Spider of the Day... The Wolf Spider
Well seeing as how I got bitten by a friendly spider not too long ago and my foot was swollen like a cankle... I thought I would make everyone proud by showing a good deed towards the species that so rudely offended my foot.
I was in the cellar cleaning up and lo and behold I found this huge spider... and it happened to be near the same foot that got bitten before. Sigh. My poor foot. Spiders seem to be attracted to my left foot.
Now my first gut instinct was to kill the sorry little thing because of the fact that I am a tad bit paranoid of having the same limb or even another limb get swollen...
But instead... I caught it... put it in a jar... and showed it to the other members of the house for inspection...
Jon went to go release it back into the wild (which I now regret but I'll get to that in a bit).
And I went to go look up this friendly spider on the internet. (Matt you ought to be proud... I actually gave it a thorough look over so I can look it up online.) And I swear if it turned out to be a brown recluse or a hobo spider or something of that nature... I would have probably freaked out because I handled one of them instead of just killed it...
BUT...
Anyway... I bring to you... the WOLF SPIDER. (*Picture from top found at http://lancaster.unl.edu/enviro/Images/Insects/lycosa_hell4.jpg)
They are sometimes mistaken for tarantulas because they are so hairy... we certainly thought it looked like a smaller one at least.
They are nocturnal beings who tend to like basements, garages and cellars (like the one I was in)... because they tend to stick to the ground. They are poisonous but not lethally so. Thank God... so if I did get bitten all I would suffer is... sigh... some swelling and itching. Go figure.
And the reason why I regret Jon letting it go in the wild, is because I know the darn thing will come back.
During the fall (just as fall is now approaching right?) wolf spiders like to go indoors and find prey there. So I think this little bug will eventually find itself back in my quarters and my cats might either eat it or get bitten by it. But none the less... I have no doubt it'll return. Sigh... and as long as it stays away from my foot... Then I'll have no problem with it staying in the cellar.
posted by Carmel @ 1:59:00 PM
5 Comments:
Indeed I am proud of you... and it's good that it wasn't the nasty kind.
And don't worry about the cats too much. They seem to deal pretty well with most spider bites, even the really dangerous types.
The good news is that, even though it's getting on into fall, you shouldn't have to worry about Hobos in your neighborhood; we keep them out West. Actually, I'm not entirely sure WV has recluses either, but it is possible. They're mostly Southern Midwest in range.
Haha... I conquered the spider... not like I was ever scared of them... I just never had a body part swell so after getting bitten.
I know my kittens will survive... because to be truthful I was more worried about my foot getting swollen again than my cats. They seem to like to chase creepy crawlies around (like the unfortunate moth who might make his way into the house... or the spider who dares to actually make an appearance before the kittens). They seem to really have that hunter's instinct going. They might be part bob cat. I don't know yet.
And I know Hobos are more in the western regions than they are found here. I am thankful for that. WV does however have the occassional recluse wander up here every now and then. Though a recluse bite here is not very common... like 19 in a year. But still it's the recluse and the black widow that West Virginians have to keep an eye out for.
This gave me the heeby jeebies! I happen to be absolutely terrified of spiders, and I think you're my new hero, Carmel! You caught the thing? I would have fainted on the spot!
Yay!... I'm somebody's hero. Hehehe. :D
Sigh...
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