Spiders

[Q child]

I hate spiders. They're cool from afar and I try to appreciate and respect all creatures. They eat mosquitos and other things that try to eat us, and that is awesome. But, they really just give me the creeps.
Today I met with this guy at work. He had been working outside, they recently fell a tree in their yard and he was dealing with it. Bucking it up and hauling it away that sorta thing. He had a big bushy beard, and while I was speaking with him I noticed that he had a big daddy long legs in his beard. It was pretty camouflaged, so it took probably five minutes before I noticed. Wow. It was freaky. I was kind of paralyzed for a minute. Just so freaked out. If someone told me that I had a spider on my face, I would lose it. So, I didn't know what to do for a second. I did not want this spider on his face, but I didn't want him to have a heart attack either. Fortunately it dropped onto his chest pretty quickly after, and I said "oh look, there on your chest." and he swatted it away.
No greater point or anything. Just a really creepy conversation.

 

[5MilesBack]

I hate spiders, but I don't really even consider daddy long legs as spiders. They get a pass from me, all others die. I've told my daughter that if black widows didn't reproduce, I'd just leave 4 or 5 of them around the yard where I know they are because they are absolute bug killing machines. But they do reproduce, and this time of year I'll kill upwards of 4 dozen new hatchlings that have made new webs around the yard. I haven't found any mature ones in my yard in a few years, so these have to be coming from the neighbor's yards. And most of them don't even know they have them.

 

[Weldor]

you mean like this?

 

[riversidejeep]

Had to put my trophy picture on here, THIS is a Daddy LongLeg

 

[butcherboy]

I don’t really like spiders either. I tolerate daddy long legs and tarantulas are pretty cool. Everything else dies. What really creeps me out are snakes. Can’t stand any of them. Just watching them move is creepy.

 

[5MilesBack]

I don’t really like spiders either. I tolerate daddy long legs and tarantulas are pretty cool. Everything else dies. What really creeps me out are snakes. Can’t stand any of them. Just watching them move is creepy.

To me, tarantulas are a step above daddy long legs and they get a pass too. I like snakes.....always have since I was a kid.

 

[Dave_]

Technically daddy long legs are not spiders, they are Opiliones. Very harmless.

My smart-ass moment of the day...

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[BTLowry]

riversidejeep posted a pic above of what we refer to as "daddy longlegs"

Daddy long legs are attracted to my zero turn mower, they are all over it every time I go to get on it. I knock a bunch off but there will be one walking on me or hanging off my hat at some point during me mowing the yard.
They don't bother me but I don't care for them walking on me, especially near my face.

On more than one occasion I have had them help me on a blood trail at night. They are on the smallest drop of blood sometimes. Don't know if they are just attracted or they are feeding on the blood?

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I quit hunting West Texas in October because after sweating our balls off for an hour hiking to our hunt areas we'd have to sit down and swipe all the dang spiders off of us, would end up covered in webs on the way out after dark too. We have a lot of black widows down at our camp on the coast, I got popped twice, once by a juvenile while working on the buggy rear end which wasn't a big deal... second time swimming out on the 2nd sandbar in the ocean, it was apparently on my floppy hat that I grabbed from the bed of the truck and put on my head. It dropped on my shoulder and hammered me. I think I'm probably the only person in the world who's been bitten by a spider in the ocean maybe lol. That one made me nauseous, fought throwing up for about an hour and had elevated heartbeat and feverish. I laid back in the truck and closed my eyes til it passed.

 

[BBob]

Some seasons down here we get a species of a pretty good sized Orb spider. They make giant webs stretched between the mesquite trees which makes things a little exciting when you’re trucking around in the dark. We move a lot without headlamps so on occasion you’ll run right through a web and you know what was on it but you keep trucking hoping that the thing dropped off and didn’t end up on you. Sometimes they do so you do the jig and wildly flail around in the dark hoping to fling the thing off of you.

Tarantulas don’t bother me one bit.

 

[Drenalin]

I was in a pet store once that had some kind of African baboon tarantula in a little clear container. It was wild picking that container up and having the little bastard run toward your face while striking at the glass.

 

[dirtshooter]

Like others, daddylonglegs get a pass, the others get crushed.

 

[eddielasvegas]

Well, this thread would not be complete w/o adding this SONG from my youth.

And HERE is a hilarious and fun version with Dolly and Jim.



Eddie

 

[Oldrifle]

Personally, I'm not a big fan of spiders. In technical terms, daddy long legs are actually Opiliones, not spiders.

 

[Molon Labe]

Found this guy packing out a sheep in New Mexico. Pretty cool how they have all the fuzz on them.

 

[pacoalcracker]

I have Striped Knee Tarantulas and California King Snakes as pets in aquariums and its pretty cool to watch them. Especially the snakes.

 

[Taudisio]

Me and my hunting partner were hunting high desert mulies last fall. Packing out my buck, I was noticing holes and webs every other step, saw a black widow in one and I pointed it out (don’t mind spiders). We quickly realized all of the holes/webs had widows in each one of them, must have been thousands on one hillside the 400 yards back to the truck. I woke up and turned the lantern on in the cimarron, to go find him a buck the next morning, and a widow crawled out from what appeared to be under my mat (my sleeping bag opening was right there too). I crushed it with my glock that was sitting a foot away, got dressed, flipped my bag inside out to check for others and we went about our day. I put up my floored tent the rest of the trip. I have never heard of or seen so many in one area in my life, and I wouldn’t be sad if that hillside burned down and cooked them in their holes.

 

[bigmike23]

All spiders get the same treatment from me. No biases here

 

[Jmoore]

Thought you were gonna say you jack slapped the dude.
They've never really bothered me, except tarantulas. They're just built different lol.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

In general I do not like bugs on me which is another reason I don't use floorless shelters. I enjoy having a bug free zone especially during skeeter season. Speaking of mosquitos, I hate them so much that I try not to kill spiders at all unless it's a black widow I find inside the garage.