Just minding my business when.....

araneae · #21

Nice photos. Looks like a wolf spider, family Lycosidae. The large pair of eyes (two eyes out of eight total are large and prominent) is a characteristic. You can see them reflecting in the photo. They are largely harmless. We get them here in the house usually at the onset of winter.

cosmo7809 · #22

historicalman wrote:as much as i love spydercos, real spiders terrify me!

I'm such a wimp.

+1!

SonnyD · #23

Those are FANTASTIC pics!!! Great job. I knew it, even real Spydies,
are attracted to our Spydies!!
Regards Sonny

Reeper22 · #24

Dr. Snubnose wrote:Well I don't care what kinda spyder that is!!!...If It were my pic...you'd see a dead spyder (considering its size) squished onto my Spyderco knife...I'm not kidding!!!....So you are a better man than me....I have a general rule about insects of all type...If you stay outside, where you are posed to be...I'll let you alone to live in your environment undisturbed...but you cross my threshold into my domocile..you will feel my wrath...and probably not leave alive,,,nuff said...LOL....Doc :D

+1. If it were me his *** would be grass. I'm not going to look it up on wikipedia to see if it's venomous.

defenestrate · #25

Agreed that it looks like a variety of Wolf spider.

chuck buck · #26

def just a wolf spider. will bite but wont harm ya. brown recluse is smaller, not hairy lookin and more rust colored in my experience. nice pics!

Sithus1966 · #27

Caught on of those at work once, and we have employees that would "scream like a little girl" if one got on them.

Why is it the bites of the tiny ones will make your flesh fall off, but the big ones don't?

dbcad · #28

Those pictures are classic!! A spider on a Spyderco at Spyderco :D

Charlie

Donut · #29

Nice work!

Jazz · #30

Nice pics but.... completely disgusting! :eek: I really hate spiders. I don't care who laughs, but I even have a hard time killing them - what if they jump on me or crawl up my leg while I'm trying to do them in? That's sick, but thanks for sharing... and for the goosebumps.

- best wishes, Jazz.

butterknife · #31

Sithus1966 wrote:Why is it the bites of the tiny ones will make your flesh fall off, but the big ones don't?

The big ones usually hunt and catch their prey the good old way God intended: brute strength and sharp skills. The little ones don't have the ability to catch stuff, so they trap it, bite it and wait for it to die. Then the feast begins.

It's definitely a wolf spider of some sort. They live up north too, for all you girly grown men. :D

Water Bug · #32

First, it is NOT a brown recluse.

Second, it is, as some have suggested, more closely related to wolf spiders.

Third, I should know... I'm a professional... I'm an entomologist. :)

Outstanding pictures! I'd say that critter certainly earned his freedom back into the great outdoors. Oh, yeah, nice :spyder: as well.

Thanks for sharing these!

Water Bug · #33

In answer to the question of why it's the tiny spiders packing really bad venoms...

Not all spiders pack venoms considered harmful to humans. With the exception of three types of spiders in the US, the bites of most are considered relatively harmless. In fact, tiny to small spiders often lack the strength to penetrate human skin with their fangs.

All true spiders in the US carry venom to subdue their prey (i.e., small insects) and dissolve their insides so that the spider can suck out the juices. When these spiders bite a person, the bite either goes unnoticed except for a welt on the skin, or, in the case of bigger spiders, can hurt. People are unlikely to suffer significant issues from these bites unless they have an allergic reaction to the bite or the wound gets infected. For larger adult spiders, they may deliver a "dry" bite (i.e., no venom injected) when they want to "make a point" (i.e., "Leave me the **** alone!"), but don't want to waste any venom.

Spiders such as the black widow, brown recluse, and aggressive house spider (i.e., the hobo spider, which is an import) pack potent venoms that can cause issues for humans. The black widow has a neurotoxin while the brown recluse and aggressive house spider carry venoms that can destroy tissue.

The Sydney funnel web spider (Australia) isn't necessarily a small spider (considered to be medium to large in size), and it packs a neurotoxin that can be potentially fatal to humans.

Pharmagator · #34

here in Florida, I caught and released 2 of those critters (large wolf spiders) in the last 2 days...

My wife refuses to deal with them, and she won't let me just squish them...

I have to get down on their level and catch them in a 'pill bottle' I keep just for said purpose...

when they crawl over my hand during the 'capture' process... I have been known to scream...

marriage... a fine institution for those who should be institutionalized...

gbelleh · #35

I used to have pretty bad arachnophobia due to some bad childhood experiences, but I'm pretty much over it now. In my last house, the basement was crawling with those big wolf spiders. That might have helped me get over it. Big ones can still startle me, but the irrational part of it can now be controlled. I do have regular pest control in my current house. Of course, Spyders are always welcome in my home.

Jazz · #36

butterknife wrote: They live up north too, for all you girly grown men. :D

Whachootalkin''boutWillis?

- best wishes, Jazz.