I had some fun with my camera recently. Here is photographic evidence of that statement:

We were at the Double Lakes Recreation Area in Sam Houston National Forest and my dad brought lightsticks.















And then a giant spider showed up and ate us all.



EEK!





The end.

Cool photos!

Nice spider.

Crap Marn!
Shun the spiders!

But love the lightshow.
Rave!

Cool spider!

I would never have gotten close enough to take a picture like that.
I am not brave of the spiderness.

Coolio photos totally!

dig em. spider gives me the creepouts

I cut that out of a much bigger shot.

No one has said that I, or this thread is dead to them yet. I am surprised.

I am

That looks like a nice spider, and I admire the awesomeness of his/her web tube. That's amazing!

Heh. Charlotte's web!!!

Cool light pics, Marney.

But holy crap, what is that spider coming out of? A pipe that's been unused since caveman days? That spider has got himself (or herself) seriously set up with every spidery thing that a spider could ever possibly need.

You can see his web "cave" better in this shot.



He really didn't like me futzing around his web. I think I was cramping his style.

The shipping they pay for the spoon juice is extortionate.

GAH AGAIN!!!!!!!!















yes Marney, exactly.

Spiders hate photo ops.
Really really loathe them.

Note to all future photographers: NEVER ever never never take pictures of spiders to save and show others.

There are splinter cells that will eat you when you sleep.

It's a fact

Very cool photos. I like the spider photos too.

?

coolio-ness.

Very cool effects with the light sticks.
Very creepy spider. He made me all itchy.

that is one beautiful baby

When I first looked at that spider, I thought, "That's a fucking Funnel web! In the USA! Holy shite! We're fucked!

If it were on of our Austrailians posting that picture, we'd be thanking the stars it didn't bite them, and that they were alive.

I did not know that they had American immitators that look a whole lot like them!

Here's what that one was:

Funnel Web Grass Spiders: low risk, non-aggressive

Venom toxicity - the bite of these spiders is of low risk to humans.
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Spider Identification - are common outdoors and are occasionally found indoors. They are generally brownish or grayish with light and dark stripes near the head. They have long spinnerets and are moderate-sized (3/4 inch long). Grass spiders construct a large sheet web with a funnel they use as a retreat. These webs are commonly built on the ground, around steps, window wells, foundations, and low shrubs.
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Habitat - These spiders are often called grass spiders because they construct their webs in tall grass, heavy ground cover and the branches of thick shrubs. Rarely will a funnel web spider be seen indoors, except for an occasional wandering male. They are found mostly in the Pacific Northwest states.

Here is a good site for arachnaphobes: http://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html

"Excellent photos! Many thanks. If by chance you have higher resolution versions you can send, please do so. The image quality is great until I try to enlarge them to examine the eye arrangement, and at that point they blur out to the point the eyes cannot be seen.

The spider in your photo is a funnel-web weaver in the family Agelenidae, which has nine genera and 85 species in North America. Their bodies look a lot like those of the amaurobiids and the lycosids, neither of which build the funnel-web retreats of the agelenids. Unfortunately, in order to identify to genus and species I will have to examine the eyes, the spinnerets, and the palps in close detail, as the minutiae of those anatomical structures are critically definitive.

The agelenids are not considered dangerous to man, with one exception. One species of the agelenid genus Tegenaria, the hobo spider (Tegenaria agrestis), is thought by some to possess a venom capable of producing necrotic lesions similar to those of the brown recluse (Loxosceles reclusa). This claim is strongly disputed by many scientific investigators, who note that the species was accidentally introduced to the Pacific Northwest from Europe, and in its native habitat it is never known to produce necrotic lesions in man. In any case, this species is not represented in Texas."

I feel somewhat comforted that the Sydney Funnelweb has not found it's way to the Houston area.
If it did, I have no doubt it would flourish and kill us all.


I am

Well, I beat him.

I didn't notice that this last part was not in quotes at first

I feel somewhat comforted that the Sydney Funnelweb has not found it's way to the Houston area.
If it did, I have no doubt it would flourish and kill us all.

and that last part kinda scared me. LOL.

I was scrolling through those first pics thinking "I should have dropped acid before looking at these" and then I got to the spider and was very very glad i don't take drugs.