Wow, so unfortunate yet cool. Nice pics!

Great photos, Sherry. I love those chelicerae. It's amazing what colors a closeup photo can reveal. I took a picture of a little tiny bug recently, and when I zoomed in, the colors were magnificent.

Thanks for sharing.

Sandy

Hi Sherry, May I suggest placing it on a sidewalk and dropping a ten-pound brick on it. That way you would not waste the cup. I have utter contempt and loathing for all eight-legged creatures that hunt and destroy other insects. Not because they hunt and destroy but because they are hideous to me and I can't stand to look at them. A definite downside to gardening and a truly annoying phobia but "there you have it", as they say. Sorry if it offends anyone but "that's that". Joe

Well, I am fascinated by this bizarre critter and have fed him/her another caterpillar (one that does not appear to be quite as 'healthy' as the one it pilfered from the Milkweed!). I figured that since I was going to euthanize the larva anyway...no big deal. Interestingly, the chelicerae are not brilliant blue today! More a darker brown...I have been watching the little bugger...and I think my Kindergartners will be as fascinated by it as I've been. We made Model Magic spiders that are hanging by yarn from the ceiling (so many people are mesmerized by our art project!) and a few weeks ago, the district came out and sprayed for spiders which means I found SO many Black and Brown Widows dead all over the playground it was eerie, to say the least. I saved a few carcasses so that I'd have some samples to share. Yeah, call me a weirdo! Those teachable moments make it all worthwhile, though. I do admit that it does drive me nuts sometimes when the kids all scream, "TEACHER! A spider!" and I have to run over to see what all commotion is about. I've had to climb up the jungle gym (in my muumuu, no less) to smoosh a spider, kill a few that have been hiding in inane places,...so this Jumping Spider is a neat one to be able to take to school.

Sorry Murray. I'm a-taking it to school! ;P

Sooner or later they will learn that its a jungle out there. Might as well be sooner.

Imagine having that many eyes.

I'm with you Murray. Caterpillars haven't a chance with all the spiders I have in my garden. They don't seem to have many natural preditors to keep them at bay.

Edna

Amen, Edna!!! As for you, Sherry; WEIRDO! Nqw remember kiddo, you did set yourself up for that.

BTW, I think the spider thing might be genetic because my two sisters have it and my two daughters do as well and they didn't know each other. But I must say unabashedly that SPIDERS ARE ALL "WITHOUT EXCEPTION) UGALLEEE.

It has always intrigued me that they manage to find each other sexually attractive. And even when the female is not only 10 times larger but also has a rap sheet for eating ex-mates a mile long. Just how stupid are male spiders. Now please ladies try to stifle those responses.

I guess I am asking a lot by expecting anyone with eight legs to be attractive in any conceivable way. And I wonder if I would have survived your class because didn't you also have "Rosie" the tarantula? Joe aka Murray

Murray,

It's possible that if you had been in Sherry's kindergarten class, you wouldn't have this phobia. LOL But since that isn't going to happen, you just have to live with it.

I must have been born with the spider fascination gene. As I have to study every spider I see, and I have several pictures of the critters that I have found to be very interesting, including one I had a head-on confrontation with in Thailand.

As a teacher, many a bug crossed the doors to my classroom, including spiders. Also I remember a few snakes! And even though I was bitten by a Water Moccasin when I was 20, I still find those creatures interesting as well. FWIW, I was bitten when I stepped on the fella in the dark.

Sandy

Oh Murray! You do crack me up!

To be honest, I used to hate them, too. My DH hates them BUT, ever since I started raising all these caterpillars, he now saves an assortment of bugs for me. :) Instead of killing them right away, he'll call me to come "Check this out!" or if I'm at school, he'll get a bug cup and save it. Of course, this doesn't mean he LIKES them...but he has definitely not freaked out like he used to (he really doesn't like spiders AT ALL).

Now, interestingly enough, this Phidippus audax has changed colour. It is now much darker, the bright blue has gone to almost a burgundy. Weird! My Kindergartners are as fascinated as I am. I did put a GST in there and then another Monarch. My students were cute. One said, "Why didn't you put in a sick caterpillar?" and I said, "Well, actually, I did put in one that didn't seem as healthy." So, it got us discussing why perhaps the spider's colour was changing. The prediction: Since the caterpillar was sick, the spider is getting sick and is changing colour. Yeah, I'm raising 4- and 5-year olds budding scientists...

OH, and children who may start off in the beginning of the year with fears of animals, bugs, puppets (yes, puppets!) all end up leaving without these fears. After a year with me, I think you can't help but lose the fears. :)

Tdog, that is cool, and I love the way you are teaching your little kids about nature and easing their fears of bugs and things.

There was an interesting show on Discovery last night about the human species' natural fear of spiders/snakes/predators, and how this might be hard-wired somewhere in our primitive brain, for survival purposes. However, in this day and age, few of us have to worry about being eaten by a Sabre-toothed tiger! ;) Murray, perhaps there is something genetic to your arachnophobia. I can understand wanting to get rid of spiders in your house, but out in nature, they are just going about their business - please don't kill them!

I think spiders and snakes are interesting, not scary, but when one suddenly appears in front of you, it's hard not to be startled! We have few poisonous critters to worry about here in the Northeast anyway.

Dear Terrene I do not kill spiders in my yard or anywhere else but my house and I have to say that I had my fear of spiders before kindergarten. I reserve the right to be frightened by anything or anyone I choose. I'm glad you love spiders; they need someone in their camp bcause it certainly won't be me. I actually intended the remark about the "brick" as a joking way of expressing my loathing for spiders. I will leave it at that if you will. Sheesh!!!

Murray,

I'm with you on your last point.

Where I live we have lots of Brown Recluses. They get in everyone's houses so even though I'm intrigued by the critters, I will do what's necessary to get rid of the Fiddlebacks.

Garden and outdoors, fine. House, no.

The same goes for snakes. They need to know their place in this world--which is not in the house!

Sandy

Frankly, I'm not all that keen on spiders. I just find them fascinating. :)

I go around killing them myself. Hubby can't deal with them. When my Tarantula, Rosie, comes home for the summer, DH shudders.

Some of you veterans may recall my story from several years back, which occurred right after Halloween. I always give out these plastic spider rings along with candy bars. Anyway, I had already put stuff away when I had found a lone plastic ring. I was too lazy to go up and put it into the box with the other rings so I simply tossed it into the trash can in the garage. Hubby was in the garage, was putting something in the can and saw the spider. He freaked! He got the can of RAID (or whatever), began spraying, and of course, the ring just jumped around in the bottom of the trash can. So, what did he do? Continued to spray, of course! That !@#$% spider just refused to die! Well, finally, the ring flipped over and he spotted the circular 'ring' on the back. Needless to say, DH was ready to kill me when I got home from school. His comment, "I almost had a heart attack, Sherry!! The next time you put a PLASTIC spider RING into the trash can, kindly LET ME KNOW. I almost used an entire can of bug spray trying to KILL IT!!!"

:) I am the official spider killer in our house. He has become good at killing Black Widows and Brown Widows now, which we have a real problem with...although I am still the one to go around to get all the egg sacs.

ROTFLMHO!

Good story, Sherry!

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What spectacular pictures!

Sherry, that is hilarious because I can so relate to Bill. I have noticed that the plastic ones have all developed a tolerance to the sprays. I can't figure it out. I used to have a kittie who was great at killing spiders in the house. He never went outdoors so for him it was a chance to use his hunting skills. I would just pick him up and carry him to where he could see the thing and then just let him go and he would wait so patiently for it to come down far enough for him to be able to jump up and get it. It was kind of disgusting to watch after that.

When we were all kids my mom was the official spider warden and we frequently screamed for her. When I was in college I almost moved out of the dorm room and sat on the steps just inside the front door until someone took pity on me and brought a group of friends to search out the spider that had taken over my room. It truly was huge to me.

How do you get such great closeups? I still don't seem to have the ability. Sometimes it works fine but usually there is too much blurring. And I still want to know how to post pics. Murray