Spider so big, I shot it

[jframe]

Saw a spider nestled up to the carport today that HAD to be at least two inches in diameter, with a body about as big as a dime or nickel. Swept him out, then pulled the Mafia treatment on him with the two inch Model 34 loaded with shotshells. I treat them like I treat snakes; they can have the yard, when they hit the concrete they might as well have been breaking in the house. Have no idea what kind it was, but I've never seen a spider that big in North Alabama in the 42 years I've grown up and lived here.

 

[rimfired]

Gettin cold at night "up-Nawth" here and I've killed three wolf spideys and a few unknowns this week. They're sneakin in to get warm, all well fed big squishers.

 

[moosedog]

I'd rather chase a man with gun down a dark alley than have a spider on me.

 

[LVSteve]

Pictures or it did not happen. I thought those were the rules? I always photograph the extra large or unusual bugs before they get the Raid treatment.

 

[timjake]

Try the banana spiders on Okinawa, they grow 6 - 8 inches across (and scare the hell out of most if us! even though they are not dangerous...)

 

[Rintimtin]

I don't like spiders so much. I walk through spider webs all the time when at work, and everytime I swear they are crawling all over me.

The other day I walked through a web I could not see, when I got through I looked down at the back of my hand and this big fat spider was sizing me up for a meal. I brushed him off and we went our seperate ways. Buahhh

 

[KKECK5]

Friend of mine was a USMC tunnel rat in Vietnam back in 1966-67. Being kinda on the small size they'd hand him a .45 and a flash light, tie a rope around him, and send him down to see what's what down there. Said he saw a lot of things during his 2 tours, the worse being one day while he was going around a turn, he came upon a spider whose body was the size of a big man's fist. Said he unloaded his gun on it and started screaming to high heaven. His squad thought he was being killed, and hauled him up as fast as they could. Said he couldn't hear right for the next week and a half. He never talks about anything else that happen there, but he does enjoy telling that story.

 

[sipowicz]

Sounds like a Galapagos reef spider. Very rarely seen in the US. Their venom sac is quite potent but is used in Chinese medicine to cure a host of ailments. Captured alive, they can fetch around $25,000.

 

[jframe]

Sounds like a Galapagos reef spider. Very rarely seen in the US. Their venom sac is quite potent but is used in Chinese medicine to cure a host of ailments. Captured alive, they can fetch around $25,000.

Just my luck. Leave it to me to put a dozen holes into the ONE THING that stood between me being completely debt free.

 

[bgrafsr]

Now this is a spider, well actually two. They are "Camel Spiders". Troops in Afghanistan encounter them.

 

[rwsmith]

Wolf Spiders

Wolf Spiders just LOVE to come into my house, especially when they are covered with spiderlings. I hate to croak them but they are so fast and the spiderlings go all over the place if you try to catch them with a tissue. They can get pretty big. The best way to catch them is put a cup over them if you are fast enough and slide a card underneath the cup. I'm not a spider hugger, but I want them to stay outside.

 

[CatSnipah]

I'd rather chase a man with gun down a dark alley than have a spider on me.

Quoted for truth.

 

[SgtLumpy]

This time of year in Arizona, the black widows will put up a web on your tires while you're parked overnight. Long parked things like boats and RVs become spider resorts.

When I kill scorpions (several every night via UV light and long hemostat) I drop them into the nearest Widow Web. She makes a quick meal of them.


Sgt Lumpy

 

[Stevens]

Try the banana spiders on Okinawa, they grow 6 - 8 inches across (and scare the hell out of most if us! even though they are not dangerous...)

We have plenty of Banana Spiders here in So. Louisiana they are big and if you walk into one of their webs they seem to be made of fishing monofilament.
Here's a couple of my favorite spider shots, the first is a Banana Spider on his web up next to my shed. The other I don't know the variety but he's chowing down on a good sized dragonfly on my screen porch. I believe he caught the dragonfly without a web.
Steve W

 

[GF]

" ... pulled the Mafia treatment on him with the two inch Model 34 loaded with shotshells..."

Ida' done the same thing ... & screamed like a little girl as I shot behind me while running away.



GF

 

[35Rem]

No talk of barking spiders? I hate those things...

 

[Fishslayer]

The best way to catch them is put a cup over them if you are fast enough and slide a card underneath the cup. I'm not a spider hugger, but I want them to stay outside.

^^^ This. Wolfies outside get left alone. Indoors we try to get them outside unharmed.

Sometimes, though...

 

[UncaGrunny]

Now this is a spider, well actually two. They are "Camel Spiders". Troops in Afghanistan encounter them.

Thanks for the nightmare. How many of them does it take to eat a camel?

 

[shouldazagged]

Looks like one camel spider was being pursued closely by the other one, and stopped very suddenly. That couldn't have been pleasant for either of them.

 

[MarkL_01]

Not a spider story, but puts me in mind of when I was a kid and thought I could hit anything with my little Winchester .22 single shot. My aunt was not nearly as impressed as I thought she should have been when I shot a fly on her porch column.