Spiders

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Are those all your own pics? thats very cool - im inspired to start myself

Yep; spiders are one of my favorite subjects. The top two sets were taking with my newer Canon S3IS, which I actually need to learn how to use better. The latter ones were taking with my old Nikon Coolpix 990, which was a great camera for years but eventually died. Lemme dig up a few more pics...

Mama Cellar Spider


(Like garden spiders, these are scary looking but harmless.)

Spring Brood of Garden Spiders

(Aren't they cute!)

Out of the Darkness I Come for Thee

(This is the same spider pictured previously by the ruler.)

My All Time Favorite Spider Pic


(I actually have no idea what kind of spidy that is; taken in the Tampa Bay area in FL; some sort of orb weaver.)

Enjoy.

- Icarus & Friends

I really really don't care for spiders, but for whatever reason where we live we get all these big hairy looking ones all around. I'll have to see if I can find one and take some pictures of it and then someone can tell me what they are. Although I don't care for the spider, I do really like looking at the webs!

Fantastic shots there!

Are those eggs? I bet she felt good after ejecting that lot

Icarus, those are beautiful pictures. I also like the lamp in the first two. Is it yours? Anyway, I love spiders. I recently got a new poster called "Arachnids of the World."

To you two, and any anybody else who might like the photos... Thank you; I enjoy sharing them with you.


As best as I can tell, yes, they are. I've seen cellar spiders with very swollen abdomens, almost transparent, seeminly chock full of eggs. You may be right (about her feeling better)...


Yep; my lamp in my kitchen. Nothing terribly fancy, just something I picked up at Fred Meyer's. My autistic son is, um, rough on stuff around the house; the original shade was destroyed; my wife picked up that black one off of Craigslist.

But, as a general reply back to the Spiders thread... Holy freaking crap!! ! I've claimed, several times, that those large scary looking garden spiders are harmless. My understanding is that their bite is "mildly uncomfortable". I've handled these spiders numerous times; they've had many a chance to bite me, and never have so far. Very large ones, the largest I can find... I pick them up and play with them; very gently of course; but still... Anyway, I was just thinking about how to prove to people that these spooky looking garden spiders are relatively harmless... Remember the large girl I mentioned as being in my den at the start of my babblings here? Well, I just went up to my den, gently plucked her from her web... and... get ready for this...

I put her in my mouth. Just for several seconds, and then let her creep out. I did it twice. And then put her back on her web. I swear I am not making this up. She did not bite me; I didn't think she would. And, I have to say, the taste of the spider in my mouth (open and non-confining, tongue tucked at the bottom of my mouth) was very interesting. She tasted not unlike the smell of decaying wood; both times. It was a fascinating experiment. I'll be happy to repeat it again for anyone in my area.

My dilemma is very strange. Most normal people have no fear of humans, but are afraid of spiders. I have no fear of spiders, but am afraid of humans. Go figure.

Good fortune,

- Icraus knows what a garden spider tastes like...

I'm very scared of spiders (I get a total freeze up on). I tried to convince myself I was not when I was younger but no matter what I think or reason, I cant not be afraid of them. It 'bugs' me because it is so unreasoned.

I do love the link though, totally fascinating on a number of levels; thanks so much for sharing that with us!

Last edited by pandd on 01 Oct 2007, 6:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

Your photos are beautiful - thankyou for sharing them!

I like spiders (although I do have a bit of a problem with what you call cellar spiders - I think it's the tiny body and long legs), and I'd never hurt one - the worst that happens to them in my house is that they get picked up with a glass and paper and put outdoors. I'm impressed that you put one in your mouth - you realy are comfortable with them, aren't you?

I don't think I could hold one like the garden spider, though. I don't mind the spider at all, but I hate the sensation when they start to web on me, which they invariably do (which is fair enough - they feel unsafe, and they're just trying to anchor themselves). One type of spider I will handle quite happily, though, is those little Zebra jumping spiders - they're amazing! They're very intelligent, with phenomenal eyesight; if you get close to one it will turn its head and look back at you. I had one on my hand once when a 'plane flew over, and I saw the spider turn its head and follow the 'plane across the sky - now that's ambition! It hopped quite happily from one of my hands to the other several times until it got bored and jumped off onto the grass.

I love spiders and when cleaning my apartment occasionally even leave their webs intact provided they are inconspicuous. Yesterday a really big spider walked into the kitchen while I was having lunch, and I tried to feed it a bit of roast beef, but it wasn't interested. I guess they like their food alive and struggling.

Cool picks. Yep I'm pretty new to this, have lots to learn. I'll try to find out what type of spider the Tampa Bay one is.

About the garden spiders. How do you pick one up without destroying the web? My one hardly moves during the day.

I tried web plucking but I guess their eyesight is pretty good and I'm too obvious anyway.

Icheb: Must be a French spider

Spiders frighten me. I don't like them very much.

It is Gasteracantha cancriformis Crab-like Spider

Here are some others in the Gasteracantha Genus

Gasteracantha arcuata Horned Spider


Gasteracantha fornicata Spiny Spider


Gasteracantha quadrispinosa Four Spiked Spider


This is closely related Austracantha minax Jewel Spider

I encourage them to move off of the web. This isn't 100% consistent, but they almost always exhibit certain escape behaviors when threatened. With a minor threat disturbance, the spider will usually retreat to a previously determined escape spot, which will be at the end of one of the primary web anchors. If a spider is seriously threatened, it will just leap off of the web with an anchor line trailing. If you threaten the spider again once it has reached it's safe spot, it will also usually just leap with an anchor line trailing.

To gently "threaten" a spider sitting in the middle of its web, I may give it a gentle tap on the abdomen, or just a stiff but brief puff of air from my mouth. To threaten the spider again and get it to jump once it reaches its safe spot, I usually use a couple of gentle taps/poke with my finger. [This assumes that the "safe spot" offers no real protection; many of the spiders around here will just retreat to a wall or branch or something, but still be totally exposed. But sometimes there's actually a crack or hole or something for the spider to hide in; in that case, I consider them to have gotten away, and leave them alone; but that happens infrequently.]

Once the spider has jumped, I usually try to grab the anchor line, and reel it around my hand by rotating my wrist. The spider will typically lower itself a dozen feet or so, then give up and climb back up the anchor line. Upon finding my hand there rather than the expected safe spot, the spider will almost always immediately jump again, but still be anchored. I'll usually either gently lower the spider onto my other hand, or let it get tired of jumping away from the hand holding the anchor line.

Now, once the spider is on my hands, which are no doubt strange and unnerving to it, it will usually then go through a "mad dash" escape phase, where it just runs like freaking hell in any direction trying to get off of my hands. I'll often drop the spider several times during this period, as it's hard to keep my hands ahead of a spider madly dashing in random directions. When the spider escapes by dropping off of my hands, I will have moved to some area of open floor or ground, from which it is rather easy to just pick the spider up (which is also what I do if its initial leap from its web or safe spot ends up with it on the floor/ground, which happens sometimes).

The easiest way I've found to pick up a spider on the open floor/ground is the two-handed cup technique, where I cup my hands over the spider and gently close the bottom, encouraging the spider to climb up into my cupped hands. I more "advanced" technique I've come to favour as my fear of these little creatures has faded (I was rather nervous the first time I tried handling one of them) is just to grab them with one hand; this is a more versatile technique, as they don't need to be on an open flat surface. To do this, I simply place the tips of my fingers around the spider like a little cage; the spider will typically climb up them (if you do it right they have nowhere else to go), at which point I gently close my fingers and have the spider cupped in one hand. I usually let the spider out of this catch by moving my thumb to create just a bit of an opening. This is how I first came to appreciate how strong these little creatures are; they will pull quite hard to squeeze through that little opening and get out.

After maybe a minute or a couple of the "mad dash" escape phase, the spider will typically calm down (maybe it get's tired?), and go into a more cautious "slow creep" phase. THIS, finally, is when they become rewarding to hold, for they will cautiously creep around your hands, and you can get a really good look at them, and enjoy their features and articulations; I call this entire process "taming" the spider. In the pic of me holding the spider earlier in the thread, I'd gone through all of this before the spider finally calmed down enough to get a good picture (none of the pics taken when the spider was dashing around came out).

Once the spider is tamed, I typically spend a few minutes marveling at it. The tamed spider will sometimes still try to lower itself on an anchor line (very slowly now), which is a great opportunity to get a good look at the underside of the spider. To put the spider back, I'll let the spider creep up to the tip of my index finger, which I will place at either its safe spot, or maybe back in the middle of its web. I've gone through this process, placed the spider back at its safe spot, and found it sitting back in the middle of its web five minutes later several times.

Garden spiders are especially good for handling like this as they are very tough and resilient and solidly built; I've also handled cellar spiders, only a few times, because I'm always afraid of damaging them; they are much more delicately built than the garden spider; I'd never try to pick up a cellar spider with one hand over fear of accidentally crushing it.


I've grown to be, with some work on my part; I was terrified of these very scary looking spiders as a child; and I was very nervous the first few times I've tried handling them, despite the fact that I'd read they rarely bite, and when they do it is harmless (a bee sting is suppose to be much worse). But I've done it so many times now, given them so many chances to bite me (short of crushing one against my skin, which is actually how most spider bites actually occur) that my fear of them is almost entirely gone. That little stunt last night was partly to convince myself of that.

Now... If I could just find a way to adapt this technique to social anxiety...

Good fortune,

- Icarus the spider tamer

Last edited by Icarus_Falling on 01 Oct 2007, 5:00 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Those are beautiful! Thanks for the info.

Good fortune,

- Icarus enjoys learning

I am sooo creeped out by spiders, but I love watching documentaries on them and nature shows. I have one of those jewel spiders as a key chain, it's encased in some sort of clear plastic that glows in the dark.

Here ya go.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc[/youtube]
Though what they refer to as a "wood spider" is really a garden spider.

Good fortune,

- Icarus loves nature shows...