Spiders and Wasps Appreciation

[Hrairoo]

I love bugs and insects. I find them fascinating and beautiful. I just wanted to carve out a little learning discussion place where people can post pictures, videos, and information and facts about creepy crawlies.

I'm fixated on spiders and wasps at the moment, so, to give this thread focus, those are the two I'll mostly be posting about. But if you have a love in your heart for a different insect or bug or you know some cool fact that makes another type of bug wicked awesome, please, share with us. With me, I mean. I wanna know cool bug things.



So, to start us off, I wanna share with everyone a youtube channel I am addicted to right now, called Hornet King. He has a lot of wasp removal videos, where he goes to houses with wasp nests in their walls or crawl spaces, and he gets them out. At first, I just liked it because it is amazing sometimes watching him open up a section of wall or cutting open a hollowed tree and the nest inside is FUCKING HUGE! It's insane how big these things can get and the paper envelopes surrounding them are so beautiful and full of crazy patterns. There's something relaxing about watching him work and at the end sometimes, he'll take home comb he's collected from a site he's cleared and he'll pick out the larvae with tweezers and feed them to his chickens.

But then the more I watched his videos, the more I realized this guy is an enthusiast. Yes, he ends up killing a lot of them when he's clearing a house or yard for a client, but he also sometimes relocates them, or grabs the queens and takes them home to relocate them. Those are my favorite, watching videos of him tending to saved queens, the way they build up their new nests and start new colonies.

I tend to like them better than bees or honeybees because they have a sleek beauty about them. They're predators and they're built for that and I like that aspect of their design. Also that FB meme that was making the rounds a decade back, very anti-wasp, is incorrect. A lot of wasps are actually pollinators, they have tiny hairs on their bodies and will hunt in flowers to both drink nectar as well as kill the pests that feed off those plants. That's another thing I love about them; they fit in the ecosystem and they're good for gardens.

Anyway, I'm starting to get glassy-eyed fanatic over here, so, I'll just wrap up and link some videos.

Fascinating video of a queen bald-faced hornet defending her nest against a bad neighbor

Bald-faced hornet queen busily constructing her nest. Wow! Lookit her go! ^.^

I love that so so much, watching her come and go with such determination and focus. The way she builds the layers of the envelope using the wood gum she's collected and meticulously pinching it with her mandibles to get it just right. And each and every time, she goes in to check the larvae when she returns. What a good queen! *thumbs up*

European Hornet queen being fed from a dropper during the winter time. She's gorgeous.

He zooms in on her at one point and you can see the colors and gleam of her hard skin and all the thousands of hairs all over her. Her eyes look like lit gems and her colors are like a red sunrise. 

7/10 thread; my strange fascinations are showing.

[Blythe]

ExoticsLair is one of my favorite spider channels ever. He dabbles in a few other creatures, but his spiders are my favorites. I particularly love feeding and watering videos like this one. He's got way too many amazing spiders. 

The one he calls Ms. Thailand Black (Cyriopagopus Minax) is one of my absolute favorites; that is a gorgeous specimen. There's some debate about that particular type as it's own breed but I still think they are beautiful!

[Hrairoo]

ExoticsLair is one of my favorite spider channels ever. He dabbles in a few other creatures, but his spiders are my favorites. I particularly love feeding and watering videos like this one. He's got way too many amazing spiders. 

The one he calls Ms. Thailand Black (Cyriopagopus Minax) is one of my absolute favorites; that is a gorgeous specimen. There's some debate about that particular type as it's own breed but I still think they are beautiful!

Bly! *bro fists* I love ExoticsLair too! He has such a fun disposition when dealing with his ungrateful tarantulas. My favorite watering vid of his is actually number 6. I think THREE ladies start thwacking at him in that one. xD Ms. Lord Have Mercy, his OBT, is one of them that fusses at him. He's just so affronted and astonished; it's great. 

I don't mean to laugh but I just find it so ridiculous and cute looking when tarantulas go into threat posture. xD like, if one were in front of me, I wouldn't be foolish, but just looking at pics of them...they look like odd rabbits with their arms raised like that. Lol.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

I also liked when he fed a rogue jumping spider in his room one time. I also like the trap door spider, the Trinidad dwarf(heart butt), and the ...crap. I can't find it now but it's another dwarf, green body with peach/pink legs??? Anyway, I've learned so much from his videos and he gets really beautiful shots of his spiders.

Also Thailand Black is a gorgeous tarantula, I agree. It has that lower lighting underneath the hair, giving it a black "velvet" look like a panther's fur.

Same. Thing.

[Oniya]

I like jumping spiders, but my favorite spider video is the one that talks in a French accent while burying itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLw-9dpHtcU

[Hrairoo]

I like jumping spiders, but my favorite spider video is the one that talks in a French accent while burying itself.

Yes! That's an old school favorite too! xD such a good little spider.

Those sand spiders are pretty cool as well and they have a very beautiful, long-legged look. They have venom that can have a necrotic effect(much like the brown recluse) but being spiders, they are small, defensive creatures and total babies. I really like Jason Miller's video about them and their supposed "deadly" status.

[Hrairoo]

Share your bug/insect facts with me. ( ͡ಠ ₃ ͡ಠ)
(Gimme gimme. Juicy.)

Let's talk about the brown recluse! Often misunderstood, often misdiagnosed, it is the Devil of U.S. spider bite lore. Just a few things.

1. Here is the map of the native populations around the United States.



It is possible but rare for these spiders to be found outside of these areas.

2. Pictures! Pretty pretty! Ohh~! Oh, babeh! (Don't click if you do not want to see long legged gams and fiddle tramp stamps )
【►】: Here is a good video by Tarantula Kat debunking a lot of similar species
【►】: Another great instructional video by Oklahoma Gardening

3. One thing Kat brings up in the afore linked video is that the venom of the brown recluse does not necessarily cause some of the more dangerous symptoms. It is bacteria - either on their fangs or on the wound after the bite. Not only that but they don't actually wish to bite humans. In fact, it's a little bit difficult for them since they're such a smol spider.

【►】: Another great video by Jack's World of Wildlife with a documented brown recluse bite

To be fair, I am getting as much information as I can from others who have done their research and know better than I but feel free to chime in about this little venomous beauty.

[Ket]

I do know for a fact that the brown recluse does inhabit Virginia, particularly southeastern Virginia.

They are spotted often, and when I was a teenager we had a large colony of them living in the pipes to our washing machine. That was fun times pulling the laundry out and a dozen or so dead spiders come falling out. That they were brown recluses was verified by one of the local universities. I'm okay with some spoods in my house, heck last summer we had a spood condo above our bathroom sink and the current generation of shower spood (all lovingly named Herman) has arranged his winter webbing, but the venomous ones can stay outside, kthnxbai.

[Oniya]

There was one time that I was tucking Little Oni into bed, and turned around to see a quarter-sized (25mm) spider on a nearby book.  That's body size, not leg-span.  After the perfectly understandable yelp, I nabbed a flowerpot, placed it carefully over the spider, and carried book, pot, and spider outside for release.

Figured out later that it was likely to have been a wolf spider.  I'm not speculating on how it got in.

[Ket]

a quarter-sized (25mm) spider on a nearby book.  That's body size, not leg-span. 

Yikes! I don't think I've ever seen one that big in the house. Recently we had one try to make a web across the back door between the storm door and regular door. We carefully extricated him outside and he built a proper web closer to the outside light and out of the way of us and the door. I think he was just a little confused because the light is so close to the door itself.

[Oniya]

Yikes! I don't think I've ever seen one that big in the house.

*laughs*

I hadn't seen one that big-bodied that wasn't already on the opposite side of a piece of glass.  I do trot that incident out whenever someone makes the generalization that 'women need men to take care of spiders'.

[Hrairoo]

I love that you guys are gentle with the spiders that you cross paths with or overlap living spaces. It really warms my heart. Not that I get bent out of shape over peeps who kill 'em on sight. I just always think, "Ah. That's a shame." Simply because they're so small, they do more good than harm, and they're not bad to look at after a while. I'm desensitized to the point now where tarantulas look like bulldog puppies to me, their faces, so, I genuinely think they have beauty. But honestly, there are uglier bugs out there that are much less fun to co-habitate with.

Thank you for being gentle with these artful little predators. <3

[Atlach-Nacha]

I happen to have a massive folder of goodies on this subject, for reasons other than just scientific curiosity, but here's something for starters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgmFQRuB2NI

[Oniya]

I love that you guys are gentle with the spiders that you cross paths with or overlap living spaces. It really warms my heart. Not that I get bent out of shape over peeps who kill 'em on sight. I just always think, "Ah. That's a shame." Simply because they're so small, they do more good than harm, and they're not bad to look at after a while. I'm desensitized to the point now where tarantulas look like bulldog puppies to me, their faces, so, I genuinely think they have beauty. But honestly, there are uglier bugs out there that are much less fun to co-habitate with.

Thank you for being gentle with these artful little predators. <3

There are really only a few bugs I can think of that get the 'shoe' treatment from me - and then only when I see them in the house:  Flies, mosquitoes, silverfish, ants, and roaches.  Most other things get ushered out.  'Ceiling spiders' are left alone.  The ones on the ground are in more danger from the cat than from me.  (Which is why I scoop anything large enough to attract her notice.)

[Hrairoo]

I happen to have a massive folder of goodies on this subject, for reasons other than just scientific curiosity, but here's something for starters.

Please. Never stop posting these goodies.  Yes! That was really great. Orb spiders have a gothic feel to them, so round with those spindly legs.

Agreed, Oniya. There's only a couple that I don't have very much empathy for but the ones you named are on that "indoor pest" list. Spiders are not.

[Ket]

Thank you for being gentle with these artful little predators. <3

I'm not gentle to the venomous ones, but I haven't come across one in years. Not gonna lie, I'd freak out if I saw a tarantula just crawling around my house. But I wouldn't kill it, at least I'd like to think I wouldn't. I can't guarantee what I would or wouldn't do in that moment of sheer terror that would wash over me for a quick second.

We have issues with ants, stinkbugs, and flies in my area. So I let the spoods and the fuzzy mustaches hang around and do their thing. They don't get in my way, I don't get in theirs. I'd much rather let them get the stinkbugs anyway, because if you smoosh one the smell is something frikken awful.

[Atlach-Nacha]

Golden silk orb-weavers are my (cough) species of preference.

Communal orb weaver web at a shrine

Spider eats a snake

Orb weavers in space!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9P7Blxv4k8

Apparently spiders gain superpowers when they go to space. A related article (can't find it now) said that when they experience space microgravity, they are a first disoriented, but then learn to spin flawlessly symmetrical webs and are much more aggressive and agile when attacking prey.

104 million spiders in one building. The spider apocalypse begins.

Another anecdote that I can no longer find the source of is related to the fact that orb weaver silk is the strongest organic material in existence. A pencil-thick fibre of of it would be able to stop a Boeing 747 mid-flight. Good thing giant spiders only live on the internet.

[Jag]

I love bugs and spiders and all the little (and not so little) creepy crawlies. We get at least one orb weaver every year taking up space outside our house. I love it. Sadly, the one this year made it's web in a very bad spot. I have this cast iron bell wind chime. During the day it would crawl up into the bell...but one day it got very, unseasonably, hot out and well...no more spider. It upset my youngest spawnling very much, because she really enjoyed seeing it on our porch.

Our house is also prone to "daddy long legs". Very large ones all over the place. I love them so much.

[Hrairoo]

Golden silk orb-weavers are my (cough) species of preference.

Communal orb weaver web at a shrine

Spider eats a snake

Orb weavers in space!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9P7Blxv4k8

Apparently spiders gain superpowers when they go to space. A related article (can't find it now) said that when they experience space microgravity, they are a first disoriented, but then learn to spin flawlessly symmetrical webs and are much more aggressive and agile when attacking prey.

104 million spiders in one building. The spider apocalypse begins.

Another anecdote that I can no longer find the source of is related to the fact that orb weaver silk is the strongest organic material in existence. A pencil-thick fibre of of it would be able to stop a Boeing 747 mid-flight. Good thing giant spiders only live on the internet.

Thank you so much for sharing these. That space video was absolutely enthralling. I love watching spiders hunt and grab their prey. I didn't know that about orb weaver spider silk either. What strong little weavers. ^^

I love bugs and spiders and all the little (and not so little) creepy crawlies. We get at least one orb weaver every year taking up space outside our house. I love it. Sadly, the one this year made it's web in a very bad spot. I have this cast iron bell wind chime. During the day it would crawl up into the bell...but one day it got very, unseasonably, hot out and well...no more spider. It upset my youngest spawnling very much, because she really enjoyed seeing it on our porch.

Our house is also prone to "daddy long legs". Very large ones all over the place. I love them so much.

Aw, so sweet that you guys have that kind of connection with your spidery neighbors. They can create such lovely patterns, it both adds beauty to your porch as well as a gothy aesthetic. Heh.

I grew up in the country and I remember as kids, we used to grab the daddy long legs by their feet and have them "point" where the dairy cows were(my neighbors had a small farm for cows). A fun lil old wives tale.

[Jag]

My house doesn't need any more gothy touches. We live half way in a old cemetery. >.< The spiders adding to it just really keeps people off our lawn.

One of my faerie books mentions daddy long legs (or harvestmen). They are the faeries who help with the harvest. Their longest leg is a harvesting scythe and it is bad luck to your crop to kill them.

[Atlach-Nacha]

Someone's having an excellent harvest this year.

[Jag]

Someone's having an excellent harvest this year.

I've seen that before. As much as I love spiders, if I poked something and that many of anything came bursting out...I'd run too.

[Hrairoo]

I've seen that before. As much as I love spiders, if I poked something and that many of anything came bursting out...I'd run too.

Still, it's a pretty cool visual.  What were they doin' all mushed together like a swept up barber shop? Biggest group hug ever.

[Jag]

Still, it's a pretty cool visual.  What were they doin' all mushed together like a swept up barber shop? Biggest group hug ever.

It's for warmth and survival.

EDIT: Interesting image of a cluster of harvestmen.

[kodiaku]

oh my god.

i have ALWAYS been the "weird bug girl" in my friend groups and workplace, aha. i adore spiders, and i get a lot of my family sending me pictures of critters they find and asking what it is/is it dangerous/can you come over and take it away please. just this past month, i rescued an adolescent tarantula (!!!) from the warehouse of the place i work at, just to make sure the guys working there wouldn't harm her. i herded her into a tupperware container and took her out to the hill across the street where i released her. it was the first time i'd ever seen a wild tarantula even though i've been living in the desert for about 15 years now, and i was SO excited. i think my coworkers think i'm a freak 😂

Someone's having an excellent harvest this year.

"FLEE, BROTHERS!! SCATTER!!!"

[Oniya]

asking what it is/is it dangerous/can you come over and take it away please.

LOL!