Thursday, October 26, 2006

Spiders

Let me first state that spiders do not bother me (as long as they are not scurrying furociousy towards me at terrifying speeds, their only goal to jump on my face). Sure, I may be startled if I see one when not expected, but thats normal.

This morning on the way to the potty, I was greeted by a spider by my toaster over. A smidge bigger than a silver dollar (mostly legs). As I aired out my futon on my balcony, its twin was hanging out in its web between the power lines. On the way to school, I saw a colorful monster spider eating a bug (about 1 and a half silver dolars.. but it had a big body). That's 3 spiders in 2 hours.

On the way home this circus freak was still there. i have never seen such a spider. It has to be poisonous with all that color. I was actually scared just looking at it. So of course I took a picture.

Because I am senstive, I am just posting a link to the spider, so no one has to see the spider if they don't want to. I certainly would not want to be reading someone's blog care-free and then suddenly a giant death bee.

If you would like to see this SOB, click HERE

EDIT: OH MY GOD. While trying to identify this beast I have basically scared myself by looking at so many pictures of terrifying giant spiders. Oh, but my quest has ended. It is a female Golden Orb-Web Spider Nephila clavata (Joro-gumo in Japanese). I do not believe it has reach maturity. HERE are many pictures of its different sizes and shapes. Each one terrifying. HERE is a little FYI about this colorful arachnid.

2 comments:

Sui Generis said...

That's a beautiful bug! I love your close-ups; our camera just doesn't take decent shots of spiders and insects no matter how I try.

Anonymous said...

Remind me not to come visit you in Japan. At least not until all the spiders have died.

Thanks for not posting the pic. directly on the site; however, the story and info made me super curious and I had to peak. I will be having nightmares tonight but at least I'll wake up spider free!