just move on and rebuild a web elsewhere. Just wipe up the web slowly, it will get plenty of warning and run away.

-Ed