Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,497
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Post by Sabre52 on Jul 29, 2014 8:33:47 GMT -5
My wife, who is also a biologist and Hill Country Master Naturalist, is also a spider nut like me. She also loves plants and here is a combination of her hobbies. A small colony of Cave Harvestmen has taken up residence in her Stapelia gigantia. They hated being flash photographed and were bouncing all over the place like crazy trying to scare me off.....Mel  |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jul 29, 2014 8:49:31 GMT -5
You guys have the spiders, and a partying bunch at that. Must have a lot of bugs to feed them.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723 
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Post by Fossilman on Jul 29, 2014 9:00:51 GMT -5
You would love Oregon Mel,spiders all over the place...
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,497
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Post by Sabre52 on Jul 29, 2014 9:12:13 GMT -5
Man I wish I could get a picture of our yard at night. I wear an LED headlamp when I go for night walks and the eyes of hunting spiders show up as pairs of neon blue lights. Hundreds of these big 2-3 inch spiders all over the yard and their eyes actively follow you when you get close to them. Kind of an odd feeling but kind of cool too. Mormon Cricket outbreak this year and those big spiders keep them in check.
James: Lots of dead bugs under the porch lights so plenty of food for these scavengers..Mel
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jul 29, 2014 9:57:37 GMT -5
Blind mosquitos(actually a midge) hatch about 3 times a year in central Florida. The spiders set up shop for them. They have a short life cycle and die, have seen them dead a foot deep say in the garage, smelling like rotten meat. The spider webs are plastic like and make life on the water front difficult due to the spider web's sticky nature. They sound like WW2 bombers when they start swarming at night, very eerie sound. Not much info on them. Here is a newspaper blip www.baynews9.com/content/news/articles/cfn/2012/3/29/mosquitoes_swarm_lak.html |
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,497
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Post by Sabre52 on Jul 29, 2014 15:20:34 GMT -5
Man, at least blind mosquitoes don't bite. I used to have to walk some seed certification fields out on Potrero Rd near Camarillo, CA. Fields were tiled and the water below ground attracted hoardes of blackflies which were a "biting" type midge. Those suckers would swarm from the standpipes in the mornings and evenings and bite you so bad around the eyes that your eyes would swell shut. I'd walk those fields at high noon if I could despite the hot summer days as I hated being chewed up by those dang things.....Mel
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jul 29, 2014 20:51:53 GMT -5
Man, at least blind mosquitoes don't bite. I used to have to walk some seed certification fields out on Potrero Rd near Camarillo, CA. Fields were tiled and the water below ground attracted hoardes of blackflies which were a "biting" type midge. Those suckers would swarm from the standpipes in the mornings and evenings and bite you so bad around the eyes that your eyes would swell shut. I'd walk those fields at high noon if I could despite the hot summer days as I hated being chewed up by those dang things.....Mel The blind mosquitos seem to run off the biting ones. But they don't bite. I will take any bug over black flies. They attack the Gulf Coast. When they arrive I pack up and go home. No need to vacation unless you stay inside. That is a relentless insect that pays no attention to Deet or any other bug repellant. |
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FLrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2014
Posts: 343
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Post by FLrockhound on Jul 31, 2014 8:45:18 GMT -5
Speaking of spiders at night, I have an LED lightbar on my jeep, went for a night time ride in the woods and the trails glistened like the stars in the sky. It was pretty arachnidphobia ish. Very neat though, I've never seen so many spiders before and they were all dime to half-dollar sized. Some spun webs across the trails. Freaked my wife out since the top was down and doors were off. Too many poisonous creepy crawlers down here in Florida.
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