spider aficianados....uh what is it?

[ronb]

OK, so what is this?

[dweymer]

brown recluse? if so it's highly toxic

[KevinP73]

for sure it's not a brown recluse. I've got those fuzzy little things around my place. harmless as far as I can tell. couldn't say that about a brown recluse

[competentone]

It would be helpful to know where you live.

My wife, who knows more about spiders than I, says that it is most likely a species of jumping spider. Salticidae, or jumping spiders, is a family of spiders comprising dozens of species. Jumping spiders do not spin webs but rather, they use their muscular legs to "pounce" on prey.

Photos of jumping spiders:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/Salticidae/Salticidae.htm

[skipdup]

Originally posted by competentone
... they use their muscular legs to "pounce" on prey.

Thank you for ruining any chance of sleep for me tonight.

[ronb]

We live in Massachussets (SW). Not concerned about it being a dangerous thing, just have never seen one before

[juanbenae]

Originally posted by skipdup
Thank you for ruining any chance of sleep for me tonight.

ive been following your political post and i have no idea how you sleep, ever.

[skipdup]

Originally posted by k911sc
ive been following your political post and i have no idea how you sleep, ever.

You still mad at the jab I took at you on the John Stewart post? I actually wish I had said that very differently.

Here this will help you sleep tonight... Jumping spiders are Bush's fault.

- Skip

[masraum]

that thing looks quite a bit bigger than any jumping spider that I've ever seen if the top of that chair back is the size of a broom handle. And, it's d@mn scary looking. I'd certainly prefer it was outside of my house.

Good luck, got any better pictures (that's a good pic, but hard to see the face)?

[Evans, Marv]

Jumping spider. They're pretty cool, but I still don't like spiders.

[Mulhollanddose]

California barking spider...Sometimes loud, sometimes deadly.

[tabs]

If he comes around me...he will be a DEAD spider....

[dweymer]

He could replace your other friend lost not so long ago at that resturant....

[Ronbo]

Originally posted by Mulhollanddose
California barking spider...Sometimes loud, sometimes deadly.

But the silent ones are often the deadliest.

[88BlueTSiQuest]

Originally posted by competentone
It would be helpful to know where you live.

My wife, who knows more about spiders than I, says that it is most likely a species of jumping spider. Salticidae, or jumping spiders, is a family of spiders comprising dozens of species. Jumping spiders do not spin webs but rather, they use their muscular legs to "pounce" on prey.

Photos of jumping spiders:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/Salticidae/Salticidae.htm

Yep, looks like a jumping spider.

They can bite, but the bite doesn't amount to much. I used to play with them as a kid, heck, I still play with them occasionally. The main type we have around here is the Daring Jumping Spider, black and hairy with white spots on it's back.

[88BlueTSiQuest]

Originally posted by dweymer
brown recluse? if so it's highly toxic

If you want to see what a Brown Recluse looks like, check this thread: Now Look What I found Under the Kids Slide!

I posted some good pictures of the Recluse population I have here in my house. Along with some identification info.

http://www.bluegtzhome.com/pics/brownrecluse.jpg
http://www.bluegtzhome.com/pics/brownrecluse2.jpg
http://www.bluegtzhome.com/pics/reclusetrap.jpg
http://www.bluegtzhome.com/pics/reclusetrap2.jpg

[DonDavis]

I grew up in the Southeast and we had Jumping spiders that looked a lot like the one Ronb pictured but with a few differences. Ours had shorter rear legs and were black with a few white dots. They had HUGE eyes and when they would run away, it would be in massive leaps. We would try to catch them but it was hard to keep track of their direction. It would leap and I would have to take a second of scanning the immediate area to pick up movement in my peripheral vision. It was really cool how they would rotate their body into the direction of the next leap and then, boing! Gone!!

And the Austrailian Baking Spider is by far, the SMELLIEST!

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by Ronbo
But the silent ones are often the deadliest.

True, seems that the California barking spider has an inversely proportional volume to venom ratio...I have personally experienced exceptions, however.

[bryanthompson]

the previous owner of my house left me with this fricken' huge overgrown garden in the back yard... I put off cleaning it up until this afternoon.

When I started, I just started digging up plants, chopping down things, etc. About an hour into it, I started actually looking at what I was chopping down, and saw the biggest freaking garden spiders i've EVER seen in my life. I jumped out of there, shook off, rolled around in the grass, whatever I could doo. I just knew they were all over me. I get chills just thinking about it.

... I still have half of the garden left to do.

[Mulhollanddose]

Did you check your hair?...I hear those types of spiders love to hide, nest and lay eggs in ear cavities and near the medulla oblongatal crevices.