extra day, extra pic

[piranha]

i think i posted the second picture some time ago, but anyway, many of you won't have seen it then. i had found this mystery cocoon, diameter of about a quarter, made from some papery material that felt sorta like mulberry paper.

carefully unpeeled outer layer.

unpeeled some more. awesome. deduced they could be spider eggs. closed the cocoon back up, hid it, and checked every day for hatchlings. yup, spiders.

Comments

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

One of the most wonderful things about the Tandy 1000TL I owned for about seven years (1989 - 1996); baby spiders crawled out of it almost every spring.

I guess that makes me weird. I can live with that ;).

[ebourland.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

computer spiders

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

that's way cool.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Nifty as hell.

[ebourland.livejournal.com]

That's really cool.

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. Some day I should find out what huntsmen do with their eggs, to prevent similar scenes to the day we woke up to find the wall next to my sister's bedroom covered with baby huntsmen (which are about the same size as many perfectly normal spiders).

huntsmen

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

oy! that would be a freaky surprise -- i went and looked them up, and apparently female huntsmen become agressive when perceiving a threat to their eggsac or young. huh. i didn't even know that some spiders care for their young after birth.

nothing creepy-crawly here is dangerous to humans, so i am totally blasé about spiders and insects getting in the house -- of which there are many. i tend to just relocate larger adults outside without having to worry. wasps are really the most annoying, mostly because of the sound and because they sit on food one might bite into (and their sting is painful; do not want).

Re: huntsmen

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Luckily the huntsmen in that part of Australia are pretty safe; it's taken a bit of readjustment living up here, where several of the huntsmen can cause inconvenience at least. I've seen the odd redback, which are the most notoriously dangerous around here, I don't think the Sydney Funnelweb comes this far north (but it is apparently a significant hazard in Sydney).

Fortunately, Australia has largely avoided the really hazardous wasps. But I can tell you battle stories about ants. There's an innocuous-looking little blighter whose sting feels exactly like someone stuck a sharp knife half an inch in.

Re: huntsmen

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

oh, redbacks -- that reminds me that we are supposed to have black widow spiders here. but in 10 years i have not seen a single one, so i basically forget that they are supposed to occur. they're at least easy to identify if i ever come across one.

we have some beetles whose bites are supposed to be very painful, but i've never gotten bitten. they don't go looking for chomping themselves a bit of human flesh, and i don't pick up strange moving creatures with my bare hands, so we get along.

Re: huntsmen

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I've never seen a black widow in my entire life, 31 years in the PNW. Nor a brown recluse, but those I wouldn't see even if they were around. Really it's worth wearing gloves when digging in the woodpile anyway -- against lesser bites, slug slime, and splinters if not against galloping necrosis.

Incredibly cool pictures, thanks.

Re: huntsmen

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

yeah, i always wear leather gloves for protection from splinters for the most part. also, we have rats in there at times, and since i was bitten once by a rat, i learned my lesson.

glad you like the pictures. i was really happy when i found this eggsac, and i glad that i didn't inadvertently destroyed it.

Re: huntsmen

[brooksmoses]

I've seen one or two, but that was back in Virginia.

Re: huntsmen

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

I thought you'd enjoy this huntsmen news story. (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/19/2193694.htm)

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Oh, *man*.

[julineh.livejournal.com]

Huh....
Very impresive... Don't like spiders... Have a lot at home (They said spiders at home is a safe home). Brrr
My nephew ask me if that was this kind of spider who are involved with the "spiderman" (laugh)

spiders

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

yes, we have a lot of spiders inside the house too, and some large ones, but they're perfectly harmless -- they eat all sorts of insects, so i guess they do make the home safer. :)

[sonjaaa.livejournal.com]

Wow beautiful pics. You should put them on Wikipedia.

wikipedia

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

if i knew what spider produced it, that'd be a good idea. though maybe somebody with more spidery knowledge would be able to identify it. i'll check into it -- thanks.