Watch Out For Spiders In Your Crickets

Like the Mafia.

Spiders dont drink from your mouth nor do you eat dozens in a lifetime during your sleep.

http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseu...eep.html#drink

Wellllll dang. And here I thought I was spouting scientific information.

Or, I could try to play it off like I KNEW it was a myth and I was just pulling everyones (heh heh heh) legs, whether octi or simply bi ped.

Yeah, that's what I'll do, I knew it all along. Sure, smart guy like me, weird guy like me, that's just the kind of thing a guy like me would know. Everyone would think so, right? Of course, of course........mutter mutter mutter

Most spiders don't bug me to much. Except the daddy long legs that seem to crawl on everything (I hate those things and they stink when you squish them). Growing up in Nebraska we had what we called garden spiders and they were good size, black with yellow lightning bolts. Others were black, white and yellow banded (different morphs?). They made the most perfect and clean webs with a crisp/clean white zig zag right down the middle.
The only thing that has crawled on me and waken me was a mouse when I was staying a cabin in Minnesota. It's not fun being in a nice sleep and waking up feeling a little weight crawling on you. Needless to say after the blanket whip and hearing the critter hit the wall across the room, I made a mad dash for the light. I never found that mouse but I set a trap and a day later had a huge field mouse in it with big bulging eyes. I guess I'm glad I didn't see it after the blanket whip.
Mark Westberg

Spiders and insects do not particularly bother me....... I have no problem capturing them (or squishing them if the case calls for it) but I still do not like it when one gets on me unexpectantly when I did not know it was there. There is always that split second of HEY!!!! WHAT THE F>>> IS THAT!!!!

Well I have a perfectly good Insects & Arachnids Discussions forum on this site that is virtually ignored. I guess I'm going to have to chop this thread in two and put most of this over there so maybe some of you will follow it.

Upon consideration and reflection, adding of course a bit of personal experiance, I am going back to believing that ALL of us do eat at least a few mulitlegged meals whilst we sleep. I've simply felt and been bitten while sleeping toooooo many times to rule it out completely. While I do not think they are going after water, one's mouth is a nice dark hiding place JUST right for a nice little webslinger to set up shop.

Oh Wes, if only I had the skills of cartooning...what a great mental image!!!
greg

Originally Posted by wilomn

While I do not think they are going after water, one's mouth is a nice dark hiding place JUST right for a nice little webslinger to set up shop.

A dark moist cave sounds like a perfect home.

Heck you had me convinced it was true!!! Still don't know if I believe it's not. Of course it's not documented, who would rush to the ER screaming I ate a spider, get it out!!!!, get it out!!!!!. I mean besides me........

Okay this thread has me a little freaked out. I never knew what brown recluse looked like until I saw the pics earlier on this post.

This is what happened tonight:
My 22 month old daughter fell asleep in front of the TV as she usually does. She grabs her bottle and cuddles up with her large stuffed bunny rabbit. When I picked her up I noticed a fast moving spider on the rabbit. I put her to bed and returned to get the spider.
<img src=http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/standard?pictid={623D805D-1816-4977-8FC2-C72E0FCB0BA8}&exp=f&moddt=38473.1383422454>

<img src=http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/standard?pictid={ABAF93AE-9977-4A0E-AB3B-288C5CE2898D}&exp=f&moddt=38473.138448044>

As I moved the rabbit I saw the spider and it reminded me of the brown recluse I had just seen on this post. It ran very quickly across the living room floor over to my napsack. I saw it crawl into the side pocket of my napsack. So I moved the bag into the kitchen tile floor and got some bug killer before I shook the spider out of the bag.
<img src=http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/standard?pictid={199D5E58-9F82-4E67-9EEF-E51110720D2A}&exp=f&moddt=38473.1380288426>

<img src=http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/standard?pictid={2BA8F8AD-3C96-4F39-B611-092F0429807C}&exp=f&moddt=38473.1381264931>

<img src=http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/standard?pictid={6A74F601-C0CE-4713-89CA-1FCD7893E6AA}&exp=f&moddt=38473.1379007986>

<img src=http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/standard?pictid={22E50DE6-0876-4A3E-8406-4ACDDC7E49FF}&exp=f&moddt=38473.1385567361>


I shook the spider onto the kitchen floor and sprayed it. It was then that the spider did something really freaky and agressive. I have never seen a spider act like this. It raised its front legs off the ground and spread its fangs in the direction of the bug spray. When i sprayed it seemed to jump towards the spray rying to bite it. Needless to say this does not need to be around my daughter.

<img src=http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/standard?pictid={5037539E-603F-4FC8-9147-9985DD8EEC35}&exp=f&moddt=38473.1610416667>


After putting the spider into a plastic baggie I had a closer look. This really does look like a Brown Recluse.

<img src=http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/standard?pictid={95DA6894-AC5D-4BB5-A5FE-2DD12BFB25BB}&exp=f&moddt=38473.1376409259>

<img src=http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/standard?pictid={46F3D8DE-DB43-46B9-946B-32381EA4352F}&exp=f&moddt=38473.1377112732>

<img src=http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/standard?pictid={DB94A585-9761-4C93-8B6B-3F32DDFEA524}&exp=f&moddt=38473.1377939236>

What freaks me out is my infant/toddler daughter was sleeping right next to it. I don't know where this came from as I had just sprayed the house (liberally) with insect spray last week because we have a lot of Black widows around the outside of the house.

What can I do to find out more about the habits of this spider so this does not happen again. What are the habits of the Brown recluse? If there is one can I expect there to be more?? Are the males and females just as toxic?

Originally Posted by bluerosy

What can I do to find out more about the habits of this spider so this does not happen again. What are the habits of the Brown recluse? If there is one can I expect there to be more?? Are the males and females just as toxic?

I don't know any specific sites to tell ya about but if you just type brown recluse into your browser there is a ton of sites concerning them. I really could not tell by your picture if it was indeed a brown recluse. It could have been though. Thats some scary stuff.............