I almost soiled myself !

[vtf]

Make note to self, take pics of:
Spiders and moon tonight

 

[Stormchase]

LOL at the stories, I hate spiders.

 

[alarionov]

Ewwwww! that would creep the heck out of me. My husband keeps tarantulas but little wild spiders freak me out.

Nice Shot.

 

[Stormchase]

Yes, any type of widow spider is poisonous though not to the extent that it can kill you usually unless you have a compromised immune system, are very old, or a small child, baby or similar sized animal. Not enough venom in one bite. Most adults it can make you feel very ill indeed but it won't kill you.

The tiny brown recluse spider is another story. One bite from one of those can ultimately lead to you losing a limb or even death, though that too is pretty rare these days. That happened to a member of my family when he was young and half of his arm went necrotic. He survived but he can't even look at a spider, even a harmless one, he's still so afraid.

They do have anti-venoms and antibiotics now for a lot of the more toxic souders that if you get to the hospital fairly quick they can give you to really minimize the effect of a spider bite, but I understand not for all. I was reading about the spiders in AUS a few weeks ago and apparently the venom from a small few of them actually could just kill you before you can get to a hospital if you happened to be bit in the outback or something.

I've only run into two spiders of the toxic variety, and I hope that's all I ever will. Neither of which got close enough to bite. One was in our fridge salad drawer. It piggybacked in on some new produce apparently. The other was out near our garage. Both black widows. The one in the fridge we just caught in a jar and put back outside. Ditto the one near the garage. We just caught it in a jar and moved it further away from human habitation out in the woods.

I saw no reason to kill them. They were just doing what spiders do, looking for food and/or trying to build a home and spiders are useful creatures, even the toxic ones so I like to leave them alone if I can. I can't have a toxic one near the house breeding though so if I see a widow or something it has to go back out to the nearest woods. Last thing I need around are dozens of them making even more of them, becoming a real threat to me and mine, and I surely would use chemicals to rid someplace of an infestation, but I do try to be fair if it's only one spider.

Spiders don't scare me too much really. I think they are kind of neat actually. That's not to say I appreciate one in my bed, but I can deal with them, most of the time....

Actually the two spiders I met, they didn't freak me nearly as much as the nest of copperheads they found practically right by the front door when I was a kid. As a general rule snakes don't bother me either, but the idea that a whole big pack of young kids were playing in that yard every day for probably months with those things, that's REALLY scary for me to think about even now.

Spiders most of the time you can just walk away.

But poisonous snakes can be aggressive and they move really fast besides.

I agree with ya. I give respect to every living being. Everything does good for life. Copperheads are nasty too! Lots of rattle snakes are agresive but still they will not hunt you down they need provoked first.

EEEK! I've had the same thing happen with me, but with brown recluses. I don't know much about Black Widows.

Great photo, too!

They are real nasty. I knew someone that has half of his calf (leg not cow) from a bite.

One night before going to bed I went to go have a pee before going to bed right after I had been out to shut the big gates on our property and as I was mid full stream (sorry a little graphic) I happened to notice a big black spider on my shirt.

Squealed like a little girl and spent the next 5 minutes cleaning the floor and walls almost to the ceiling, lmao..

LOL thats funny! that would be me. I cant believe i didnt drop my camera!

You can HEAR spiders?! My god, I freak out if a ladybug gets in the house. Excuse my archnoignorance, but are widows (black, brown) dangerous?

I could NOT live anywhere with big creepy-crawlies... Or lizards and gators.

Well not the spiders but the webs they make are very strong. Small (for the most part ) and strong. With black widows if you run a stick through the web they make a distinctive crackeling sound. This was one strand across the door and yup... it poped!

Like magkelly pointed out they are not as bad as others in the US but still make your day no so fresh anymore. If you get bit in your hand it will turn it into the size of a grapefruit. AND its a nurotoxin so its all about the pain.

Some brown recluses in our area, black widows not as much but wolf spiders are everywhere, when my kids were small we found one in their room with the leg span of 5 inches. I believe it was old and dying since it didnt move quickly so we took it outside. I've seen some beautiful garden spiders and their webs too.
Nice capture.

Wolf spiders are not poison ( i dont think) but they make up for it in intimidation with there looks. They always look like they want to kick you butt lol.

wow amazing shot, what camera and lens did u use?

Thank you! I used the Tamron 90mm macro 1:1 DI with a flashlight held to the side of the lens hood (like a tactical pistol)
With a touch of adrenaline!

Great work Storm, keep up the nightime strolls, the story is lots of fun. :mrgreen:


I can picture the spider dance, great picture in my head.

:lmao::lmao: always fun after the fact lol ..thx

First of all great shot and great detail. Second, that is not a brown widow. It is an Orb Weaver. More specifically, it is the Genus Eriphora and most likely species Eriphora Ravilla. Pretty much a harmless spider and if he did bite you it would probably be like bee sting with a welt that lasts a little bit longer.


Regarding Brown Widows, I'm no entemologist, but to my knowledge Brown Widows are smooth backed, not hairy, and they usually have some type of patterned markings on their back. Also, even if it was a brown widow, they are very mild and considered much less dangerous as they want to flee rather than bite. Still fairly toxic, but less dangerous overall. No real reason to be scared of a spider like the one above....or even if it was a brown widow. Be scared of the ones that you can't see and give respect to...those are the ones you will tick off without realizing they are even there.

That was my second choice for what it was. The markings match a widow i saw on a spider id chart. There were 6 dark dots on its back. Same on this one. The abdomen looked more like a widow but the body seemed to big. The legs are banded like a brown widow and orb didnt have the bands on the legs. most of all HAIR. Tho FSU claimed they have seen some with hair I have never seen a widow that was not shiny!! also the fang ( i thought about this morning ) Widows you cant see. They are much smaller. So you might be right on this one. I wish I could have seen the bottom to know for sure. Thanks for the insight!!


I have said that saying for a long time and it goes in a lot of sinerios. "Its not the cop you see that you have to worry about. Its the ones you cant see that give you the tickets.." lol "Its not the bullets you hear that scare you, its that one you will never hear vthat will kill you" (off of the movie Platoon i believe)
ANYWAYS i have enjoyed the responces everyone.. I still love to hear the stories! Enjoyable~!

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

I HATE spiders. Arachnophobia runs in my family. But it is a nice photo.

 

[Stormchase]

thanks

 

[mommy22]

Aaaaagh!!! I lived in Florida for a quick stint as a child and was always horrified by the sheer size of the insects. That being said-you take some mean macros.

 

[Kofman13]

What camera do you use though lol

 

[Stormchase]

just a rebel xs with a 90mm macro

 

[Vautrin]

creeepy... (but good picture) :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

[McMommy]

/BARF


WHY DID I SCROLL DOWN????


:lmao:

 

[Phranquey]

Ahh I must have looked like pee wee hearman on meth for about 10 seconds. So I ran in the patio and somewhere along the way my shirt was already off and Im checking my whole body for spiders! lol like 10 min before I calmed down!

Thank you for that image, because I would be doing the exact same thing.

I don't mind spiders, as long as I know they're there. When they surprise me like that, it's a whole different story....

 

[Stormchase]

lol
Just to add I confirmed it is NOT a brown widow. I saw it hanging out my window tonight so Im going with the Orb.

 

[P3 Photography]

I like the pic, but I don't like the goose bumps I now have after reading this thread!!