Posted: 8/4/2006 7:45:47 PM EDT
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My inlaws are in town, and I was bored off my ass while they hogged the television. I went outside and noticed that some spiders were bored too, waiting for lunch. I thought it would be fun to see what they could handle in their web. I caught insects alive, and using needle nose pliars I "hung" them on the web. Moths and small crickets weren't a problem. I thought a full size adult cricket would be the ultimate challenge. I mean, how often does a cricket get caught in an orb weaver web? But the spider sunk it's fangs in deep, then spun the cricket around in circles while it wrapped it in a light weight straight jacket of silk.  I needed something even bigger. But what? Ironically, right at that moment something flew into the garage door with a huge thud. A cicada. Cool! I didn't need pliars to hold onto it's wings. It was clawing the air while I lowered it into the web. The cicada tore the web to shreds, but as the web was torn, the individual strands stuck together and formed a dense rope, to which the cicada was tangled at the end. It was flying around in circles like those little airplanes you used to see at the mall that you could suspend from your ceiling. When the cicada got tired and gave up, it just hung there upside down. The spider somehow knew how to bring the heavy strand closer to the house. It was still wrapping webbing around the bug's wings so it couldn't start flying again when I took this pic. That should be enough to feed the spider for a couple of days. 
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I have a smaller orb weaver that has been hanging a web in my door jamb every night now for over a week. I turn on the outside light so the bugs come and he can eat. I have several spiders living in the apt. They are the only bugs I see. Never a moth, never an ant, nothing. They get them all I think. They are incredible creatures. And the webbing is, well, you know, stronger than anything man made pound for pound. Scientists liken a fly getting caught to a newspaper stopping a rifle bullet.  I like spiders. There's only two that are around here that are dangerous and I have never seen them around yet, the widow and the recluse. Those I will kill on sight. The rest get a pass. But I got my daughter a male kitten and he is quite the little hunter so I am sure he will dispatch the spiders eventually and take over bug patrol.. |
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I used to have a big-ass spider that lived in my kitchen ceiling and spun his web around the light fixture. His name was Boris. For kicks I'd grab a moth and throw it on his web ... he'd come out of his hole and wrap that fucker up in an eyeblink. Great party trick. It was a real crowd pleaser. AWESOME photos, dude. |
Yeah, spiders can be pretty handy. I used to have a little part of my yard, right next to a tree, where a big group of flies woud always hang out in the evening. I have no idea what drew them to that spot, or why it was only in the evening, but if you went out there anywhere between 6:00 to 10:00 you would see a ton of flies buzzing around. One day, a spider constructed a very large web between two branches of the tree very close to that spot. The number of flies slowly decreased until there were none. Spiders are like nature's own pest control. The only ones I kill on sight are the deadly ones like black widows, and the huge ones because they just creep me out. 
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We've had a bumper crop of cicadas this year. In the evenings, we can't even be outside because they are virtually defening. Funny as heck watching sparrows chase them around, and occasionally catch one. |
