Afghan mega-spider bit dog to death

[UnOrthOdOx]

A recent contract of mine was rehabilitating and/or demolishing some govt facilities.

Spiders were par for the course.

Was bitten by a wolf spider, and several Black Widows over the course of that job.

The wolf bite seriously sucked.

But, one location stand out for it's 20 Black widows, 10 wolf spiders, and half a dozen unidentified inhabitants living next to the nest of rattlesnakes.


I'll see if I can dig up my old pics of some of those.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Black widow...

I kept this one as a 'pet', actually. All the others got cleared out, but this one stayed right in it's little corner as I watched it fatten up...feeding it the other spiders...

[Lancer]

Erm, yeah UnO. Good idea.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Don't know what this one was.

Probably just a funnel web, but I haven't seen the particular markings on any pages, and I'm too lazy/don't care enough to send it to What'sthatbug.

[Lancer]

See, if you were Cambodian you could have fed yourself, wife and munchkin for a week.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Yeah, the snake nest would have been good eatin'. I don't think these spiders quite have enough meat on em to make meals of, though.

Crappier camera, pic of the same spider as the first one there, in the classic Black Widow pose.

[UnOrthOdOx]

4' tall black widow nest, with egg sack, and my pet canibalizing another black widow.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Unknown. HUGE spider. Bad camera, no web, possibly brown/recluse spider. Too fast to feed to my pet.

[Lancer]

I had a job last year tearing out an old shed. I killed spiders, maybe 30. There were rat holes in the ground under the floor which I tore up and spiders living in those too. No fun, don't usually like to do spider jobs but I said I'd do it so...

[Alinestra Covelia]

I much rather go after spiders than after rats. Spiders all die with one good stomping. Some rats won't die even after that.

I've never had a rat in any place I've lived, but I have had mice.

And any mice I catch alive usually end up wishing I hadn't.

[Lancer]

Well I guess you're faster than I am AC. Ahem.

Happily the rat holes were empty except for fleeing spiders. I assume the rats heard a monster tearing the guts out of their shed and took off.

[Jon Miller]

My appartment breeds huge spiders. How do you tell if it is a brown recluse? I have gotten rid of 2-3 (mostly put them outside), but there is still a giant one in my room. I was going to go after it but it hid behind my computer and my room is too messy for it to be worth while.

(I don't mine spiders as long as their leg to leg length is less than the distance between the tip of my pointer figure and the first join)

JM

[Lancer]

If you keep the place not messy then the spiders won't like it so much.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
My appartment breeds huge spiders. How do you tell if it is a brown recluse? I have gotten rid of 2-3 (mostly put them outside), but there is still a giant one in my room. I was going to go after it but it hid behind my computer and my room is too messy for it to be worth while.

(I don't mine spiders as long as their leg to leg length is less than the distance between the tip of my pointer figure and the first join)

JM

Only 6 eyes, no coloration on abdomen or hind legs.

But, "The Violin" is the most traditional form of identification.

http://www.brownreclusespider.org/brown-recluse-spider-identification.htm

[Seedle]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Unknown. HUGE spider. Bad camera, no web, possibly brown/recluse spider. Too fast to feed to my pet.

It is hard to tell for sure because of the poor focus, but I think that is the same kind of spider that hangs out in my parent's pool in the spring. And they do get big. So big, in fact, that even though my family normally (and justifiably) makes fun of my proneness to getting grossed out, nobody will go after them but me. (My hatred over-powers my fear. Get out the 10/12 foot net, get'em on the concrete, use something flat and heavy to end it.)