Focusing on Life, Week 44: A True Trick or Treat Story

 

 

I dislike spiders almost as much as I dislike flying.  Size doesn't really matter.  Those little ones can jump and then disappear, you understand, then reappear just when you'd finally forgotten about it.

 

Since I'd already decided catching a spirit in my lens was less likely than a spider, I decided to take a walk outside to see if I could find a pretty spider web, but then I saw this object in the middle of our patio that at first glance I thought was some dried leaf matter.

 

Leaning closer I saw it was a very large spider upside down with its legs curled up.  That's strange, I thought.  Do birds eat spiders and this one got away?  Here's a spider, but not a good photo opp since you kind of want your subject to be living.

 

Moose, one of our springers, decided to take a closer look and promptly jumped back as the spider moved its legs or something beneath his nose.

 

Hmmm....

 

I turned him over and then ran for my camera.

 

The spider wiggled his legs if I touched him, but he never moved from the spot I placed him.  You can see that his legs are not out and proud like they should be.  But of course I wouldn't have been able to get a photo of him if he was lively.

 

 

Size wise I thought maybe it was a wolf spider (how appropriate!) but it is actually a tarantula. Not a very big tarantula, but remember:  size doesn't matter.  

 

I think this is the third time I've seen one on our property.  After some research I discovered that September and October are when the males "migrate."  It's not actually a migration though it's just that you may see many of them during the day while they look for mates.  The females stay in their burrows waiting for the male to find them.  I guess they don't want to appear too needy or perhaps they prefer the dim lighting.

 

The males often get fatally injured by the female after mating.  And yes, sometimes even eaten!  So this one escaped being cannibalized, but I'm going to suppose that he did get lucky.  I suppose you could say he was Treated then Tricked.

 

The End.