Found a Pet in My New Basement

[organizedmadman]

I found this guy (or gal) sneaking around in my new finished basement.

It's a wolf spider about the size of a small mouse. It's now in a terrarium, stalking juicy mealworms.

 

[cortezattic]

Wow! Remind me not to visit Kentucky. Does she (probably) have a name? Do they drink water? How will you clean out the poop?

 

[ssjones]

Wolf spider? I found a smaller wolf (I think) out by our pool. She was having babies and hatched hundreds of tiny little spiders over a 30 minute period. It was pretty interesting to watch. I actually saved her, she was in our pool, on the cord for out thermometer, which gave me a nice shock when I pulled it up to check the temp!

 

[taerin]

We have spiders that make wolf spiders look tiny over here. Brown and black stripes on their legs, you can saddle and ride them! My gf found a spider 4 inches wide sitting on the top of her laundry! Mind you she is the type where if you show her a picture of a spider or snake, she will cry until you cover it up, not being able to look at it or go near it... lol.
I used a cup and plate to safely carry it outside, I don't like killing anything, she was begging me to kill it too because she didn't want it released, some people are just plain scared for no reason, they don't even harm people, not strong enough venom, will just hurt at best.

 

[zonomo]

I think I ate one of these when I was in Cambodia in 2010.

 

[mp31guitar]

I would have to evict it. I have a phobia of spiders. I was bitten by a black widow when I was about 5 or 6. I still remember it though.

 

[numbersix]

I have a phobia of spiders.

+1
That thing would have given me a heart attack!

 

[andypandy]

she was begging me to kill it too because she didn't want it released, some people are just plain scared for no reason

She's afraid of them because they're essentially MONSTERS...

Damn straight you should kill it. KILL IT WITH FIRE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnod9vtB4xA

 

[simnettpratt]

When I was in High School, my parents moved us to farm in the middle of nowhere near Rio Vista TX. It was dry, hot and dead. I said OK, as long as I'm stuck out here I guess I'll study bugs.
I found that if you look in a spider's small top eyes and speak gently and softly to them, they will stop, turn their bodies and look at you with their two big front eyes. Then they crawl towards you. If you can manage your heebie jeebies they will hop on you and crawl up to your FACE. Proved this to guests more than once. Of course at that point you freak out, shake them off and squish them, but spiders are either inquisitive or friendly.
Bugs that had heads would generally turn at look at you (preying mantises are good for demonstrating this, with their evil triangle heads), but spiders are the only ones that would come towards you. Not one is a herbivore. Knew a guy that would feed his tarantula grasshoppers. A short stalk, a pounce, and you'd see the little white fangs come out and hear the crack of the grasshoppers carapace. Ew.
Still have a dent in the top of my foot where we believe a brown recluse got me and the flesh rotted off.

 

[petes03]

8 legged freaks! I hate spiders!

 

[zonomo]

Damn straight you should kill it. KILL IT WITH FIRE!

:rofl:

 

[zonomo]

I found that if you look in a spider's small top eyes and speak gently and softly to them, they will stop, turn their bodies and look at you with their two big front eyes. Then they crawl towards you. If you can manage your heebie jeebies they will hop on you and crawl up to your FACE. Proved this to guests more than once. Of course at that point you freak out, shake them off and squish them, but spiders are either inquisitive or friendly.

I would really love to see this. I find that fascinating. I know for sure I couldnt get past the heebies.

 

[flux]

That thing is cool. I wonder if it will make a big webby nest in your terrarium.
My girlfriend would have probably insisted we move if she found one of those anywhere in our house! She is deathly afraid of spiders. Me? I love spiders--think they're fascinating. Snakes the same. Bees and other stinging flying insects, on the other hand...I have a totally irrational, border-line psychotic fear of them. I totally panic around them. Go figure.

 

[shortyeastcoast]

That thing ain't poisonous, @organizedmadman?

 

[4dotsasieni]

Zonomo -- I see you made the stop at Skuon ("Spiderville"). Did you enjoy your tarantula? :D

 

[zonomo]

@4dotsasieni - I sure did. I liked it ok. Tasted kinda like sour beef jerky. Personally, I prefer the Ants. Much more tasty. :P

 

[kyriefurro]

When I was a little boy I used to love spiders. I'd collect them in jars and got really good at catching flies in my hands to feed them with. Then when I was about 10 years old, I had a nightmare that I was being eaten alive by giant black widows. Needless to say I've be just a bit phobic ever since :?

 

[wyfbane]

I could eat crunchy (spider, ant, etc) long before I could eat those big gooey worm things from Australia.
Props on the wolf spider pet. I wouldn't keep random spiders for fear I would neglect them and they would hatch babies all over my house.
My son does have Madagascar Hissing roaches (well roach, one died). He's had that thing for 3 years now. lol

 

[boudreaux]

Why organizedmadm, that little thang is not quite as big as an East Texas B-52 mosquito... :P
When I taught in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, big tarantulas were a fairly common sight. In the dry areas away from the Gulf, like Rio Grande City, add scorpions and of course, rattlers to the mix.
Can't stand any of them... Certified All-American phobic when it comes to bugs.

 

[simnettpratt]

@Zo: You'd have the heebies if you willingly let a spider crawl on you but you ATE ONE?!!! Hey, try it! Next time you see a spider in your house, look him in the eyes and speak softly and kindly to him, like spider babytalk (after all, you're pretty intimidating). Keep your mouth real small too. It will turn and look at you, then come towards you. Feel free to then squish the hell out of it before it hops on you.
A buddy of mine described scuba diving as 'Everything you see is something you've never seen before'. Bugs are like that. One has one of these things, another has one of those things, and many of them are pretty damn weird. Points deducted if they can fly at you.