Friday Photo: Furry Spider
During my morning jog (and yes, it was a glorious 68 degrees this morning! Wahoo!), I witnessed something that I didn’t think happened in nature.
I came upon a tarantula “digging” a hole. He was excavating dirt away from the entry to his den. I honestly didn’t think they dug their own homes. But then, again, maybe he found some other burrow and was just tidying around the front door before settling in?
At any rate: a cool event. Photo below is from a different tarantula – equally impressive. Have I mentioned that I think tarantulas are cute?
This giant tarantula showed up under the breezeway a few weeks ago. He was at least the size of some of the kanagroo rats in the area – maybe five inches by three inches! Tarantulas get a bad rap and are not aggressive or poisonous. The worst they'll do, if threatened and roughly handled, is shoot some hairs from their abdomen onto you. OK. They also can bite, but only if provoked.Click to enlarge.
September 24th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Sorry Melissa. I might have gotten the shovel out for that one. You are a better person than I.
Melissa Crytzer Fry Reply:
September 24th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
C’mon, Hallie. He’s not so bad! We can’t kill things just because we’re afraid of them ;-). OK – well, to be honest, my feeling about scorpions is right in line with yours!
September 25th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Hi Melissa, you seem to be encountering a lot of scary creatures. You are indeed a brave jogger, if I had seen a rattle snake it would be enough to put me of jogging for atleast a fortnight. I am terrified of snakes. While jogging, whenever I hear a rustle or see a movement in the grass, my heart stops beating for sometime.
I agree with you that we can’t kill things,just because we are afraid of them.
Thanks for the tweet.