Spider so big, I shot it

[chud333]

I'm like Moosedog,
I'd rather charge a machinegun pit with a single shot .22
than have a spider on me bigger than a dime.
Now snakes don't bother me, but spiders.......Ughhh

Chuck

 

[Erich]

This cutie in the backyard yesterday was about 2" across - nothing to worry about in any way, of course, but I thought Charlotte was worth a picture.

 

[Stevens]

How bout this monster Swamp Banana Spider, he spins his web across an opening in the tree tops and lives off of ducks, owls, and such. On special occasions he'll swoop down and grab a deer.
Steve W

 

[Dcompton]

The camel spiders only eat part of the camel. They are much like a vampire bat in that they have anesthetic venom. They get on sleeping camels, bite them and then that area has a general anesthesia. The the spider feeds on that area. Marines sleeping in holes and dugouts got to meet these guys quite often. The M9 is the preferred extermination tool.

 

[fat tom]

On special occasions he'll swoop down and grab a deer.
Steve W

Uh,you're kidding,right?
f.t.

 

[CScott]

When we first owned our house there was a crummy greenhouse attached that was infested with black widows. It was hard to get at them through those sticky webs. Not all, but quite a few, were popped with my S&W Mod 78G pellet gun. Eventually I had to resort to chemical warfare.
Scott

 

[Last of the Mohicans]

This cutie in the backyard yesterday was about 2" across - nothing to worry about in any way, of course, but I thought Charlotte was worth a picture.

An orb weaver.

 

[wundudnee]

This one wasn't home for the picture, but I though he had a novel home.

 

[35Rem]

Cute little fella...

 

[the ringo kid]

When we first owned our house there was a crummy greenhouse attached that was infested with black widows. It was hard to get at them through those sticky webs. Not all, but quite a few, were popped with my S&W Mod 78G pellet gun. Eventually I had to resort to chemical warfare.
Scott

Id have just toasted that greenhouse then build another on its ashes instead of dealing with Black Widows. I had one get on my arm once and when I was at work holding onto an AR-15. I damned near had a heart attack when the thing crawled into my shirt through the right sleeve. I stacked the rifle slowly, then ripped off my shirt as fast as possible. I got it off and saw the damned thing crawl our of the collar. Needless to say, it made a fatal error when it advanced on my position. I then put shirt back on and resumed carrying my rifle-to the distant laughing of a few others I worked with who wouldnt let me live it down for a number of months.

 

[the ringo kid]

Cute little fella...

Lost a leg in the photo-cropping process eh?

 

[therevjay]

Dead spiders are GOOD spiders!

 

[LVSteve]

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

Second critter is a Carolina Wolf Spider and it is eating either an Eastern or a Great Pondhawk.

 

[LVSteve]

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

Famous clever perspective photo. We have the smaller cousins here in the SW. Order Solifugae - Windscorpions - BugGuide.Net They are about the most bad tempered critter I have ever met. They are ugly, designed by committee and very angry about it.

 

[Erich]

Nah, for the most part, I love my opposing counsel. Our respective offices have a great relationship.

 

[the ringo kid]

Dead spiders are GOOD spiders!

To put it as a saying in many old Westerns replacing the word: Indian with Spider: "The Only Good Spider, Is a Dead Spider." However, I dont subscribe to that philosophy. I allow a few fly spiders to live in my home and they seem to do a good job so--I leave them alone.

 

[ohiojerry]

One thing I have forever thankful for is that spiders don't fly.

 

[shouldazagged]

One thing I have forever thankful for is that spiders don't fly.

So far. There's probably a crazed entomologist somewhere trying to breed one that can catch flies in midair.

 

[Kinman]

I'm still kicking myself for stomping on a spider out of reaction. I had just walked out the kitchen door at the lake cabin up in Southern B.C., there was a small hallway where the door to the basement was then the backdoor. I closed the door behind me and turned around and saw movement on the floor, there was the biggest jumping type spider I had ever seen, had to be the size of a nickle easy, muscular and squat, with orange and black striped fuzz all over him. I didn't even think and stomped on him with my bare foot, just a gut reaction thing. Even smashed he was a good sized critter, I checked him out and he did have eight legs and good sized palps and fangs. I asked my neighbor if he had ever seen one since he was a lifelong resident of the area, he said he had heard of a spider that looked like that and they were called "cow killers"....I've looked through every book and never seen anything that looked like that one. I've been bitten by spiders twice that required treatment, cellulitis is the biggest threat, other than that I just leave them alone as long as they are not in the house. You gotta remember to shake your clothes out if they have been hanging around the outside for very long, thats how I got one of my bites...they figured it was either a hobo or brown recluse.

 

[shouldazagged]

You gotta remember to shake your clothes out if they have been hanging around the outside for very long, thats how I got one of my bites...they figured it was either a hobo or brown recluse.

Shake out your boots, too. A friend of mine didn't, and there was a brown recluse in one. It was touch and go whether he would lose the foot, and he was in the hospital for quite a while.