Something to Brighten a Saturday Night!

I’m hoping I haven’t put this in the wrong category - wasn’t sure if it counted as discussion or news… Either way, I just wanted to mention something really lovely I just watched that I think is apt for Autumn/Winter, especially considering the larger House spiders and the likes that might be perusing your houses! As of right now, there are 53 observations of Eratigena marked as “indoors” for habitat (4 of them are mine lol!) - I dare say there could be more that were indoors but may not have had the habitat marked as such. It wouldn’t surprise me if observations or at least spottings increased soon as we all spend a bit more time at home!

Now, I saw this video and I just absolutely loved it for a lot of reasons:

  • Joe, the man in the video, says that he doesn’t have the guts to touch it but still helps an arachnid in need
  • It’s incredibly nice to see someone actually helping a spider instead of squashing it!
  • Because the spider really shows just how intelligent it can be, lifting a leg daintily as if to say “yes, this one next please”.

SO, I wanted to share this here with you all to hopefully brighten your Saturday night or your Sunday morning! (and maybe even encourage people to take extra care of their local all-natural exterminators!)

P.S You may have to press on “watch on youtube” after pressing the play button to see the video, ruddy thing!

(Man Untangles Wolf Spider - YouTube)

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Well, that’s something that I’d have found hard to believe if I hadn’t seen it!

It looks like it has found its way into the house through a tumble drier vent.
I would have been tempted to offer it a drop of water and then offer it a bit of the hooked side of some Velcro.
It looked like it had got exhausted.
They are always lively once they have had water. I once got one to propel itself three feet in the air after it had got stuck in the bath. I trailed a towel in front of it and touched one of its back legs. It ran up the towel so fast that it over shot three feet in the air.
I often touch there legs a few times until they slow down enough that I can get them to walk into a container so that I can take them back outside.

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Pretty impressive! I just wanted to pick it up and pull that fluff off!

(Eratigena) Good subject for an iFocus Hannah.
So?

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Thanks for sharing Jan; the suggestion for a drop of water in such circumstances (possible dehydration) seems good. I sometimes offer inverts a drop of water + sugar.

I had thought about it, especially considering keeping Eratigena as ‘pets’. However, I’m not sure about it - I feel like I’d prefer to watch them further to get a gauge of the things they get up to that might not be as known but my males have all died from my 2 females munching on 'em, my main female died of old age and I haven’t a clue where my other female is, I assume she escaped. I still think it was pretty remarkable that 2 of my males cohabited with the female which is supposedly unheard of - I’d like to catch some more and see if they do it again. If the males were to cohabit again, it would prove it wasn’t just an odd once off but maybe something they do a lot more often than we realise. Basically, I just want to do more in-person research first. I’ll have to go on a spider hunt :grinning:

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A new :eight_spoked_asterisk:iSpotlight formed, called Ladybirds. Find it here https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/project/855065/some-ilinks
Everyone should watch this The Stunning Life Cycle Of A Ladybug | The Dodo - YouTube

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I couldn’t get it to play. But this one is quite fun (reminds me of ‘I’m a celebrity…’ Ladybug Eating Aphids 2018 - YouTube

I think the fault was something to do with the ads. This one seems to work without ads

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Thanks, NT - a good watch!

Do many beetles lay unfertilised eggsfor hatchlings to feed on?

This is a probably a dehydrated Harleqin which won’t have had a drink since the summer. Now to find somewhere cooler to locate it to finish its hibernation.