Hairy 8 legged beast.

Garbz · Apr 20, 2007

Just make sure there's someone knowledgeable about them around and ask two questions. Is it dangerous? and most importantly, does it jump?

I didn't know they purr either. That's cool!

AdamZx3 · Apr 21, 2007

Yea those darn jumping one freak me out, the ones we have in ohio are about the size of an eraser head and jump in the blink of an eye.

The ones that freak me out are the wolf spiders....very very plentifull in the country houses...check this out

The biggest i've seen in our basement was about 2.5 -3" with legs....I let out a gasp and ran away haha. they normaly are half that size. The bad part is my room is in the basement...I can graduate soon enough lol.

We also have some of the infamous brown recluse spiders in the area but I've never seen one, my sister in OK, said they have lots out there....they scary part is if a bite is left untreated the poisin will literly melt your flesh away over several days...yuck.

Garbz · Apr 21, 2007

There's nothing quite like getting home after a long day at uni and finding a massive spider on the wall of your bedroom. Fortunately never had the above thing come anywhere near me. The worst we normally get in the house are Huntsman http://taos-telecommunity.org/EPOW/...iles/P1030113 huntsman spider Sparassidae.jpg (not my photo). I've been bitten by accident by one of these things. It hurts. But that doesn't mean people can't take creative spider photos (Russian site NSFW) http://otvali.ru/photos/devushka_i_pauk_glamurno:17065.html

AdamZx3 · Apr 22, 2007

LOL that would be the day I would let a spider crawl all over me like that....eww, very cool photos though.

wow those huntsman spiders are huge, I didnt realize you where in aulstralia untill i googled the spider lol, 15cm /5.9" legs.....ahhhh. I would carry a very large fly swatter...or shovel

I found a pic of the little jumping buggers we have here:

Garbz · Apr 22, 2007

hahah that's so cute! We have jumping spiders too but they look much more like spiders. They are also tiny. Huntsmans are huge but generally harmless. Most critically though they eat redback spiders, and cockroaches so we generally just let them live as a form of bug control.

AdamZx3 · Apr 22, 2007

I have my first spider pic

I saw this little guy outside the house and I thought its a start, even at 135mm at 13 inches I was nervous...though not a tarantula with a 50mm lens by far haha.

Had to crank the iso to get a 1/200 shutter and it was still abit blurry.
Its a jumping variety, with legs about an 1/8" or 3mm

Garbz · Apr 23, 2007

If you can't find a macro spider you'll probably want a macro lens

They aren't poisonous are they? Ours aren't.

250Gimp · Apr 23, 2007

Very nice/creepy pics!!

AdamZx3 · Apr 23, 2007

Nope not poisonous...at least I hope not

heres a better pic of it (not mine).. called Salticus scenicus, aka zebra spiders or jumping spiders

The only ones I know of around here are black widows and brown recluse down in southern ohio, both are deadly but the brown recluse will take days to eat away your flesh (a google will have you going eeew lol) and the black widow

yuck, all very creepy and its giving me the sivers (literely lol) I am buying a macro exstention tube set....wont catch me that close to any of those though....18" is just fine with me haha.

Garbz · Apr 24, 2007

I've heard of the black widow. Sounds and looks a lot like our redback spiders. They are only dangerous since they hide in places you don't expect them. Back in our old place our pool had a border with an overhang. Ever 2-3 days we'd run under the border with a mirror and spray the redbacks we'd find in case they get washed in while we are swimming. New place doesn't have them because of the huntsmans.

Augphoto · Apr 26, 2007

Very awesome pics!

gizmo2071 · Apr 27, 2007

Garbz said:
http://otvali.ru/photos/devushka_i_pauk_glamurno:17065.html

I wonder if Ben Heys (aka Sifu) knows his work is being posted on there.

Cool pics tho

I love spiders personally, just don't know anybody that owns one

Nix · Apr 27, 2007

gizmo2071 said:
I wonder if Ben Heys (aka Sifu) knows his work is being posted on there.

Cool pics tho
I love spiders personally, just don't know anybody that owns one

she has an odd shaped rump... or maybe its just how her body is?

LongDucDong · Apr 27, 2007

Guys, guys, guys... ALLLLL spiders are venomous (not poisonous), even the cute jumping variety, thats how they subdue their prey. Tarantulas are not dangerous, although their bites can hurt a bit. Overall theyre quite docile and actually make really neat pets. Mine used to sit on my lap for HOURS while I watched TV, didnt move an inch. They get such a horrible reputation, and its sad to see that. Take some time to learn about them and youll be intrigued. Heck, just a few years ago I was the worlds biggest arachnophobe. Now I keep lots of tarantulas, scorpions, giant centipedes (see my thead in the Darkside gallery titled "the REAL darkside"), etc. I even spend several weeks a year in Missouri and Arizona hunting tarantulas, etc. Theyre really neat critters, take the time to understand them. Plus some of them are absolutely some of the most colorful and beautiful creatures on earth! Trust me when I say that.