# Creepy crawly pets



## Chew Toy McCoy

Here's some of my jumping spiders, female brown and male black.  They are very smart and curious and the eyes just kill me.


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## Alli

Those are my favorite! We have them everywhere, and they are what got me over my dislike of spiders. 

Husband just came in with a photo of a new orb spinner, Soo they're back. I'll try too get some photos next time there's a break in the rain.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

I use this app to ID insects.  You just take a picture or point it to a picture you already took and it gives you its best guess ID.   It’s been pretty accurate for me. In some cases it gives you runner up options you can change it too.  









						‎Insect Identification
					

‎- "Now I know who all the bugs are that are on my porch and my plants! Fun & informative."  - "Very surprised at this app’s accuracy so far."  - "That couldn’t have been easier!! This app really helped after I got bit by a redheaded bush cricket!!"   FEATURES: - Instantly identify any insect...



					apps.apple.com


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Alli said:


> Those are my favorite! We have them everywhere, and they are what got me over my dislike of spiders.
> 
> Husband just came in with a photo of a new orb spinner, Soo they're back. I'll try too get some photos next time there's a break in the rain.





I just found out about jumping spiders about a year ago.  I didn't know how prolific the species is, can be found everywhere except Antarctica.  Most of the pictures above are spiders I bought online, but the last picture is of one I caught at work a couple of months ago.  They are easy to handle and aren't prone to biting, only if they feel they are about to get mushed.  If they do bite it would at worst be like a bee sting.    

I love orb weaver spiders, the bigger the better.


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## Alli

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> I just found out about jumping spiders about a year ago.




I had one that kept jumping in bed with me one night. I would pick him up and put him on the night stand, and he'd just jump right back into the bed. They're too small to cuddle, and I didn't want to feel his little legs all night long. It was also too late for me to get up and put him outside, which I would normally have done. It did not end well.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Alli said:


> I had one that kept jumping in bed with me one night. I would pick him up and put him on the night stand, and he'd just jump right back into the bed. They're too small to cuddle, and I didn't want to feel his little legs all night long. It was also too late for me to get up and put him outside, which I would normally have done. It did not end well.




Great story until the end.   Maybe next time put an upside-down cup over it until you can put it safely elsewhere. I have a ridiculous amount of small critter containers (different size deli cups with vented lids) I have at home, work, and our cabin. I just realized I should probably keep a couple in my car!

I also caught a female jumping spider at work but she’s too small for my camera tech to get a good picture. In fact, before I grabbed her I first took a picture and then pinch zoomed it to confirm my suspicion it was a jumping spider.


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## jkcerda

little ones I can handle, hate black widows. I stopped stomping on them a few years ago and now take them out of the office in a sheet of paper when they get past the door.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

jkcerda said:


> little ones I can handle, hate black widows. I stopped stomping on them a few years ago and now take them out of the office in a sheet of paper when they get past the door.




We sometimes get roaches in our office at work.  Not because the place is filthy, but more because there are gaps at the bottom of the entrance doors they can easy crawl under to get inside.  If nobody is around when I see one I’ll usually bundle them in a paper towel and put them back outside away from the office.


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## jkcerda

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> We sometimes get roaches in our office at work.  Not because the place is filthy, but more because there are gaps at the bottom of the entrance doors they can easy crawl under to get inside.  If nobody is around when I see one I’ll usually bundle them in a paper towel and put them back outside away from the office.



we get lizards /bugs/ spiders. the door sometimes stays just a hair open .


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## lizkat

How about imaginary predators?    Painting eyes on the behinds of cattle has apparently deterred predators like lions and leopards.









						Painting Eyes On Cows’ Butts Can Scare Away Predators
					

What do you get when you paint a pair of eyes on a cow’s butt? The answer: a cost-effective approach to scaring predators away. The promise of this simple trick, called the “i-cow” solution, has been highlighted in a recent paper using 2,061 cows on farms in northern Botswana’s Okavango delta...




					modernfarmer.com


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## Alli

Why are iPhone photos suddenly showing up as HEIC?






Anyhow - ain't he a beauty?


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## jkcerda

skin crawls with some, I know it's an irrational fear when they are "ugly" to some of us.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

lizkat said:


> How about imaginary predators?    Painting eyes on the behinds of cattle has apparently deterred predators like lions and leopards.
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> Painting Eyes On Cows’ Butts Can Scare Away Predators
> 
> 
> What do you get when you paint a pair of eyes on a cow’s butt? The answer: a cost-effective approach to scaring predators away. The promise of this simple trick, called the “i-cow” solution, has been highlighted in a recent paper using 2,061 cows on farms in northern Botswana’s Okavango delta...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> modernfarmer.com




Reminds me how in some places where there are tigers people will wear face masks on the back of their head to make the tiger think they’ve been spotted.  

Kind of funny you can ward off some apex predators just by making eye contact.


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## jkcerda

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> Reminds me how in some places where there are tigers people will wear face masks on the back of their head to make the tiger think they’ve been spotted.
> 
> Kind of funny you can ward off some apex predators just by making eye contact.



not even restraining orders work on me.................................


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## lizkat

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> Reminds me how in some places where there are tigers people will wear face masks on the back of their head to make the tiger think they’ve been spotted.
> 
> Kind of funny you can ward off some apex predators just by making eye contact.




I wouldn't mind finding out if this works on black bears.   I'm always wondering when I will have annoyed a black bear that may have been reconnoitering status of blackberries in the bushes just behind the place next door.  I try to keep that bounty-giving briarpatch cut way back some years...   but then the appeal of their fruit rises to memory,  stays my hand and in a couple more years I'm back to wondering if I'm going to be greeted by a bear on my return from the road while I'm carrying nothing but a now pretty flimsy local newspaper and some junkmail.

But getting back to creepy crawly "friends"...  I'm usually more sensibly minding whether or not I've picked up any deer ticks after traipsing through the grass to the road in flip flops instead of boots sprayed with supposed chemical deterrents.  Too many friends and some kin have been stricken with chronic Lyme.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

This is one of my favorite spiders, although not available in the pet trade in the US I believe.  Not only does it look horrifically badass (like a human skull fused on to a spider - so metal), but it also weaves a net that it holds and then casts down on its prey.  Awesome.

Side note: Great youtube channel for short hilarious animal documentaries.


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## lizkat

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> This is one of my favorite spiders, although not available in the pet trade in the US I believe.  Not only does it look horrifically badass (like a human skull fused on to a spider - so metal), but it also weaves a net that it holds and then casts down on its prey.  Awesome.
> 
> Side note: Great youtube channel for short hilarious animal documentaries.




Imagine if in their evolution, those spiders are very slowly "discovering" that it's adaptively beneficial for their species to end up much, much bigger.  Their abilities already seem beyond the imaginative powers behind most sci-fi movies.


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## Alli

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> Not only does it look horrifically badass (like a human skull fused on to a spider




I think he looks like he’s wearing sunglasses. Which is also pretty badass.


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## Alli

Everyone lives in harmony in my yard.


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## Thomas Veil

Many, many moons ago when our son was a teenager, he kept a snake in the house. This was without my permission as I’m afraid of and loathe the damn things.

But against my better wishes and to keep the peace, I left the matter alone, with his assurances that it could not get out of its tank.














Until it did.

It of course pushed the poorly secured lid up and slithered out.

I only found out about it days later when my wife told me. She’d kept its escape to herself for a while knowing I’d freak. And also do an I Told You So.

So long story short, our son had been looking for the snake, but not finding it, he did what teenagers do: he lost interest in it. The snake doesn’t turn up anywhere and gradually our nervousness goes away. Weeks turn into months. Pages fly off the calendar, until after six months we figure the thing died somewhere of starvation and we’ll find it _someday_ when we clean out the closet in his room or something.

So one day our _other_ son goes into the basement to do his weekly laundry, which goes down a clothes chute from upstairs. He picks up a pile of clothes from the basement floor and does an Olympic-level backwards long jump when he finds the snake under it.

I wasn’t there, thank god, to see any of this. Nor did we ever figure out how the snake got from his room on the second floor, down to the basement without anyone seeing it. But our older son picked up the snake and returned it to its (now more secure) tank.

Ugh. I’m with Indiana Jones on this one. I _hate_ snakes.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Thomas Veil said:


> Many, many moons ago when our son was a teenager, he kept a snake in the house. This was without my permission as I’m afraid of and loathe the damn things.
> 
> But against my better wishes and to keep the peace, I left the matter alone, with his assurances that it could not get out of its tank.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
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> 
> Until it did.
> 
> It of course pushed the poorly secured lid up and slithered out.
> 
> I only found out about it days later when my wife told me. She’d kept its escape to herself for a while knowing I’d freak. And also do an I Told You So.
> 
> So long story short, our son had been looking for the snake, but not finding it, he did what teenagers do: he lost interest in it. The snake doesn’t turn up anywhere and gradually our nervousness goes away. Weeks turn into months. Pages fly off the calendar, until after six months we figure the thing died somewhere of starvation and we’ll find it _someday_ when we clean out the closet in his room or something.
> 
> So one day our _other_ son goes into the basement to do his weekly laundry, which goes down a clothes chute from upstairs. He picks up a pile of clothes from the basement floor and does an Olympic-level backwards long jump when he finds the snake under it.
> 
> I wasn’t there, thank god, to see any of this. Nor did we ever figure out how the snake got from his room on the second floor, down to the basement without anyone seeing it. But our older son picked up the snake and returned it to its (now more secure) tank.
> 
> Ugh. I’m with Indiana Jones on this one. I _hate_ snakes.




I wasn't allowed to get a snake when I was a kid.  So that's pretty much the first thing I did when I moved out, got a columbian boa and albino python.  

I also once lived with somebody who had a 6 foot boa.  One day when I went to the bathroom as soon as I open the door and walk in there it was, my head level, face in mine flicking its tongue, resting on the top of the shower glass door.  It wasn't an escape.  The roommate put it there while cleaning its tank and she didn't feel it was important to let me know that.  Even though I like snakes, that's not a surprise position you want to be in, especially with a snake that size.  Luckily it didn't strike at my face.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

These are my tailless whip scorpions.  Amazing little critters whose appearance will probably make you go NOPE, but they are completely harmless to people.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

This is a test video I made for a youtube series I was going to do called Mantid Reviews.  The concept was make videos of my various mantids standing on a product.  Then go to Amazon and find reviews, the more pretentious or demanding, the better.  Then copy and paste the review into a text to speech translator and design a voice that sounds like a bug.  Couldn't find apples on Amazon at the time so I used the closest thing I could find.


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## Alli

Love the mantid reviews. You should keep working on that!



Chew Toy McCoy said:


> These are my tailless whip scorpions.




Gotta admit, they don’t do anything for me.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Alli said:


> Love the mantid reviews. You should keep working on that!
> 
> 
> 
> Gotta admit, they don’t do anything for me.




With the Mantid Reviews I got preemptively overwhelmed thinking of the size appropriate products I would need with entertaining Amazon reviews.  Also I spotted a shiny object out of the corner of my eye and moved on to that.     I have many interests and it can be hard to focus on just one, especially with a pay the bills job with a decent commute time.

I look at tailless whip scorpions, or Taylor Swift scorpions as they are currently popularly called (nothing to do with her personally, just sounds the same when you say it), and think if a child was God or evolution and went "Let's combine a scorpion with a spider and crab" and that is what you would get, traits from all.  They are neither a scorpion or a spider (or a crab).  They are their own thing.  That video was a good moment to catch as neither I or the (not) scorpion realized the other was hiding under the leaves.  It got disturbed by the adapted front "whip" legs they use to feel around and corral prey.  If you revisit towards the end of the video when they are both on the side of the bark you can see the top one rapidly vibrating those legs.  I wonder if that is a form of communication as if to say "Sorry for disturbing you.  I get it.  Now back off."


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## Chew Toy McCoy




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## Alli

Reminds me of an ostrich burying his head in the dirt.


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## DT

Oh yeah, I love jumping spiders, hahaha, their face, I like to give them a happy little smile!


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## DT

Alli said:


> Why are iPhone photos suddenly showing up as HEIC?
> 
> View attachment 198View attachment 199
> Anyhow - ain't he a beauty?




I think he's a __she__


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## DT

Ran into TWO baby black rat snakes/racers mowing yesterday, one was trying to end himself, I chased him away and he tried to get back under the mower.  He must be sick of 2020 too ...

I'll take as many snakes (nonvenomous) as want to hang out in my yard.


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## DT

Sorry, had a post bombardment 


My contribution to the Golden Silk Orb Weaver pics


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## Eric

D_T said:


> Oh yeah, I love jumping spiders, hahaha, their face, I like to give them a happy little smile!
> 
> View attachment 305



Dude! First out loud laugh of the day.


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## DT

ericgtr12 said:


> Dude! First out loud laugh of the day.




Hahaha, I love putting little smiley faces on critters and whatnot.

So, this won't be easy to explain, umm, so we got into whole groove with Mothman, you know, the urban legend, Gere film, where we'd voice him predicting the future, then he just started saying things, and we found this funny illustration I added the same mouth to, we'd print him out and stick him around the house (there's actually one in the wife's car, saying something about his preferred brand of kitchen appliance ...

OK, this is making less sense the more I type ...

... here ...


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## DT

"We're getting pizza on Saturday, I can see the future, I'm MOTHMAN!!"


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## Gutwrench

I saw a 🕷.

Nope; backing out of thread shivering.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Alli said:


> Gotta admit, they don’t do anything for me.




Does this image of a tailless whip scorpion do anything for you?






I'm not going to ever play poker against you if you look at that and still go "Meh.  I really don't have any feelings about that one way or another."


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## Chew Toy McCoy

I've had 5 of these. I'm taking a break from mantids while I care for my lizards and spiders but they truly are amazing insects and I would highly recommend them as pets if you are interested in insects.


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## Alli

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> Does this image of a tailless whip scorpion do anything for you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not going to ever play poker against you if you look at that and still go "Meh.  I really don't have any feelings about that one way or another."




They just look like plastic toys.



Chew Toy McCoy said:


> I've had 5 of these. I'm taking a break from mantids while I care for my lizards and spiders but they truly are amazing insects and I would highly recommend them as pets if you are interested in insects.




Those are gorgeous!!


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Alli said:


> They just look like plastic toys.





How about this?






Apparently I really want you to be certain and invest in this.


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## Alli

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> Apparently I really want you to be certain and invest in this.




Ok, I’m sold. That video is adorable! Reminded me of a bodybuilder with really skinny arms.

Can they hurt you when they grab?


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Alli said:


> Ok, I’m sold. That video is adorable! Reminded me of a bodybuilder with really skinny arms.
> 
> Can they hurt you when they grab?




 No, completely harmless. They just look like something out of a scifi movie or what the right thinks progressives look like.


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## Chew Toy McCoy




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## Alli

Chew Toy McCoy said:


>




Until the hand went in there, I would have sworn it was some kind of CGA!


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Alli said:


> Until the hand went in there, I would have sworn it was some kind of CGA!




I've had many mantids and haven't had them display their threat posture like that.  I think you have to really startle them or move aggressively.  I'm convinced that you can domesticate them pretty easily to the point that they don't do that just because a big lumbering human is approaching.  I've even heard you can train them to know when it's dinner time and they'll come grab the prey from your hand.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Was going to do her makeup but she wasn’t having it.


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## Alli

Not sure if this counts as creepy crawly or not, but he really caught my eye this morning.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Alli said:


> Not sure if this counts as creepy crawly or not, but he really caught my eye this morning.
> 
> View attachment 423View attachment 424




Love katydids!  Don’t see them too much around here.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Classic I think belongs here.


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## Alli

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> Love katydids!  Don’t see them too much around here.




He’s actually the first one I’ve seen. They’re usually up in the trees where we listen to them but never see them.


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## Chew Toy McCoy




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## Chew Toy McCoy




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## Alli




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## lizkat

Your hurricane season aftermath public service announcement:

Not all that funny, and surely being passed around in science classes of any home-schooled mosquitoes on the Gulf Coast of the USA today, as Hurricane Sally inches through the area with record-setting rainfall and floods and the weather still plenty warm for plenty bug hatches.    Pro tip:  it's not just your ankles that mosquitoes snack on, so dig out that bug spray to cart around with ya.   It's been estimated that 5% or more of humankind's death rate over our entire history has been caused by diseases vectored by mosquitoes.​


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## Alli

lizkat said:


> Not all that funny, and surely being passed around in science classes of any home-schooled mosquitoes on the Gulf Coast of the USA today, as Hurricane Sally inches through the area with record-setting rainfall and floods and the weather still plenty warm for plenty bug hatches. Pro tip: it's not just your ankles that mosquitoes snack on, so dig out that bug spray to cart around with ya. It's been estimated that 5% or more of humankind's death rate over our entire history has been caused by diseases vectored by mosquitoes.




Lucky for me, my former sergeant works for the health department in vector (mosquito) control. He will bring the spray truck right up my driveway and give us a good shot once the roads are clear.


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## Alli

This one’s for you, @Chew Toy McCoy


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Alli said:


> This one’s for you, @Chew Toy McCoy
> 
> View attachment 550


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## Huntn

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> I use this app to ID insects.  You just take a picture or point it to a picture you already took and it gives you its best guess ID.   It’s been pretty accurate for me. In some cases it gives you runner up options you can change it too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ‎Insect Identification
> 
> 
> ‎- "Now I know who all the bugs are that are on my porch and my plants! Fun & informative."  - "Very surprised at this app’s accuracy so far."  - "That couldn’t have been easier!! This app really helped after I got bit by a redheaded bush cricket!!"   FEATURES: - Instantly identify any insect...
> 
> 
> 
> apps.apple.com



I have one for plants (PlantSnap), but it’s not that accurate. I imagine plants are more difficult to ID.


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## Huntn

jkcerda said:


> skin crawls with some, I know it's an irrational fear when they are "ugly" to some of us.



When I find spiders and lizards in the house, I do my best to save them, depositing them outside. Roaches, ants= no mercy.


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## Huntn

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> Here's some of my jumping spiders, female brown and male black.  They are very smart and curious and the eyes just kill me.
> 
> View attachment 184
> View attachment 185View attachment 186
> View attachment 187
> View attachment 188
> 
> View attachment 189
> View attachment 190



Sometimes I see them as cute, and sometimes I imagine them as 8’ tall and I get a chill.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Huntn said:


> When I find spiders and lizards in the house, I do my best to save them, depositing them outside. Roaches, ants= no mercy.





I think I've mentioned on here, maybe even in this thread, tha I'll even save a roach, but also I have yet to have a roach infestation problem (knock on wood) anywhere I've lived.  I believe they are close relatives of the praying mantis.


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## Huntn

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> I think I've mentioned on here, maybe even in this thread, tha I'll even save a roach, but also I have yet to have a roach infestation problem (knock on wood) anywhere I've lived.  I believe they are close relatives of the praying mantis.




I remember in elementary school we had a terrarium with a praying mantis egg case and when it hatched there were little mantises all over the place. I think they would be cool pets.

This part of the post deviates from the original intent of the thread, celebrating cute spiders, which (cute and uncute) don’t bother me unless they were everywhere in my house. As I said, if they can be captured, they are released outside. This is because I regard spiders as basically good insects devouring bad insects. 🕷🕷

The reality is that both myself and wife have a deep bias against roaches any insect and any critter that desires to infest my house.  I dislike roaches and flies because they live in filth, and before the fly lands on my arm, the last stop was probably a turd dinner. I realize roaches and flies also serve a purpose, just not in my house. 

And regarding roaches because I treat the entrance and strategic pathways in the house with Ortho Home Defense biannually,  the only ones I find are dead or dying ones, the big ones, American Cockroaches, sometimes referred to as water or palmetto bugs. They typically slip in under the front door. I have been meaning to adjust that for years. 

This goes back to the first time I lived in Texas, 1979, before persistent insecticides (I think). I‘d wake up in the morning and kick the kitchen trash can and  invariably would hear the scurrying of insect feet. So, the kitchen trash ended up in the garage, where with the same procedure, if I heard the dreadful noise, a healthy dose of Raid would be applied.





The Only Good Roach...
And, no, it’s not sleeping. 

​The commercial products I use:




thresholds of the house, bathroom, and kitchen




Attic and garage




​Attic, have not seen a mouse in the house, but there is evidence in the attic. I had a large sticky pad up there a while back and something walked away with it. It might have been a squirrel, and since then found a hole in the soffit I patched.


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## Alli

I cannot tolerate roaches. I don’t know why. Although a roach certainly save the day in Doom Patrol.

When I lived in Taiwan, we had those extra huge flying roaches. They could make life miserable. We’ve been lucky living in the south, despite the abundance of “palmetto” bugs, we never get them in the house. (Knock wood.) Good thing, cause our cats are such wimps they’d probably run from them.


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## Alli

It seems to be mantid week.


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## Alli




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## Chew Toy McCoy

Check out this asshole.


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## hulugu

Alli said:


> I cannot tolerate roaches. I don’t know why. Although a roach certainly save the day in Doom Patrol.
> 
> When I lived in Taiwan, we had those extra huge flying roaches. They could make life miserable. We’ve been lucky living in the south, despite the abundance of “palmetto” bugs, we never get them in the house. (Knock wood.) Good thing, cause our cats are such wimps they’d probably run from them.




The Sonoran desert has two "bugs" that are just huge and straight-up horrifying for some: 

First, the Sonoran tarantula: 






Second, the Palo Verde beetle, which ABC15 a Phoenix-area news station decided to call a "demon bug" one year: 






I've been informed this morning that we are getting an axolotl, and that my wife has purchased a fish tank for our new critter.


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## thekev

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> Check out this asshole.




That's a very strong web. If I had a pet female spider like that (the guy refers to it as "her") I would name it Sigourney Weaver, that or Charlotte.


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## Alli

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> Check out this asshole.



Total asshole. But that’s what I have all over the yard. He must not realize how prevalent they are along the gulf coast.


thekev said:


> That's a very strong web. If I had a pet female spider like that (the guy refers to it as "her") I would name it Sigourney Weaver, that or Charlotte.



I call all our spiders Charlotte.


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## lizkat

Alli said:


> Total asshole. But that’s what I have all over the yard. He must not realize how prevalent they are along the gulf coast.
> 
> I call all our spiders Charlotte.




'fraid I was calling a cute but very loud little cricket in my kitchen last night by some other names, while halfheartedly trying on the hour to capture him and put him back outside into what was still a fairly balmy evening.  At one point I closed a window so I could address him with more abandon and not shock my neighbors downwind.

That cricket was smart to come inside though, however he managed it.  Overnight it dropped off pretty cold out there. 

You can tell the approximate temperature by the rate of a cricket's chirping, but it only works down to around 50ºF or so.   Just the male chirps and when it gets chilly he loses interest (it's a shout-out to potential mates and a warning to other males).  Yes really.  It's Dolbear's law:  crickets chirp at consistent rates in their ambient temperature. 

The rough equation is below although it varies slightly by type, and the little guy I was trying to send back outdoors was a field cricket, whose chirps are also affected by point of their mating cycle and their age...   and I wasn't gonna take his chatty word for anything anymore anyway after listening to him for a half hour straight.

T = 50+[(N-40)/4]​T = temperature (Fahrenheit)​N = number of chirps per minute​
Yeah.  N also = too loud; earbuds and Smokin' Joe Kubek to the rescue.


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## Yoused

Name my new pet:


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## Alli

Yoused said:


> Name my new pet:
> View attachment 601




Spud.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Looking to get one of these little darlings, chilean flame dwarf tarantula.  






Not available or out of stock at my usual sources.  Maybe one of you masochists who insist on still using Facebook can check the marketplace and we can work something out.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Alli said:


> Total asshole.




I call him an asshole with affection.  He has a whole series of videos where he purposely hunts down and gets stung or bit by the insects with the reported most painful non lethal effect.  

Behold just one of many.


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## Yoused

thekev said:


> That's a very strong web. If I had a pet female spider like that (the guy refers to it as "her") I would name it Sigourney Weaver, that or Charlotte.



Ironic, that. Some insane people in Madagascar went out and collected Golden Orb Weaver silk on spindles, which they used to









						Spider Wranglers Weave One-Of-A-Kind Tapestry
					

The American Museum of Natural History in New York unveiled something never before seen: an 11-by-4-foot tapestry made completely of spider silk. The tapestry took four years to make, with the help of more than 1 million spiders.




					www.npr.org


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## Alli

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> Looking to get one of these little darlings, chilean flame dwarf tarantula.



Tarantula body language. Did you notice the pattern on the body of that baby looks like a cat face?


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## Yoused

This here is not a creepy crawly, in the sense that it is not anxiety-inducing. It spends most of its day drunk on champagne-and-orange-juice cocktails.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Yoused said:


> This here is not a creepy crawly, in the sense that it is not anxiety-inducing. It spends most of its day drunk on champagne-and-orange-juice cocktails.
> 
> View attachment 637​




What is that?  Kind of looks like an assassin bug, kinda.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

This little jumping spider was on a table at work.  Couldn't really get a clear closeup because of how tiny they were, smaller than an average adult ant.


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## Yoused

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> What is that?  Kind of looks like an assassin bug, kinda.



It is the bug that, I think, lives exclusively on the mimosa tree.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Yoused said:


> It is the bug that, I think, lives exclusively on the mimosa tree.




The Bug ID app says (with predicted 94% accuracy in this case) that it is a wheel bug which belongs to the assassin bug family.  Learnin' shit.


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## Yoused

Well, I guess it kind of looks like an assassin bug, but, damn, look how big that thing is,




Each one of those long leaflets is about a quarter inch, so that thing is like 3" in body length.


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## Alli

Yoused said:


> This here is not a creepy crawly, in the sense that it is not anxiety-inducing. It spends most of its day drunk on champagne-and-orange-juice cocktails.






Yoused said:


> It is the bug that, I think, lives exclusively on the mimosa tree.




And now it all makes sense. I didn’t notice it was a mimosa tree, so I wondered why you were feeding it champagne and orange juice....


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## Yoused

The kids are busy


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## Chew Toy McCoy




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## Alli

This guy is so good!


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## Gutwrench

I found this cute little guy sitting on the cover to the Egg. He has a super long red split tongue (not a tongue but feeler/antenna thing) that slips out of his mouth occasionally.


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## Alli

I went out this morning to feed the jays and almost ran into a web. I reached out to see if I could move one of the anchors, and the inhabitant was down in a heartbeat. Dunno what kind of spider he is. I went back in to grab my phone to get a photo, but the angle was bad. When I ducked down to get to the other side it spooked him and he went back up to the web. I tugged on the strand again, but he didn’t reappear.

The strand was extremely strong and not at all sticky. I was impressed. But I didn’t want to wind up wearing it at some point during the day, so I again tried to move the anchor. Since it was so strong and not sticky, it came right off the porch and sprung up into the main web, causing it to collapse.


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## Gutwrench

Alli said:


> I went out this morning to feed the jays and almost ran into a web. I reached out to see if I could move one of the anchors, and the inhabitant was down in a heartbeat. Dunno what kind of spider he is. I went back in to grab my phone to get a photo, but the angle was bad. When I ducked down to get to the other side it spooked him and he went back up to the web. I tugged on the strand again, but he didn’t reappear.
> 
> The strand was extremely strong and not at all sticky. I was impressed. But I didn’t want to wind up wearing it at some point during the day, so I again tried to move the anchor. Since it was so strong and not sticky, it came right off the porch and sprung up into the main web, causing it to collapse.




I can not stand spiders.  I hate them. I am using the word HATE here. 

Here’s a war story....I was out of the academy by a week or two teamed up with a veteran training officer and we were sent to a glass breakage alarm with motion detected inside.  Since I was in training I was primary leading the search of the building’s perimeter.  

Three of us were somewhere on the side of the building climbing through bushes and brambles and debris when I came to an old service door on a little porch like thing.  So I stepped up on the landing from the side using my best cover and concealment moves when suddenly I felt dizzy and my vision was blurred and distorted.  

I paused a moment to collect myself then realized my blurry vision was due to a GIGANTIC spiderweb just inches from my face...my eyes finally focused on it. To make matters worse there was a GIGANTIC spider perched in the center right in front of my eyes!! [With each passing year that spider just gets bigger and bigger in my memory but I swear it was the size of my fist.]

Totally unaware of the danger I was dealing with the other guys routinely wrapped around porch to cover me. That‘s when my instincts kicked in.  

I let out a girly scream (no misogyny intended) and punched - kinda jousted - the center of the web with the muzzle of my gun.  Of course the web collapsed around my hand so now I’m flailing my gun hand around in the air while making little choking and snorting sounds 

My buddies had no idea what was happening but dove for cover as I violently shook my arm fearing that eight legged bastard was on my shirt sleeve.  

Anyway, I’ll end this as randomly as I started. The spider was MIA and the alarm turned out to be false. The guys helping me clear the perimeter were watching me over their shoulders as they left.  My trainer laughed it off and never wrote anything derogatory in my daily activity report.  

The End


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## Alli

Gutwrench said:


> Anyway, I’ll end this as randomly as I started. The spider was MIA and the alarm turned out to be false. The guys helping me clear the perimeter were watching me over their shoulders as they left. My trainer laughed it off and never wrote anything derogatory in my daily activity report.



I can see so many ways that could have gone wrong. You were lucky. Your team was lucky. Hell, even the spider was lucky!


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## Chew Toy McCoy

The take away from this picture should be I'm good on my steps and stand ups per day but am seriously lacking on exercise.


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## Chew Toy McCoy




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## Chew Toy McCoy




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## Chew Toy McCoy

Dumbass.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Never heard of these things.  I like the ones that launch into flips and somehow manage to stabilize into flight.


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## lizkat

This is pretty cool, there's a critter called the diabolical ironclad beetle, one inch long, able to withstand compression of 39k times its own weight.

Yeah that's its name, "diabolical ironclad beetle" -- a denizen of southern California forests.  Hopefully there are still some left after the wildfires.  The beetle has layered armor pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Now materials researchers and biologists are interested in seeing how these features could be transferred into improving impact resistance in things that humans use or are transported in.  Some of your tax dollars are at work here via an $8 million research projected funded by the US Air Force.  









						What scientists hope to learn from a beetle that can survive being run over by a car
					

The ironclad beetle's shell is strong enough to withstand being run over by a car. It may help scientists design tougher airplanes and buildings.




					www.latimes.com


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## Apple fanboy

My wife hates spiders. I spend so much time removing them. But when she isn't there....


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## Huntn

Apple fanboy said:


> My wife hates spiders. I spend so much time removing them. But when she isn't there....View attachment 853



I once considered having a tarantula pet, but then decided no. When I was in the USN based in South Texas we used to see them occasionally outside the BOQ (bachelor officer quarters). They lived in burrows, but I have no clue if they were the ones digging burrows or they would take them from other underground dwellers.

I grew up living rurally In Upper Marlboro, Md, but in a sub-division of houses. Back then (circa 1968) the area was rural, 99% farm land, but now a suburb of DC.  The saying _you can never go home _is true in areas actively being developed watching the farms dissapear filled with miles of houses. 

I had friends who lived on nearby farms. This gave me opportunities for semi-exotic pets. Influenced by an _Exotic Pet book _with a girl and two bats hanging from her blouse on the cover,  I briefly had a pet bat flushed out of a friends attic, but quickly realized it was not a good pet because I’d always wonder about rabies infections if it bit me, so always handled it with gloves while feeding it cricket legs.

Briefly had a pet possum, nope... Although passive, made a mess of their bedding, so turned it loose. And I had a boa constrictor for years until it got too big and my Dad sold it. I used to raise my own mice, but it got to a point where I needed and raised rats.

​As an adult living in Minneapolis, I volunteered to take care of a nephew‘s Ball Python because they were in over their heads and did not want to keep it. I’d have it out in my lap or on the carpet, and it spooked the hell out of our cats, but it never tried to eat them. I kept it well fed.  Honestly, I don‘t see reptiles as being affectionate.  That lasted about 6 months until I got tired of taking care of it and gave it back to them to sell. I was not going to raise mice/rats, so I used to buy frozen rats for it. You’d thaw them out soak them in warm water to get their temperature up and then drag them around the cage by their tail until the snake struck it and squeezed. Every so often, would buy a treat, a live rat for it.

Yes, when I see a lizard (daily) part of me wants to domesticate it, but I think  they probably be happier, if lizards can be happy, being free spirits even if it’s a shorter brutal life for some of them, and honestly I don’t want the obligation of taking care of them.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Huntn said:


> I once considered having a tarantula pet, but then decided no. When I was in the USN based in South Texas we used to see them occasionally outside the BOQ (bachelor officer quarters). They lived in burrows, but I have no clue if they were the ones digging burrows or they would take them from other underground dwellers.
> 
> I grew up living rurally In Upper Marlboro, Md, but in a sub-division of houses. Back then (circa 1968) the area was rural, 99% farm land, but now a suburb of DC.  The saying _you can never go home _is true in areas actively being developed watching the farms dissapear filled with miles of houses.
> 
> I had friends who lived on nearby farms. This gave me opportunities for semi-exotic pets. Influenced by an _Exotic Pet book _with a girl and two bats hanging from her blouse on the cover,  I briefly had a pet bat flushed out of a friends attic, but quickly realized it was not a good pet because I’d always wonder about rabies infections if it bit me, so always handled it with gloves while feeding it cricket legs.
> 
> Briefly had a pet possum, nope... Although passive, made a mess of their bedding, so turned it loose. And I had a boa constrictor for years until it got too big and my Dad sold it. I used to raise my own mice, but it got to a point where I needed and raised rats.
> 
> View attachment 1017​As an adult living in Minneapolis, I volunteered to take care of a nephew‘s Ball Python because they were in over their heads and did not want to keep it. I’d have it out in my lap or on the carpet, and it spooked the hell out of our cats, but it never tried to eat them. I kept it well fed.  Honestly, I don‘t see reptiles as being affectionate.  That lasted about 6 months until I got tired of taking care of it and gave it back to them to sell. I was not going to raise mice/rats, so I used to buy frozen rats for it. You’d thaw them out soak them in warm water to get their temperature up and then drag them around the cage by their tail until the snake struck it and squeezed. Every so often, would buy a treat, a live rat for it.
> 
> Yes, when I see a lizard (daily) part of me wants to domesticate it, but I think  they probably be happier, if lizards can be happy, being free spirits even if it’s a shorter brutal life for some of them, and honestly I don’t want the obligation of taking care of them.



Before I got Butters (blue tongue skink, well covered on this forum) the neck and neck choice was between a blue tongue skink and a ball python.  I've had constrictors in the past but ball pythons don't get that big and are incredibly docile.  Butters became the winner when a respected north american breeder I subscribe to sent an email saying babies were for sale and I happend to be in the right place (my email with a link) at the right time.  It's seriously like an ebay sniper bid without any prenotice that the item is up for sale.  Within minutes, gone.

Having said that, the other reason I came to this thread.......

Old world and new world tarantulas, for those who want to entertain their dinner party guests.  This definition is decidedly conquistadors.  New world is considered Europe with a decidedly huge obvious blindspot to Africa which could be considered the OG old world, but whatever.  Old world is considered the Americas.  Typically the noticeable difference between new world and old world is the new world has a secondary defense which is they rub their bum with their back legs that launches highly irritating hairs into the air while the cast of Monty Python yells "Piss off!.  Part of that I made up.  Old world doesn't bother with that nonsense and instead has a much more toxic venom.

There, you learned shit.  Also, I might have gotten that completely backwards.    Point being, there's the difference.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Don't think I already posted this.  One of my mantids clearly pulling a prey equal in size to feast.


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## lizkat

Friendly capture.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1325763076076023808/


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## Chew Toy McCoy

What a beautiful snake.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Totally forgot I used to make compilation videos of my different mantis species.  The is one of my favorites, the wandering violin.  They are one of the few species that can live communally, won't eat each other unless really starving.


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## Chew Toy McCoy




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## Chew Toy McCoy

Very dangerous transition for mantids.  I've lost several as a result of a bad molt.  Their exoskeleton is very soft right after and if they fall  it hardens in the position they land.  It's pretty horrific and sad.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Doesn't get much more alien moving than this.


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## Chew Toy McCoy




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## Chew Toy McCoy

Go to about 8:20 to see the eyes on the spider.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Don't remember if I posted this already.  Beetle artists.


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## Chew Toy McCoy




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## Chew Toy McCoy

An impressive array of eyes.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

What a beauty.  Never even heard of these.


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## Chew Toy McCoy




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## Yoused

what "pet" means in Australia


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Yoused said:


> what "pet" means in Australia




I have a false widow spider living behind my toilet, very fast and hides in a small opening between the pipe and the wall.  Sometimes it comes out and hangs out on the web it made just outside the pipe.  It gets plenty of water from the shower condensation and is probably living off the occasional escapee cricket for feeding my other critters.  

It's a little too fast for me to trap it and release it.  So I just let it stay.  If it was a real widow spider it would be one of the few times I don't practice live and let live.  We all have our limits.


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## thekev

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> It's a little too fast for me to trap it and release it.  So I just let it stay.  If it was a real widow spider it would be one of the few times I don't practice live and let live.  We all have our limits.




Huntsman spiders are considerably faster (and more interesting).


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## Chew Toy McCoy

thekev said:


> Huntsman spiders are considerably faster (and more interesting).



And about 100 times bigger.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Yoused said:


> what "pet" means in Australia


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## Chew Toy McCoy

One of the things that keeps me away from most tarantulas is flicking their abdominal hairs which you can see at about 0:37.  Apparently it's very irritating and you can imagine why.  The cat was not a fan.


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## User.45

In Hawaii I almost stepped on one of these fuckers..Bare foot. Never been back... Giant centipedes managed to collect ALL the attributes I think are wrong with insects...


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## Yoused

Does Hawaii have anything like


Spoiler: these?


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## User.45

Yoused said:


> Does Hawaii have anything like
> 
> 
> Spoiler: these?
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 4097



No venom, doesn't fit under the door, square root of legs and one tenth of speed. I think these giant crabs are cute!


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## Huntn

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> What a beautiful snake.



Don’t think so not as a pet. Is that a boa? The boas and pythons I’ve owned do not have fangs.


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## Joe

I'm not sure why I opened this thread, but I'll see myself out lol


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Just found out about these little cuties, but it appears they are hard to get in the US.  Point goes to Europe.


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## Yoused

JagRunner said:


> I'm not sure why I opened this thread, but I'll see myself out lol



Hey! What is that in your shoulder?


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Got a couple of baby jumping spiders, too small to get a good picture of with my camera.  AA battery in the picture to show how small the enclosure is.


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## JohnR

Chew Toy McCoy said:


> What a beauty.  Never even heard of these.



The Eastern Indigo is on the endangered species list I believe, so if you see one in the wild, you are supposed to leave it be. That said, there are people that breed them. But I hear they poop a lot!


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## JohnR

Huntn said:


> Don’t think so not as a pet. Is that a boa? The boas and pythons I’ve owned do not have fangs.



It is an Amazon Basin tree boa. Very expensive. I had 4 of them...here was one:


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## Yoused

and more awesome false-color micrographs of insect anatomy​


----------

