I actually hate spiders, but couldn't resist the opportunity to shoot these. The small spider in the one with 2 spiders is at least as big as a quarter. I have not ever seen spiders this big.

Cool They're Signature Spiders, they make amazing webs and they're harmless

nice pics but NO WAY would that be me. i do NOT do bugs. i got the heebies just looking.

You've got yourself a Nephila there. Did you use a marco lens?

-TM

I used the 24-70 2.8L

I was bitten by a black widow about 18 years ago, and spent the weekend in a Charleston hospital, and then about a week in bed. Ick. I don't completely freak out at the sight of a spider anymore, but it took a long time to get over. This photo was taken last week on the Florida side of the St. Mary's River near Amelia Island.

Laurie

I, too, was bitten. By a brown recluse when I was five. Nasty. Sick for a long time and it took months to get back to normal. So I have a love/hate relationship. I really hate the idea of spiders, but love that they eat mosquitoes and flies and gnats....all things that ruin a perfectly good summer evening.

Cool! I love spiders, but I have never been bitten by one...

Those are awesome shots. I can appreciate spiders from a distance, and I've held certain spiders.. but I pay them their respects..

I love spiders, too. They are just so cool and colorful. I remember once I was in WV and searching for butterfly eggs in the weeds on the side of the road. I looked up and nearly fell over because my face was about an inch and a half away from the biggest spider I had ever seen in my life. Legs and all he was as big as my hand and his body was a big fat yellow and black bee-like look. Almost like your spider but rounder. After I recovered from the shock I watched it for quite a while but it didn't do too much but hang around in it's web. Anyone know what kind of spider that one was?

I'm with Amber on this one.
ew. I REALLY don't like Spiders.


I was moving a 4x4 the other day from outside my shop and imagine my reaction when I saw a Black spider crawling down my sleeve headed towards my hand.... Needless to say I did freak out. I swatted her away on the concrete and got a closer look and sure enough it was a Black Widow.

And yes... I let Her live. But I didn't stick around long!

oooooohhhhh. not cool! i would have let her live too but only because it freaks me out to kill them too. i just want them to stay far away. even on our website, under faq, it says...

are pets allowed at my session?
absolutely. unless it's a tarantula. then we ask you to stay at least 100 feet away.

I would have totally squashed her good. I have no use whatsoever for black widows. That bite was worse than unmedicated childbirth. I have done both, and would choose the birth anyday over the black widow spider bite.

Laurie

Hi Sarah,

Like this?



It's an Argiope aurantia.

-TM

Cool spider. Here is one I took last year.
Laurie, I posted then read you encounter with the black widow. Glad your fine.
Black widow bites are not deadly to most but for small kids and elderly it could be allot worse.

OMG that is creepy...

One Myth I've heard is that a Black Widow Bite leaves a nasty little scar... Laurie... Any truth to that?

you would totally freak out in my house.

i live out in the english countryside.

spiders, i have discovered, do not like the english countryside.

these spiders have chosen to reside in my home.

we have learned to live together in peace and harmony. they dont bug me, and i dont squish them.

No doubt.... There IS no peace and harmony between a spider and me.

Dang... I hate those things. ...and I have NO Idea why. It's not like I've had a traumatic dealing with a spider as a kid or anything. I just can't STAND them.

it is funny cause your like 1000 x bigger than they are!

Well, don't complain, in Australia they have spiders that get to be up to 12" across.

Here's one hiding behind a 12" wall clock:



It's the Huntsman Spider.

Yuck!

-TM

Thats it.
I'm Starting a thread about Butterflies or something else thats harmless.


Seriously, Thats on BIG dang spider!! How do you kill it? Shotgun? Bazooka?

i get those in the bathtub sometimes. that's when the showerhead becomes my best friend.....

Yeah, imagine the "splat" that sucker makes. I'd put on goggles first.

-TM

Okay, this thread TOTALLY has me freaked out - especially those Australia spiders - YIKES! A former prof of mine in college got bit by a brown recluse and 3 years later is STILL having complications from it. He lost about 60 pounds and was in the hospital for weeks! I know most are harmless, but it's horror stories like that for which I keep a safe distance for these things!

Ok, I am a straight-up arachnaphobe. I am terrified of spiders (except really small ones then I am just a little grossed out) and get pretty panicky and sometimes I cry. Yep, it's true. My thoughts about spiders: Eight legs, eight eyes, eight times the evil.

So Tami, I'll be spending a few days exploring the Lake District next spring... am I in big trouble?

Don't forget to check behind your wall clock!

From what Tami says, just take along a shower head.

-TM

spiders are everywhere, the big ones that i get in the tub, can actually FIGHT OFF THE SHOWER SPRAY!!!!!


oh i had my honeymoon in the lake district! i love peter rabbit!!!!

Ok, F the shower head, I'm bringing a flame thrower and grenade launcher.

Scary!!!!

Now we're talkin.
Flame thrower. The only TRUE way to kill a spider.
(or a spray can of battery terminal spray and a zippo!!)

they'll be waitin.......

You know, when I get married, "willing to kill spiders for me" is going to be in the vows. I'm not kidding.

I don't think you're washing this guy down the drain:

It would appear there is justice, see here. Here's what it looks like live (video).

Amazing, isn't it?

-TM

I'm in hell

And yet you keep reading.....

Have fun in England! Especially washing your hair in the shower.

-TM

No.... actually the bite looked like a tiny red spot that could have been made from a flair red marker. There was not scar at all.

Laurie

Yeah, I can't help it. The first time I heard about huntsman spiders a few months ago, I looked them up on youtube for like a half hour. :/

i could always send you some english spiders in a jar (with airholes) so you could get used to them????????

answer me back in the next five minutes if you DONT want me to send them........

Interesting...
I had a guy tell me one time that he was bitten on the calf by a Black Widow and that after it "healed" there was a difference in skin texture and the muscle under the bite area was softer than the rest of the muscle in his calf. He attributed it to the toxin in the venom causing the muscle to decay and was never able to "grow" back right... (like... EWW!)
I honestly didn't believe him untill he showed me his calf and I pressed on the area of the bite. Show`nuff the muscle under the so-called "bite area" was more "spongier" than the rest of the calf.
Then again... this is the same dude who told me a story of him being camped on a hill in the jungles of Africa (while he was in USMC) and awoken to the whole camp being overtaken by venemous tarantulas...
Bit far fetched? Now I think so...

ok so spiders are now on their way.......

I will cut you.

I think a bit far fetched. I supose that something caused the difference in his muscle tone, but I don't think it was the black widow. I was bitten by the biggest one they had ever seen at the hospital. You have to take the spider or snake to the hospital with you when you are bitten so that they can accurately treat you. They were amazed at the size...it was still alive in a small clear plastic box spinning a web in the emergency room.

I see that you are from Charleston. I just happen to have been bitten while camping at Boone Hall there in Charleston. I arrived late one night and was bitten early the next morning...so I didn't get to see a thing of the plantation.

Laurie

That's one of those sentences that sounds better when terminated with "sukkah."





-TM

I prefer this...

Click to view attachment

Aww man That really sucks.
Speaking of camping, have you ever been to Hunting Island?
If not, and if you guys can, you should look into it. There is NOTHING in the world like falling asleep to the sounds of waves crashing on the beach.

Mr. T would never say that. Foo.

-TM

rutro. i just checked on the tracking megan... they should be there by 10:00......

And Mr. T is in a box on the way to your house, with a gold-plated machete

Re: The eight legged freaks...sticking my fingers in ears and lalalalalalalalalalalalala...shiver...


But I can't believe Tami got away with this quote and no one had anything to say...



and then...



Really, am I the only one with the issues...