An eight legged friend who lives in my tub.

[pitbulllady]

Can you get a picture of the spider? It might be a good idea for me to identify it, to at least let you know if it's dangerous or not. In actuality, very few spiders are dangerous to humans, and most have fangs way too small to penetrate human skin(Common House Spiders being a case in point-they cannot bite us, and they actually eat other spiders, including Brown Recluse spiders, which are VERY dangerous to humans). Unless the spider is in a web suspended above the tub, it's probably not in a good place. Many times spiders fall into tubs and sinks, and cannot climb back out, so they eventually will starve to death. You can easily capture a spider, even a dangerous one, without touching it, by using a small plastic condiment cup, the sort they put ketchup and stuff in at restaurants, that has a lip. Invert the cup over the spider, and use a stiff piece of paper to carefully slide under the cup and spider, then once the spider is on top of that paper, and covered with the cup, turn the whole thing over. Tap the paper gently to make the spider drop down into the bottom of the cup, then quickly remove the paper and replace with the lid. You can take the spider outside or to another safe place and release it. I actually encourage spiders, especially House Spiders, to stay in my house, to control insect pests, which are a big problem here in the South. They catch countless mosquitoes, flies, gnats and even fleas, keeping the latter away from my dogs and cats. Spiders actually kill 3,000(yes, that's three THOUSAND)times more insects than birds, bats, reptile and amphibian insectivores combined, making them the most significant predators of insects on the planet.

pitbulllady

[Tonya]

I really wish I could send ou a pic of it, but I don't have that kind of fancy equipment on my computer .
Aww, there's a small part of me who almost wants to keep it. What do spiders eat? Can they eat the food we eat?

[Medikor]

Well, if you want to move him without touching him, you could slide a piece of paper under him and carry him somewhere else. He may be too heavey though. He sounds like one big sucker!
If you really want to feed him then I suppose you could bring him some bugs or something. I don't know because I've never had a pet arachnid before. But I always thought it would be cool to have one of those big scorpians!:bloogrin

[kaytea]

aww how cute
I had a spider leaving in my bathtub too I named him/her jeff(yes it can be a girls name too)
each time I went to th bathroom I liked to talk to him/her and sometimes it felt like he/she was listening(yes I know that sounds stupid)
I was so sad when my dad killed him/her =(

I have a little fear of spider
I actually think spiders are adorable and like watching them close or from a distants but some reason when one starts crawling on me I freak out
(one day I break out of that)

[donna323]

I'm not sure, but I THINK, we had a brown recluse spider outside our front porch this summer. It was big (about the size of a dime), fat and furry, and had a violin on its back, a white one. It wove this elaborate web between a push and a porch pole.

I heard they were dangerous, so I have to admit I executed it.

I believe spiders are a good sign, mystical and magic, like the full moon. But I didn't want something around that could put my daughter in the hospital, you know?

[pitbulllady]

Originally Posted by donna323

I'm not sure, but I THINK, we had a brown recluse spider outside our front porch this summer. It was big (about the size of a dime), fat and furry, and had a violin on its back, a white one. It wove this elaborate web between a push and a porch pole.

I heard they were dangerous, so I have to admit I executed it.

I believe spiders are a good sign, mystical and magic, like the full moon. But I didn't want something around that could put my daughter in the hospital, you know?

That would have been an Orb Weaver of some sort, probably Araneus diadamatus, NOT a Brown Recluse. Brown Recluse spiders have these sloppy, very "abstract" webs that they spin in corners and underneath things, rather than those big aerial webs with that classic shape. There's nothing "elaborate" about a Brown Recluse web. ALso, they are not very large at all, and their "violin" marking is DARK, not white, and located on their carapace around and just behind their eyes. Brown Recluse spiders do not have white on them at all, and their hair is very, very short, barely visable even in macro photographs. Here is a really good macro(close-up)of a Brown Recluse that appeared yesterday on Deviant Art, taken by an entomologist. She is missing a front leg, but you can see that characteristic "violin", the short, fine hair, and the characteristic eye arrangment-these spiders only have six eyes, which are arranged in three pairs in such a way as to resemble a human face, with the "nose" being the middle pair of eyes. If you live within the range of the Recluse species, it's a good idea to know how to recognize them. Brown Recluse spiders are almost always found INDOORS, by the way.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/43184263/

pitbulllady

[LaBlooGirl]

Originally Posted by pitbulllady

That would have been an Orb Weaver of some sort, probably Araneus diadamatus, NOT a Brown Recluse. Brown Recluse spiders have these sloppy, very "abstract" webs that they spin in corners and underneath things, rather than those big aerial webs with that classic shape. There's nothing "elaborate" about a Brown Recluse web. ALso, they are not very large at all, and their "violin" marking is DARK, not white, and located on their carapace around and just behind their eyes. Brown Recluse spiders do not have white on them at all, and their hair is very, very short, barely visable even in macro photographs. Here is a really good macro(close-up)of a Brown Recluse that appeared yesterday on Deviant Art, taken by an entomologist. She is missing a front leg, but you can see that characteristic "violin", the short, fine hair, and the characteristic eye arrangment-these spiders only have six eyes, which are arranged in three pairs in such a way as to resemble a human face, with the "nose" being the middle pair of eyes. If you live within the range of the Recluse species, it's a good idea to know how to recognize them. Brown Recluse spiders are almost always found INDOORS, by the way.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/43184263/

pitbulllady

Whaaa....that looks similar to a common house spider!!! Eep. Actually, recluses ARE house spiders, I would guess, since they like the indoors.
PBL do you know exactly where they live? Any chance of these things being in New Jersey?

[koosie]

Originally Posted by pitbulllady

Yeah, I guess in a way, it does!

By the way, what do humans, chimpanzees, Bottlenosed dolphins, gorillas, orangutans, orcas, African Gray Parrots and Jumping spiders have in common?

Hint: It's something quite unique and special in all the Animal Kingdom, something not shared with most other animals, including our familiar dogs and cats. The Jumping spiders are the only invertebrates to exhibit this, which makes them even more unique and special.


pitbulllady

Originally Posted by Sparky

Is it like, self-recognition? Being able to look in a reflective surface and know that it's yourself? And I know that jumping spiders (or at least some/one species) exhibit the ability to memorise prey items, does it have to do with that?

Fascinating! ..and Elephants apparently.

[pitbulllady]

Originally Posted by Tonya

I really wish I could send ou a pic of it, but I don't have that kind of fancy equipment on my computer .
Aww, there's a small part of me who almost wants to keep it. What do spiders eat? Can they eat the food we eat?

All spiders are carnivores, which means that they eat other animals. In the case of 99% of the spiders on the planet, that means other small arthropods-mostly insects and other spiders(yes, many are cannibalistic). A few species specialize in hunting small vertebrates; Fishing Spiders, for example, will catch small minnows(hence the name)along with tadpoles and small frogs. Some tarantulas get large enough to eat small rodents and birds or small reptiles. MOST spiders require that their prey be still alive when they catch it, since their feeding response has to be triggered by specific movement of the prey, though they can be fooled into eating something pre-killed, as long as it's fresh. I feed some of my tarantulas the same frozen-thawed, pre-killed mice or small rats that my snakes eat. No spiders can eat, or would eat, processed human food, though. Unless your bathtub is overrun with insects, that spider you found in the tub will most likely starve to death for not being able to get enough food.

pitbulllady

[Cassini90125]

Originally Posted by pitbulllady

No spiders can eat, or would eat, processed human food, though.
pitbulllady

Which makes them smarter than us.