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The Battle for the Chorizo- man v spider

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    #1

    The Battle for the Chorizo- man v spider

    In the comments section of an article about big scary spiders:

    http://www.theguardian.com/science/2...pider#comments

    When I lived in Venezuela years back I was visited by some sort of freakishly large spider while making lunch; it was at least as big as a good sized melon and powerfully built.
    I was cutting a large chorizo sausage when the **** thing just wandered straight up from beside me, got a hold of the sausage with its mandibles and started dragging it backwards towards the wall where it came from. I froze completely, still holding the knife in my hand. The vile thing let go of my lunch for a moment, slowly stood up on its back legs and started to hiss at me .
    Then it casually stood down again and began molesting the chorizo with its vile mandibles for what seemed like ages, turning to menace me every now and then.
    Then it grabbed what remained of the sausage and left loathsomely through a very large crack in the wall.I was still frozen to the spot, staring at that point in the wall, when the creature suddenly reappeared .
    It stood at the entrance of the crack and with front legs undulating about, hissed in my direction and then disappeared again.
    That spider was scarily intelligent- it must have been watching him through its lair in the wall- it knew the man was cutting up "food"- yikes! It must have had good eyesight..
    I think a trip to the DIY store for some cement might have been the man's next move..
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Den Sie wenn Sie wollten
    Doch nicht vergessen sollten
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    #2
    The article refers to the spider as "beautiful". I think ghastly is a better description.

    Comment

      #3
      Originally posted by Sorrano View Post
      The article refers to the spider as "beautiful". I think ghastly is a better description.
      As someone in the comments said- it is beautiful to other spiders.

      Fangtastic lol.
      Ludwig van Beethoven
      Den Sie wenn Sie wollten
      Doch nicht vergessen sollten

      Comment

        #4
        Originally posted by AeolianHarp View Post
        As someone in the comments said- it is beautiful to other spiders.

        Fangtastic lol.

        The very word "spider" sends chills down my spine. To me there are no "beautiful" spiders. (Shudder!)

        Comment

          #5
          Originally posted by Sorrano View Post
          The very word "spider" sends chills down my spine. To me there are no "beautiful" spiders. (Shudder!)
          Then you haven't seen these little spiders Sorrano...

          Shake Your Silk-Maker: The Dance of the Peacock Spider
          [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq-r20mlGes[/YOUTUBE]
          Ludwig van Beethoven
          Den Sie wenn Sie wollten
          Doch nicht vergessen sollten

          Comment

            #6
            Originally posted by AeolianHarp View Post
            Then you haven't seen these little spiders Sorrano...

            Shake Your Silk-Maker: The Dance of the Peacock Spider
            [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq-r20mlGes[/YOUTUBE]
            All spiders make my flesh crawl, including the Peacock Spider. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

            Comment

              #7
              Those dancing peacock spiders made me laugh a lot- they look so funny.

              You wouldn't have liked to have seen the spider sitting in my Dad's bath in the late 1990s. It was so huge its legs filled the whole width of the bath. I've never seen one as big as that before or since.

              I was staying with him at the time. I went down to have a bath ( Dad's living room was upstairs) and opened the door, walked to the bath and saw it sitting there.

              Now I am not usually scared of spiders..

              ME- Dad there is a big spider in the bath!
              DAD (annoyed) - Well move it then!
              ME- Dad it is REALLLLLY big!!
              DAD sighs and gets up from his chair.
              DAD walks up to the bath f- hell!! ( Even he gets a shock)
              Braces himself and takes hold of a leg and goes to landing window and throws the spider out of it.
              Last edited by AeolianHarp; 06-13-2015, 11:22 PM.
              Ludwig van Beethoven
              Den Sie wenn Sie wollten
              Doch nicht vergessen sollten

              Comment

                #8
                That sounds a lot like a banana spider, but I doubt you have any of those around (unless it came over with a shipment of bananas). I could not have grabbed it. Some years ago I encountered one in my kitchen sink that was as big as a small tarantula. Fortunately for me (and not for it) it was in the side with the garbage disposal. But it did put up a good fight (to my horror).

                Comment

                  #9
                  That sounds a lot like a banana spider, but I doubt you have any of those around (unless it came over with a shipment of bananas). I could not have grabbed it.
                  We never found out what it was. Dad thought it came from the shore as a beach is 5 mins away from where he was living. I've looked online at British spiders but none grow as big as that was. I think it was black. It wasn't a tarantula. It was a thin spider. It wasn't aggressive- definitely not the Brazilian wandering spider!



                  Some years ago I encountered one in my kitchen sink that was as big as a small tarantula. Fortunately for me (and not for it) it was in the side with the garbage disposal. But it did put up a good fight (to my horror).
                  Yeah they can be very feisty! I had a small one wiggle its fangs at me once lol. I find them spooky but fascinating. I have often tickled a web with a blade of grass to see if the spider will slide down its web- some do come!

                  I have had a tarantula sit in my hand. A Canadian woman in a place I lived at a few years ago ( rooms in a 19th century house) worked in the museum ( they have a bug house there- and they gave her it) . She kept it in a tank by her bed! She told me about it and said I could come and see it one day. So I did. She dug in its sand and told me to lay my hand flat and the spider would come out and sit on my hand. It did, but it was quite small so I wasn't as impressed as I could have been. I was hoping for a big hairy one.

                  The one in my Dad's bath was way bigger than it. I felt sorry for it being lobbed out of the window- but Dad wanted rid of it- I reckon he was scared of it lol. I wish I'd had a camera to have taken its photo.
                  Last edited by AeolianHarp; 06-15-2015, 01:14 AM.
                  Ludwig van Beethoven
                  Den Sie wenn Sie wollten
                  Doch nicht vergessen sollten

                  Comment

                    #10
                    With spiders, size matters, but so does markings such as this:

                    More info here.
                    I saw one of these once ever, and that was enough.
                    "Life is too short to spend it wandering in the barren Sahara of musical trash."
                    --Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Harvey View Post
                      With spiders, size matters, but so does markings such as this:

                      More info here.
                      I saw one of these once ever, and that was enough.
                      Ah the little Black Widow Spider! Actually Harvey, not sure size always matters with spiders- these are tiny compared with some big hairy tarantulas which are not that harmful to humans..but bite of one of these can kill!
                      Yes, I can imagine one encounter would be enough! I didn't think you had these in America though. Aren't they from Australia?
                      Ludwig van Beethoven
                      Den Sie wenn Sie wollten
                      Doch nicht vergessen sollten

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Black Widows are all over America. I've seen a lot of these and lot of their webbing. We also have the hobo spider, which has a nasty bite, as well. The hobos may cause more issues than the widows. The widow's bite isn't always fatal but can be. Either way, the bites do cause various health issues.

                        Comment

                          #13
                          I've heard of the Hobo Spider. It seems that it isn't that dangerous:

                          http://www.livescience.com/44907-hobo-spider-bites.html

                          I think I might have seen a few over the years. They are called tube web or funnel web spiders here in Britain. I think one may be or may have been living in the gap in my window sill outside as there is a funnel shaped thick web there. I poked inside with a twig a few days ago but no spider appeared.

                          I remember picking up a spider that I think was one of these about 30 years ago- I have vague recollections that it was brown and stripey and it kept pricking my finger with its fangs, but it felt just like a tiny pin prick and didn't hurt. I watched it fang my finger a few times and then let it go. I didn't have the least bit ill effects from its fangs.

                          But our press here loves to create scary spider stories!

                          Very aggressive, venomous hobo spiders attack family in Britain


                          http://www.techtimes.com/articles/16...ly-britain.htm
                          Black Widows are quite venomous!

                          http://www.livescience.com/39919-bla...w-spiders.html

                          According to National Geographic, black widows are considered the most venomous spider in North America. Their venom is reported to be 15 times stronger than a rattlesnake's, according to NCSU.
                          It's not very aggressive though:

                          Despite their ferocious-sounding name, black widows are not aggressive creatures, said Scott, adding that a better word to describe these spiders is "shy."

                          "They have no reason to bite us unless they're threatened," Scott said. "We pose a much greater threat to them than they do to us."


                          In fact, you really have to pinch a western black widow to get it to sink its teeth in, said Scott, who referenced a recent study that found that this species of spider is most likely to bite when it's pinched along the entire length of its body (something that might happen if it is attacked by a predator or sat upon by an unsuspecting human).

                          In most cases, poking the spider repeatedly with a finger wasn't enough to get the arachnid to bite, the researchers found. Instead, the prodded black widows in the study often ran away, played dead or flicked a few strands of silk at their attackers.
                          http://www.livescience.com/51014-bla...n=related_test
                          Ludwig van Beethoven
                          Den Sie wenn Sie wollten
                          Doch nicht vergessen sollten

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Sorrano View Post
                            Black Widows are all over America. I've seen a lot of these and lot of their webbing. We also have the hobo spider, which has a nasty bite, as well. The hobos may cause more issues than the widows. The widow's bite isn't always fatal but can be. Either way, the bites do cause various health issues.
                            Also there is the brown recluse, the bite of which can have some nasty side effects.
                            "Life is too short to spend it wandering in the barren Sahara of musical trash."
                            --Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff

                            Comment

                              #15
                              Yes, hear about that one too Harvey! Every so often I go googling reading about scary spiders lol.
                              Ludwig van Beethoven
                              Den Sie wenn Sie wollten
                              Doch nicht vergessen sollten

                              Comment

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