Why did I bother buying anti-fly devices when nature
built me one for free?
As you may recall, our dog Mamie is reduced to a shaking
mass of fur at the sound of a housefly. (We also have the issue of thunderstorms,
like the one last night that had me trying to sleep with twelve pounds of fur
and bad breath pasted to my side. But that’s for another day.)
I opened the
front door yesterday morning to find this outside our door.
The spider
web had already successfully snared any number of victims that might have breached our
doorstep, so I left it. One benefit of this new world is now the only people
knocking on my door is the UPS man, and he usually just drops his boxes and
jets back across the lawn.
Still, if
this web can handle this kind of cargo, I may leave it a bit longer.
Can you
imagine the spider when he saw this eight-inch catch?
“Honey, call
the kids. We’re set till December!”
Smiling. And it an impressive spider to take down the preying mantis.
ReplyDeleteI had a small jumping spider land on me in the car yesterday. Himself told me to push it out the window, but I waited until we got to our destination and put it in a bush.
And, as a postscript, it outsmarted me. I 'thought' I had put it in a bush. After we got home I felt something and removed said spider from my hair. And DID put it in a bush at home.
And you relate that so calmly.
DeleteHad that been me, there would have been leaping and screaming and swatting of EPIC proportions.
Never seen a mantis caught by a spider web. Maybe one for the books.
ReplyDeleteIt's a praying mantis and it doesn't look caught to me. I hope he gets away. The spider can survive on flies and other crawlies.
ReplyDeleteGuess what? You’re right. This afternoon it was gone
DeleteWhich makes me shudder when I think how often I passed by it.
(And yes, yes everyone, I know they’re harmless. But they’re big. )
Wow, it caught a mantis! That definitely will feed the spider and family for a good long while. :-)
ReplyDeleteMamie is hilarious!
ReplyDeleteI rescue them when I can. They have more value alive than they do dead. I think I read somewhere it's illegal to kill them, probably because they go after the insects that harm crops.
ReplyDeleteI did rescue a dragonfly from a spider web a year ago, he had just flown into it, and I managed to get him out before he got totally snarled, but his wings were completely tangled up with the web...and he sat there very very still, letting me take the spider silk off his wings, cleaning them down, and when I was sure he could fly I opened my hand and off he went. =)