Thursday, September 3, 2020

Big Game


(Apologies to the squeamish for the yuckiness of the photo portion.)
     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.


         This morning I stepped out to find this addition. I grew up in the South, where the insects are ubiquitous and super-sized, and so I’m frankly a big weenie when it comes to anything that buzzes or crawls or even wriggles.

         

 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!”

8 comments:

  1. Smiling. And it an impressive spider to take down the preying mantis.
    I 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.

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    1. And you relate that so calmly.
      Had that been me, there would have been leaping and screaming and swatting of EPIC proportions.

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  2. Never seen a mantis caught by a spider web. Maybe one for the books.

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  3. It'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.

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    Replies
    1. Guess what? You’re right. This afternoon it was gone
      Which 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. )

      Delete
  4. Wow, it caught a mantis! That definitely will feed the spider and family for a good long while. :-)

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  5. I 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.
    I 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. =)

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Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear what you think.