Okay....let's talk about big ass jumping spiders!

[snowy ciara]

Re: Confession Time

Anyway, they are rather friendly as spiders go, and like to snuggle up at night. In fact, that's the only time I've met one - nearly scared the willies out of me!

Not poisonous, they live off moths and other nocturnal insects. They're hunters, not web layers.

A little guff about the Avondale Spider

While I'm rather happy they're not poisionous, but if I ever go to Australia, I'm going when it's warm so no leggy things will want to snuggle with me..

 

[Technodivinitas]

Spiders. Ick.

My hubby has been bitten TWICE this summer which resulted in large rashes and a course of antibiotics each time (the doctor said they looked like bites from a brown recluse).

*shudder*

From what I've read, recluses are nearly extinct, and extremely regional, even so. Are you in the Pacific NW somewhere, by chance? If so, then more likely he got hobo-bit. (Those Tagrensus Aggressus I mentioned in an earlier post.) They're cousins to the recluse, I believe, and the bites are quite a bit similar.

Friend of mine had one get into her covers one night, and when she crawled into bed, it bit her five times along the shin. Left whelts that looked like she had marbles under her skin, and two years later, she still has the scars.

And FU? I was thinking maybe your Avondales might bear some resemblance/relation to our local T.Gigantus, but DAMN! I just went and had a look for those, (having never seen the film,) and, for the benefit of anyone else who hasn't...
http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biodiversity/invertebratesprog/spiders/images/Delena_cancerides_250.jpg

I'm convinced. You win. Tha's a BIGGUN! (Still pretty snuggly in my book though...)

 

[FungiUg]

Re: Re: Confession Time

While I'm rather happy they're not poisionous, but if I ever go to Australia, I'm going when it's warm so no leggy things will want to snuggle with me..

Well, New Zealand and Australia are quite separate countries. There's this little thing called the "Tasman Sea" that separates them! And the biosphere is quite disimilar.

Australia, for example, has the red back and the white tailed spiders. Nasty vicious things! Plus poisonous snakes, marsupials, lots of desert, lots of gum trees.

New Zealand is mostly birds (the largest native mammal is a fruit bat), no snakes at all, only one poisonous spider (which is very rare), and loads of sheep (40 million of the suckers!)

Australia is quite a bit warmer than New Zealand, admittedly.

 

[Technodivinitas]

Correcting myself...

The class is Tegenaria, not Tagrensus, and the species are agrestis, Domesticus, & Gigantus. I like to be precise when I babble useless info.

 

[FungiUg]

From the info I read, this is a variant of a Huntsman.

 

[Technodivinitas]

Seems to be so- the scientific name of the pic I posted is Delena cancerides. Aren't they the sort that in some rain forests hunt birds?

 

[Technodivinitas]

Familiar monster...

These are the giant guys that live around here, and if one were to "smash it with a shoe" or other similar heavy object, it'd leave some serious bug-gore on the wall! (They get up to about 4" long.)
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20031019/living/127953-68296.jpg

More recently, (as in, just a few minutes ago,) I was out on the porch having a smoke and came across this amazing little silver spider I'd never seen before. I can hardly even describe it- it's body was long, almost like a Harvester, but it's thorax was short and diamond-shaped, it was overall silver, like a silverfish- very metalic looking- and it kept rather long, extra-slim legs together in pairs as if it used them as tools. No webs, and seemed to be out hunting. Lovely thing! Hope it's not poisonous...

 

[shy slave]

Re: Familiar monster...

These are the giant guys that live around here, and if one were to "smash it with a shoe" or other similar heavy object, it'd leave some serious bug-gore on the wall! (They get up to about 4" long.)
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20031019/living/127953-68296.jpg

More recently, (as in, just a few minutes ago,) I was out on the porch having a smoke and came across this amazing little silver spider I'd never seen before. I can hardly even describe it- it's body was long, almost like a Harvester, but it's thorax was short and diamond-shaped, it was overall silver, like a silverfish- very metalic looking- and it kept rather long, extra-slim legs together in pairs as if it used them as tools. No webs, and seemed to be out hunting. Lovely thing! Hope it's not poisonous...

These spider pics are worse than some of the ones you see on the worst porn sites. I feel sick

 

[lorddragonwolf]

just make sure its dead and that its not a brown recluse.

 

[Technodivinitas]

Couple things- B.R.s are rare, even in the regions they inhabit, which is pretty much exclusively the deep south US. I'm Pacific NW, and although there are fairly frequent reports of BR bites, they're almost always Hobo bites in fact. (Very similar, almost as bad.) The Wife just showed me a little cysted knot on her thigh that she said was from a bite almost a year ago- perfectly matched hobo-bite descrips. I assume it was from a small spider, or was only a very quick bite.

As for making sure they're dead- after reading up on those Avondales, I was surprised to hear that NZ'ers often encourage the critters to dwel inside, as they're harmless, and also kill much worse critters. I think they sound neat! Want one! Gimmegimmegimme!

 

[FungiUg]

Well, we only have one poisonous spider in NZ - the Katipo.

Some guff about the Katipo

They are nasty wee blighters with a big orange stripe down the back, and they like to hang out at beaches. They are related to the Australian redback, and the Black Widow.

Apparently Katipo bites, although painful, are unlikely to be fatal.

Sadly (for the Katipo), humans love coastline and tend to rearrange it (introduce grasses, animals and so on.) So the Katipo is on the decline, and one of the Katipo variants (the "red Katipo) is endangered.

Sooo... unless the spider has a big red stripe down the back and you're at the beach, you're pretty safe with NZ spiders. Hence we tend to treat spiders fairly kindly.

 

[snowy ciara]

Re: Re: Re: Confession Time

Well, New Zealand and Australia are quite separate countries. There's this little thing called the "Tasman Sea" that separates them! And the biosphere is quite disimilar.

Thanks for the geography lesson.. I actually knew that, just forgot which country you're in! Gotta remember.. Kiwi fruit come from New Zealand..

 

[FungiUg]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Confession Time

Gotta remember.. Kiwi fruit come from New Zealand.

Actually, Kiwi fruit come from China, originally. (The "chinese gooseberry".)

Confusing a New Zealander with an Australian is kinda like confusing a Canadian with an American. Of course, only Kiwis and Aussies can tell each other apart...

 

[snowy ciara]

Confusing a New Zealander with an Australian is kinda like confusing a Canadian with an American.

Eh? (I can say that, I'm Canadian!)

 

[redelicious]

From what I've read, recluses are nearly extinct, and extremely regional, even so. Are you in the Pacific NW somewhere, by chance? If so, then more likely he got hobo-bit. (Those Tagrensus Aggressus I mentioned in an earlier post.) They're cousins to the recluse, I believe, and the bites are quite a bit similar.

South Carolina, so I guess it's possible. The bites were nasty, whatever it was.

 

[MissTaken]

They're Back!

One popped onto my cheek tonight!


AWERGGEREGG!

I am going to get pest control foggers tomorrow, but how am I supposed to sleep tonight.

The reincarnated little monster was hiding in my bedroom!

 

[FungiUg]

Lucky!

 

[MissTaken]

Lucky!

YOU say!

 

[D's mariposa]

Couple things- B.R.s are rare, even in the regions they inhabit, which is pretty much exclusively the deep south US. I'm Pacific NW, and although there are fairly frequent reports of BR bites, they're almost always Hobo bites in fact. (Very similar, almost as bad.) The Wife just showed me a little cysted knot on her thigh that she said was from a bite almost a year ago- perfectly matched hobo-bite descrips. I assume it was from a small spider, or was only a very quick bite.

Actually, brown recluses have two near relatives in my area; the Loxosceles arizonica and L. deserta. I know from harsh experience.. Lets just say, a year later, I'm missing parts of two toes, have a lovely burn lookin scarthat covers two more toes and the top of my foot, and know ALL the signs of blood poisoning and cellilitus...

Oh, and we've made the guys at Terminex very very rich. The one that got me was actually in the house; they figure he came in on D's clothes (he works in the Coronado National forest) or he came in with some things that I had inherited from my grandpa that had been in storage for a few years.

More yucky spider info

 

[DVS]

These lovely critters infest my garage. And, I see them in the house, from time to time. They are smart and fast. Nothin' like the spiders in Australia, but don't want to get bitten by these.

Usually (there are exceptions) the spiders with hair are less poisonous than the ones that don't have hair. See, mother nature gave spiders hair to look visious, because that's all they have. But, if they don't look mean and hairy, they could be mean and nasty.

I don't know if it's true, but I've heard the grandaddy long legs is suppose to be one of the worst spider bites, but their mouth is too small to bite humans. Urban legend?

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/expltx/jrnat/images/bugs/recluse.jpg



Oh, and chiggers...nasty buggars. Skeeters, too. Anything that bites seems to like me. Just overly sweet, I guess. This is about southern areas and the critters in these here parts. I'm not in Texas, but these things have legs, and they do tend to migrate. We have our share of them up in the mid-west, too. Damn Texans...keep your bugs to yourself!
click at your own risk, subbies

 

[DVS]

Re: Familiar monster...

More recently, (as in, just a few minutes ago,) I was out on the porch having a smoke and came across this amazing little silver spider I'd never seen before. I can hardly even describe it- it's body was long, almost like a Harvester, but it's thorax was short and diamond-shaped, it was overall silver, like a silverfish- very metalic looking- and it kept rather long, extra-slim legs together in pairs as if it used them as tools. No webs, and seemed to be out hunting. Lovely thing! Hope it's not poisonous...

Some scared subbie probably tried to kill it, and only had silver spray paint on hand. Then, the spider got away, while she was looking for a shoe for step #2 in the 3 step killing process.

 

[Technodivinitas]

These lovely critters infest my garage. And, I see them in the house, from time to time. They are smart and fast. Nothin' like the spiders in Australia, but don't want to get bitten by these.

Usually (there are exceptions) the spiders with hair are less poisonous than the ones that don't have hair. See, mother nature gave spiders hair to look visious, because that's all they have. But, if they don't look mean and hairy, they could be mean and nasty.

I don't know if it's true, but I've heard the grandaddy long legs is suppose to be one of the worst spider bites, but their mouth is too small to bite humans. Urban legend?

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/expltx/jrnat/images/bugs/recluse.jpg

That concept that non-furry spiders are more poisonous- I find that one hard to buy, just because there are so many kinds of spiders in the world, hairy, spiny, smooth, and just plain other. I always assume that if it's a spider, it can bite, and that such a bite is likely to be at least as unplesant as a nettle or a bee-sting, so if I don't know it really well, I just don't let it touch my skin if possible.

As for the daddy-longlegs thing- first off, there are half a dozen bugs at least that are refered to by that nickname, and only like two are actually even spiders. Second, if it can't bite, how can it's non-bite be so horrible? That just seems fictional to me all-around.

 

[graceanne]

ROFLMAO *gasp* The kids and my hubby are sleaping, but I'm sure I woke them up. Especially that bit about them coming back up the drain. I had this mental picture of someone taking shower and watching a spider climb up the drains and just about DIED laughing.
I just want to say, move to Oregon or Washington if you don't like bugs, or extreme weather. We only have two poisonous spiders, and they're both shy. (They don't snuggle up to you at night.) There are no poisonous snakes north of the siskyou mountains. Only garter snakes, and their so cute! You can only get a tick if you go in the woods, and even that's rare. I have never seen a spider larger than a garden spider, and they stay outside. (That's where there food is.) Other than that, the ones I see inside are about the size of a head of a pin, and THEY DO NOT JUMP. It gets better. It rarely drops below freezing here, and it only gets above 80 for about one month of the year. The biggest draw back is that it rains a lot. BUT every climate you could possibly want is at most 3 hours away. The coast, the mountains, the desert, the rivers. I LOVE THIS STATE!!!

 

[Kajira Callista]

Re: Re: Familiar monster...

Some scared subbie probably tried to kill it, and only had silver spray paint on hand. Then, the spider got away, while she was looking for a shoe for step #2 in the 3 step killing process.

thats why you have to use hair spray....it sticks them in one spot 'till you get the blunt instrument to kill it

 

[MissTaken]

Gee thanks everyone!

I came looking for comfort and now I am moving out of my house!




(not really)