Spiders are awesome

[trias_e]

Ever since a Brown Recluse took a chunk of flesh out of me I show no quarter to spiders. Period. It has also turned me into one hell of an arachnaphobe.

Kicking harmless spiders out just leaves room for dangerous ones to move in IMO.

[Trippy]

Spider missing on space station

[Engels]

hitched a ride back to the mothership, it seems.

[stu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_N3xCQapEg

[NowhereMan]

So now I'm curious what the many theories are regarding the insect world turning on man. I get this picture in my head of a couple of guys wearing lab coats and smoking weed in a room going, "Oh man, what if like, sea otters turned on man!" and then scribbling down some bizarre notes and sets of stick man figures. Then they publish them in an academic journal called something like The American Journal of Zoological Warfare and this crazy woman reads their latest article 'A Case for making dogs a naval force'.

[IainC]

Spider missing on space station

Yeah, someone should tell NASA that if you put two spiders in one box, you will have either one fat spider or two dead ones before very long.

[Fordel]

Spider missing on space station

Yeah, someone should tell NASA that if you put two spiders in one box, you will have either one fat spider or two dead ones before very long.

Well MOST of the time.

[apocrypha]

Jesus christ.



Jesus fucking christ. That belongs in the awesome pics thread for sure 

[Draegan]

Oh look, nightmares from last night are in this thread.   

[Sky]

Are those spider webs or something like tent caterpillars?

[apocrypha]

It's from Fordel's link, it's a giant spider community in Texas.

[Engels]

It's from Fordel's link, it's a giant spider community in Texas.

They have communities organizers as well? Spider Queen 2012 here we come!

[Lantyssa]

Well MOST of the time.

It was as if a million buzzes cried out and then were suddenly silenced.

Go spiders!

[Engels]

Video

[TheWalrus]

Fuck that. I'll need flamethrowers. With lots of spare tanks.

[Merusk]

Apparently, from the vid, that sprung-up overnight.  That makes it even creepier.  However, if your first reaction is to look around for the GIANT spider that spun that web instead of thinking that somehow hundreds of spiders had spun it, you've probably watched too many horror movies.

[Riggswolfe]

Apparently, from the vid, that sprung-up overnight.  That makes it even creepier.  However, if your first reaction is to look around for the GIANT spider that spun that web instead of thinking that somehow hundreds of spiders had spun it, you've probably watched too many horror movies.

What worries me is those spiders that spun that web normally eat each other. But now they're cooperating.

On a semi-serious note, I have a small open spot on my old brown recluse bite spot that's opened. Do you guys think it's just a coincidence? It's been over a year since the bite, but I've heard rumors that the venom can reactivate.

[Engels]

No, its probably just now that the eggs are getting ready to hatch is all. nothing to worry about.

[Sky]

Watch out, a Predator might show up to hunt it.

[stu]

Maybe you're growing a vagina.

[Lantyssa]

As always, especially with a board full of smart-asses, it is best to consult with a medical professional.

My money is on new spawn eating Riggs from the inside out.  I'll make a side bet on him being tagged by a Predator.

[Sky]

Hm. Riggs, predators....better call in Danny Glover.

[Riggswolfe]

In a round about way the name Riggs came from Lethal Weapon. The wolfe part is connected as well. See, I was in college making a character for the old Star Wars roleplaying game. As usual I got stuck on the name and was thinking while staring off into space. I asked my room mate what a good name was. He was watching Lethal Weapon and right as I asked was the moment when Danny Glover yells "Riggs!" as Mel Gibson takes off running down the street to catch the bad guys.

I took it as a sign.

[Tale]

The scariest spiders by far are the Northern Australian funnel webs, they are really fucking agressive I saw an awareness broadcast about not having enough antivenom when I was living in Oz the doctor was teasing one with a stick and the spider snapped the end off it with it's fangs. Hmm wonder if I can find it...nope but here's a nice closeup sweet dreams motherfuckers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkzlINZsXu8

Why worry about the Northern Funnel Web? It lives in less populated areas, so doesn't get to kill people.

The Sydney Funnel Web, which is roughly same as the Northern, is what you want to worry about. As the name suggests, they live right here in suburban Sydney. We had a backyard swimming pool where I grew up and it became routine to walk around the pool before swimming, to check for Funnel Webs in air pockets on the bottom.

They were uncommon to find, but easy to deal with - their responses were slow from being in the cold water, so I just scooped them out with a net and smashed them with a shoe.

But the best story was when my great-aunt came to visit from Scotland and a Funnel Web crawled into her room (only one I've ever seen indoors). My mum's technique for killing spiders was to drop a large book on them. So when she said "I'll just go get the cookery book", my great-aunt thought we were going to eat it.

[Hindenburg]

As always, especially with a board full of smart-asses, it is best to consult with a medical professional.

Think Nebu is a doctor, hence pix plz.

[Fordel]

Fuck that. I'll need flamethrowers. With lots of spare tanks.

Kill it with fire! was pretty much my reaction when I first read about it.

[Bandit]

Effects of various drugs on the wood spider (watch till end)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhTjifulPB8

[Kitsune]

Here's one I ran across while visiting Pennsylvania.  I have no clue what it is, other than big.



And in case I was unclear about the big part, I got a close-up.

[Yegolev]

Pennsylvania sucks.

[Cyrrex]

Seriously, it isn't possible to look at some of these spider pics and not come to the conclusion that there is an evil force at work in this universe.

[angry.bob]

Kitsune, you should send those pictures to What's That Bug.com and see if they can identify it. I've started to see them here and there in Ohio too, never having seen them here before. Since they're not widows and probably not a recluse they shouldn't be medically significant - but I'm curious as to what they are. I almost submitted myself, but thought it would be rude of me to send them your pictures.

[Kitsune]

Okay, I sent out the pictures, we'll see what they say.

[MrHat]

Okay, I sent out the pictures, we'll see what they say.

If this comes back as unidentified, we have problems.

That shit looks straight out of scifi.

[Riggswolfe]

As always, especially with a board full of smart-asses, it is best to consult with a medical professional.

My money is on new spawn eating Riggs from the inside out.  I'll make a side bet on him being tagged by a Predator.

Well, it's mostly passed now. Basically some skin came off and it's rehealed. An EMT friend of mine said it's probably the staph poking me a little since it can stay in your system for a long time.

[Ingmar]

Kitsune:

That's a male orb weaver of some kind (the females are the ones with the big round abdomens.)

Internets example: http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/image/68061658

I suspect that's a female of the same kind that you took a picture of? My spider-fu is not all that strong.