I know some here at SF don’t like spiders, but the family likes our local 8 legged critters. I was playing with my new iPhone XS and was impressed at the quality of photos. Unfortunately, Postimage quality falls somewhat short of the originals on the phone.

Jumping spiders are our favorite (they never bite, have a lot of personality, and keep the fly population down) but we have some others around.

Here is a Daring Jumping Spider on the back porch- pic is flipped upside down from original.




And having a fly snack



This is another jumper, same place.



These are between the deck boards- I believe they are Black Lace Weavers- ambush predators. They’re like mini trap door spiders, minus the door. This one is holding onto a much larger carpenter ant, soon to be dragged down.



Here’s a quick vid of another taking a free meal.

https://vimeo.com/339325572

Enjoy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gearhounds,

Sooooo time to burn everything to the ground and rebuild, huh.

quote:

Originally posted by cslinger:
Sooooo time to burn everything to the ground and rebuild, huh.

For the most part I enjoy spiders as well, aside from the Brown Recluse infestation I had about 5 years ago. That was a little scary, and really sucked.

Thank you for these pictures! The jumping spiders are my favorite as well, they really do have personality. I wish I could somehow coax more of them into the area around my house, they would actually be welcome.

Nice pics!

I enjoy having spiders around.

Jumping spiders are indeed chock-full of personality.

I remember trying to take a picture of one a while back with a regular camera in macro mode. Got really close, focused in and then he'd disappear and then reappear right where he was. Repeatedly. Finally figured out he saw his reflection in the lens and was jumping at it, bouncing off, and getting back to his favorite spot.

Kind of like Tiggr:

quote:

Their tops are made out of rubber
Their bottoms are made out of springs!
They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy
Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!

We've had for the last few years wolf spiders. Last night I crushed one. Look down, Damn it, it's a momma spider, what seemed like 200 mini spiders went all directions. Run to shed, no bug spray mixed. Ran back splashed some concentraed directly in swarm of mini spiders ran and grabbed water bottle and splashed in over the area. This chases papa out, and he's a big mf-er. Runs into the corner and I stabbed him with a stick.

I don't care if they are beneficial, they can do that shit in the woods, my front step is mine, for only me, not sharing it with any hairy eight legged ugly bug.

If I lived next door to you I would move. Your family is a bunch of weirdos.

^^^^
Try to refrain from killing the jumpers; they are super intelligent formidable hunters and love the kinds of bugs you probably don’t. Flys much of the time, but other spiders are high on their list. Including wolf, recluse, and other scrambling terrestrial spiders. They seem smart enough to know that humans are too big to bite pose no threat when held my kids handle them all the time.

quote:

Thank you for these pictures! The jumping spiders are my favorite as well, they really do have personality. I wish I could somehow coax more of them into the area around my house, they would actually be welcome.

If you have any spiders around the house, you have jumpers; they are one of the worlds most prolific spiders but are very secretive. They don’t move the same way other terrestrial spiders do, so they’re easy to miss. And they hunt other spiders.

“I don't care if they are beneficial, they can do that shit in the woods, my front step is mine, for only me, not sharing it with any hairy eight legged ugly bug.”

This one is just for you, Skins It was out in the road the other evening.

Mrs. vinnybass holding a tarantula found on the road to the cabin.

^^^
Pretty awesome pic- looks like a male. When I was in high school the bio teacher had a mated pair. The female would let you hold her, and moved relatively slowly. The male was extremely quick and had a habit of running suddenly and beating feet.

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
“I don't care if they are beneficial, they can do that shit in the woods, my front step is mine, for only me, not sharing it with any hairy eight legged ugly bug.”

This one is just for you, Skins It was out in the road the other evening.

Here's what it might have looked like, after the Spider Removal Brigade arrived....

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
I remember trying to take a picture of one a while back with a regular camera in macro mode.

Ha! Same thing happened to me when using a 50mm f4.0 macro whose lens was set far back in the housing. Just as I got the spider in 1:1 focus, it jumped at the lens: Startled me it did and tested my own reflexes. Then I couldn’t find the spider until I looked inside the front of the lens housing and there it was.

Fantastic little critters.

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:

quote:

Thank you for these pictures! The jumping spiders are my favorite as well, they really do have personality. I wish I could somehow coax more of them into the area around my house, they would actually be welcome.

If you have any spiders around the house, you have jumpers; they are one of the worlds most prolific spiders but are very secretive. They don’t move the same way other terrestrial spiders do, so they’re easy to miss. And they hunt other spiders.

Oh yes! I have them for sure, and I've always enjoyed playing with them. I just also have thousands of recluses whose presence I do not enjoy.

I don't know what it was after, but a couple of weeks ago a little jumper, about the size of a nickel, lowered itself from a ceiling beam at least 12 feet high and landed on my shoulder. That would be like a man rappelling down the side of the Empire State Building.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
I don't know what it was after, but a couple of weeks ago a little jumper, about the size of a nickel, lowered itself from a ceiling beam at least 12 feet high and landed on my shoulder. That would be like a man rappelling down the side of the Empire State Building.

Very cool- I watched a nature special where a Portia jumping spider did the same thing to get to ambush an orb weaving spider. Jumpers are smart enough to plan a route and you were likely part of it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ERuJiSt8pF4

My son found this one on the hot tub cover today

This is for Skins2881, since he's such a fan of wolf spiders.

I’m a fan of the jumpers too.