Well, some of those heads are downright frightening.
One of the cat food bowls was accidentally left outside overnight and when I came out in the morning to get it, I found this little lady stuck at the bottom. She caught my eye not because of her size, which was decent (approx 1.25" long), but because the swarm of baby spiders she was carrying on her abdomen.
As far as I can tell, this is a female wolf spider, although she's on the smaller size. I'm pretty sure that is the only spider that carries it's young around. If anyone can make a closer guess as to the genus, I'd appreciate it if you'd drop me a note and let me know. I've sent her pictures in to What's That Bug, so hopefully they'll have an answer for me. I'm usually pretty good with being able to ID the bugs I find, but spiders stump me.
Until then, female wolf spider it is.
These are the little SOBs that immediately after moving here, had me standing on our coffee table screaming at 10pm while they raided our fridge for beer and chip dip.... I swear to you, they show no fear of humans. Couldn't care less.
I blew up the photos of her babies just to maximize the heebie jeebies. Now, imagine stepping on her and having tiny little spiders run every direction.
Mister Man ran into one that was much bigger than this about a year ago - I'm stealing this picture from his Facebook page
You can see that this one has babies on it's back also. He took this photo on July 27, 2011, so this time of year must be breeding season for them.
Anyhoo, just thought I'd share the joys of nature out here. I try to pretend like I hate it, but I'm the first one to shove a damn camera in it's face. :D
Still trying to figure out what that beetle I found is. Soon as I do....
'til next time... ♥
As far as I can tell, this is a female wolf spider, although she's on the smaller size. I'm pretty sure that is the only spider that carries it's young around. If anyone can make a closer guess as to the genus, I'd appreciate it if you'd drop me a note and let me know. I've sent her pictures in to What's That Bug, so hopefully they'll have an answer for me. I'm usually pretty good with being able to ID the bugs I find, but spiders stump me.
Until then, female wolf spider it is.
These are the little SOBs that immediately after moving here, had me standing on our coffee table screaming at 10pm while they raided our fridge for beer and chip dip.... I swear to you, they show no fear of humans. Couldn't care less.
I blew up the photos of her babies just to maximize the heebie jeebies. Now, imagine stepping on her and having tiny little spiders run every direction.
Mister Man ran into one that was much bigger than this about a year ago - I'm stealing this picture from his Facebook page
You can see that this one has babies on it's back also. He took this photo on July 27, 2011, so this time of year must be breeding season for them.
Anyhoo, just thought I'd share the joys of nature out here. I try to pretend like I hate it, but I'm the first one to shove a damn camera in it's face. :D
Still trying to figure out what that beetle I found is. Soon as I do....
'til next time... ♥
I'm such a nature lover, but spiders just do me in and this one gave me huge shivers down my spine. I appreciate her motherhood and all the loveliness of such, but I sure wouldn't want to cross paths with her.
ReplyDeleteThe whole motherhood aspect of it is sort of sweet... Like I said before, I'm pretty sure these are the only spiders that carry their young, and that alone makes them pretty fascinating. But, Sara...you don't want to flip on the living room light during a late night insomnia attack and see one of these guys kicking it on your couch, finishing off the last of your Wheat Thins and getting ready to delete the latest episode of Justified off your DVR. Trust me. You just....don't.
Delete;D
Ummm, a big F-THAT to those spiders!! I would freak the f*ck out for sure. All for nature, but I'd throw that bowl in the neighbor's yard. Good God, I hate spiders, and with a freaking trunk load of babies?!?! GAH!! I'm going to have nightmares now.
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Terrible, isn't it? And this one is small! The ones that were cruising across my living floor after we moved in were twice her size at least! I felt bad though, it rained horribly later that day, and I forgot to take her out...so she kinda drowned. I'm a total jerk. I felt really bad about it.
DeleteOH MY Goodness - amazing. Gonna share this with my boys in the morning...they will love it!
ReplyDeletefee x
Boys! I need more of them around here to do some stomping for me!!! My poor husband has his hands full! :D
ReplyDeleteOh man, that sucks!! Kinda feel bad too. Must of been the big ass load she was carrying! An anecdote of motherhood?? Nature is cruel.... and so is my sense of humor...bahahhahaha. Off to cry now...
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