Pixel Smiths

By pixelsmiths

Arachnid

I've just posted the last 3 days of pics, and as closing statement I said I'd be less frequently posting. It's 11pm, and I was off to bed, blipless, but OK with that.

Then, I saw this little fella out my bathroom window as I was cleaning my teeth. I have been watching him for weeks and have tried on several occasions to photograph him.

This isn't a great shot obviously, but ... he only comes out at night, we're looking at his underside, and it's thru a dirty window. To make matters worse, when you turn the light off and shine a touch on for better effect, the insects come around and he starts catching them, and of course moving!

Anyway, I wouldn't normally blip a shot like this, but it's quite relevant, as in the weekend one of the people we were away with was an entomologist, and he had a spider book. Whitetail spiders are said to be a problem in NZ, and we have them in our house. But interestingly, this expert say there have been no documented case of any side effect (other than sting when bit) - apparently at this stage it's an urban myth that they cause death etc. Not that I want to find out ...

Also out of interest. Whitetails only eat other spiders, and it is said that if they eat Daddy Long Legs then their venom will be even stronger as DLLs are extremely toxic, but have no teeth and thus are harmless. Another myth apparently.

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