It’s been a wet spring here in Boulder, CO. Lots of rain, lots of bugs wanting to come inside out of the rain, and doors and windows that don’t seal very well.
First of all, you should know that I love spiders. I would never kill one, and I usually let them stay in the house. I’ve practically made pets out of the jumping (sometimes called “wolf”) spiders. If a spider is really large, obviously belongs outside (the crab kind, the green kind, and the fast-moving garden kind), or is in imminent danger from Musette, I’ll put it in my special bug box and take it outdoors. No big deal. But there are spiders, and then there are freakish spiders from Mars.
I was ready to take a shower. Pulled back the shower curtain, looked down. WTF? Spiders really shouldn’t have a red head and legs, huge mandibles, and a putty-colored body. They shouldn’t be an inch long, and most of that body. (shudder)
Put clothes back on preparatory to catching spider (shudder) and taking outside. Clothes on, I go back to shower. Spider is gone. OMGWTFBBQ?!! Lift feet carefully, and resist the urge to fling self backwards out of the bathroom. Push the shower curtain to the other side. Spider either drops out of it or was hiding beneath. (shudder) Put spider in box — luckily it wasn’t a jumper — and take it outside.
Today I looked it up. It’s a woodlouse spider, found worldwide, and in this neck of the woods it probably eats primarily pill bugs (roly polies). Here’s a pic. The legs were much redder in real life. I mean, the color of paprika. And because I am nothing if not thorough, here’s a vid (not mine).
Tags: spiders
June 3, 2009 at 7:05 pm |
I did not click the picture. I did not watch the vid. I HATE SPIDERS EEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEW!!!!!!!!11!
Love snakes, though. I’d cuddle a snake any day, but keep the spiders away! I stomp, hiss, a cuss at them. Yick.
You’re like my dad. He thinks spiders are fascinating.
June 3, 2009 at 7:09 pm |
ESRI, WHAT DID YOU DO?!!
I posted that reply, walked into my bathroom, and saw the BIGGEST FREAKIN’ SPIDER on the bottom of my bathtub. That was NOT FUNNY, young lady. You’re making me use my caps!!!
I turned on the water and flushed him down the train. TAKE THAT, SPIDER-LOVER.
*shudder* I don’t even like watching the Spiderman movies.
June 4, 2009 at 8:00 am |
It wasn’t me, I swear!
You know, they can survive under water a surprising amount of time. I’m just sayin’.
June 5, 2009 at 8:01 pm |
I did NOT want to know that. I deny all knowledge of the words I have just read.
(I danced with one again on Thursday morning, so it might have been the same one.)
June 4, 2009 at 8:49 am |
Veronica (now in El Paso) used half a can of Raid on a black widow yesterday, then kept it under a jar just in case. Sure enough, by bedtime, it was up and about again.
There are spiders everywhere here. The bug guy called them “cellar spiders.” Yesterday morning I had one crawling on my foot while I saw on the couch, drinking coffee. And yes, I had to spend the next 20 minutes scrubbing up the spilled coffee.
The week we moved in, one was in the car, and bit my big toe while I was driving. I couldn’t do a damn thing about it, as I was in traffic, but had to let it continue to crawl across my foot.
Still makes my skin crawl. You can keep your giant red ones.
June 4, 2009 at 12:51 pm |
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhuh… (major shudder)
Didn’t know Kansas had big spiders. We used to call them House Mothers in Florida. I have no idea why. How’s the bite look?
June 4, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Just a normal, itchy bite. Not a brown recluse bite, thank goodness.
June 4, 2009 at 3:01 pm |
Good god. I hope you sent it packing toward the alley, not toward your neighbor.
June 4, 2009 at 3:35 pm |
Um…
June 4, 2009 at 5:22 pm |
I have read that large numbers of spiders will congregate where there are Ley lines that are out of alignment.. I used to get some HUGE ones in my apt. I lived next to a nature preserve that was kind of buggy, so they had lots to eat. Some were 3″s in diameter. The only ones that can be bad are the ones with cytotoxic bites.
February 25, 2010 at 3:39 am |
Before reading your blog and responses, I would have said I didn’t dislike spiders, but now ugh! Having moved to Spain from UK (where spiders are generally pretty harmless and innocuous) I have yet to meet Spanish variety!!