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Itsy Bitsy

Joined
Sep 11, 2006
Messages
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Location
Houston, TX
First Name
Kory
Last Name
Burleson
But in this case, not so itsy. This guy/gal has made a pretty large web on our front porch. Total length I'd estimate for the spider itself is between an 1 1/2" to 2". Any ideas what it is?

32314201705_979cff9d4c_b.jpg


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I think the scientific term is Big Freakin' Spider, <walks into spider web> Oh God, spider web on face, <begin spastic dance> where's the spider, where's the spider!!! :lol2:
 
I think the scientific term is Big Freakin' Spider, <walks into spider web> Oh God, spider web on face, <begin spastic dance> where's the spider, where's the spider!!! :lol2:

+1 :eek2::eek2: :rofl::rofl:
 
I think the scientific term is Big Freakin' Spider, <walks into spider web> Oh God, spider web on face, <begin spastic dance> where's the spider, where's the spider!!! :lol2:

I'm embarrassed to say I did that the other night. I opened the gate to let the dog roam around the front yard and walked right into a massive web. I swear I felt the one pictured above or something similar on me. I had my phone in my hand and ended up slinging it onto the ground trying to get the web and spider off me. :doh: :oops: :oops: :oops: Never saw the spider, not sure it was ever on me. :lol2:
 
Could that be a Tropical Orb Weaver Spider...they are found along the gulf coast.

icon_shrug.gif


Looking at this arachnid makes me want to play the following song by Jim Stafford:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGJVA6pKWpw"]Spiders and Snakes[/ame]
 
Could that be a Tropical Orb Weaver Spider...they are found along the gulf coast.

I think you nailed it!!! I searched and searched but couldn't figure it out. Thanks!!! :clap:
 
I think you nailed it!!! I searched and searched but couldn't figure it out. Thanks!!! :clap:

The thorax portion of the spider looks like a British scone (biscuit) with a small amount of yellow fur...

Btw, great picture!

RB
 
I agree, probably an orb weaver. They build new webs each night. Some will even eat their webs in the morning for reuse the next night.
 
I agree, probably an orb weaver. They build new webs each night. Some will even eat their webs in the morning for reuse the next night.

I've relocated it from our front porch, but it was fascinating to watch it for a few days.
 
Kory,

I will give one free quart of amazing Yamalube 10-40 motorcycle oil IF you can capture a tarantula (frozen in the air) as it is jumping.

I have heard they can actually become pets and can be trained too. You would probably have to find a insect (cockroach) and dangle it with a string just above the spider to get it to jump.

....that would be cool!

RB
 
Hey Fred, here's a tarantula at Cedar Breaks park in Georgetown. He's not jumping, but maybe he would if someone sat down...

IMG_2048-XL.jpg
 
Hey Fred, here's a tarantula at Cedar Breaks park in Georgetown. He's not jumping, but maybe he would if someone sat down...

IMG_2048-XL.jpg

I'm thinking there would be some SERIOUS jumping going in there by someone!! :brainsnap
 
Kory,

I will give one free quart of amazing Yamalube 10-40 motorcycle oil IF you can capture a tarantula (frozen in the air) as it is jumping.

I have heard they can actually become pets and can be trained too. You would probably have to find a insect (cockroach) and dangle it with a string just above the spider to get it to jump.

....that would be cool!

RB

Well, where I live, the cockroach part would be a piece of cake. The tarantula on the other hand, a little tougher to find. :mrgreen:
 
Kory,

I will give one free quart of amazing Yamalube 10-40 motorcycle oil IF you can capture a tarantula (frozen in the air) as it is jumping.

I have heard they can actually become pets and can be trained too. You would probably have to find a insect (cockroach) and dangle it with a string just above the spider to get it to jump.

....that would be cool!

RB

They do jump! We were messing with one when I was young and it jumped straight up. I thought it was going to hit my face.
 
I got this video of Rusty years ago training his pet spider. He was wearing sterile rubber gloves at the time when I arrived at this house. He walked up to me and asked that I cough so he could check something on my body. I said emphatically...no!

A few minutes later Rusty pulled out his pet spider and proceeded to play with it on the floor of his house.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu7xpq7uoh0"]Rusty with pet tarantula at his house[/ame]
 
I got this video of Rusty years ago training his pet spider. He was wearing sterile rubber gloves at the time when I arrived at this house. He walked up to me and asked that I cough so he could check something on my body. I said emphatically...no!

A few minutes later Rusty pulled out his pet spider and proceeded to play with it on the floor of his house.

Rusty with pet tarantula at his house

:eek2: :uhoh: :eek2: :uhoh: :eek2: :uhoh: :eek2: :uhoh: :eek2: :uhoh: :eek2: :uhoh: :eek2: :uhoh: :eek2: :uhoh: :eek2: :uhoh: :eek2: :uhoh: :eek2: :uhoh: :eek2: :uhoh:
 
For about 10 years I had a Mexican Red Banded tarantula as a pet. He (turned out to be a she) was the most beautiful black with these gorgeous flaming red bands at each joint. Kept him in a large aquarium with a glass top and every few months he'd be MIA. Turns out, he was very adept at climbing the glass then using some legs lift the little glass hinged top and crawl on out. Mom always freaked out when she found him him in various places like the ceiling or a curtain.

The first time he molted I freaked out.... I thought he gave birth to another one his same size at first. Then I started to poke the old hull and it didn't move, so I picked it up and studied it. Fascinating how they can grow inside that shell then crack it to emerge again. Man he was H-U-N-G-R-Y after that..... I think he ate five or six crickets in the day following.

Speaking of eating, he loved the black crickets. Little pinkie mice not so much. You could toss a cricket in there and if he was hungry he'd just pounce on it and work his fangs back and forth. Made quick work of a cricket. The next day all you'd see is a little pile of mashed up cricket hull. He'd usually be parked on a little strip of washcloth which had an edge in a small water source. That was how he drank. He'd just plop down on that washcloth and drink.

Sometimes he'd go a month without eating anything, although I was tossing in crickets. Then boom - he'd eat a bunch at a time.

I'd take him out and 'play' with him. We had a 'talk' from the very beginning. I said "Milt - if you ever bite me I'm going to throw you against the wall". He never bit me. lol.... But if he did it would have been a bit on the painful side. I could grab him by the thorax region and flip him upside down to show his fangs. Not kidding here.... his two fangs were like a cat claw if you've ever pulled back the skin around the claws. There were thicker thank cat claws too. The puncture would have been painful at minimum. I was never concerned about the venom as I'm not allergic to anything.

After a few years I found out "Milt" was really "Mildred". How you ask? When I was handling him I noticed he had little hooks on his front legs. Only the females have those and they are used primarily for mating. So my male spider was actually a female but I always kept calling him Milt.

He'd go a month or two without eating and I'd get a bit worried but after a few years got used to that pattern. Sometimes in there he'd molt. Then one time he didn't eat for a couple months, I figured he was in the molting stage and he didn't move. I picked him up and he didn't move, set him back down and he didn't move. I was sad. Old Milt finally died.

I took him to a college speech class once to talk about them. Got an A-. Reason I didn't get an A was the professor thought he was a bit too distracting as I just turned him loose on my shoulder and he was just cruising all over my torso while I was talking about the species.

His defense mechanism was pretty cool.... His entire abdomen was full of hair that was an irritant. If he was aggravated or threatened he would kick his back legs against the abdomen and spin off those hairs. If they got on you, they made you itch. It wasn't horrible, but you knew it if he got some on you.

That was a fun pet.

This is what he looked like (not my pic)
Mexican+Red-Knee+tarantula.jpg




As for your shot Kory? VERY COOL!


.
 
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRKENkVmt7M"]Top 10 Biggest Spiders in the World[/ame]

Despite being large, most of these are not very toxic. The really poisonous ones tend to be fairly small and live in dark, moist places. I once had a relative who brushed up against a Brown Recluse in an attic. She had extreme necrosis of the leg.

:eek2:

RB
 
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