02 November 2010

There Are Some Big Spiders in Japan


No, it's not poisonous. We've seen a lot of these spiders while out hiking this autumn but this is the first picture that turned out. They're quite difficult to get the camera to focus on for some reason. I do only have a point-and-shoot which is likely part of the problem.

Spiders don't bother me - I think they're pretty cool. These ones are neat because they're so multicoloured. From far away they all look the same but close up the different markings make them quite distinguishable. They all have a black base with coloured patterns on their legs and bodies. This one was purple, yellow and black. We've seen some with up to five different colours on them: orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

I was hesitant to pick one of these ones up because they've got some formidable looking mandibles. But when we get spiders in our house I catch them and put them outside. Actually, when Aimee points them out I catch them and put them outside. If Aimee doesn't point them out I just let them roam around our apartment. Usually they're just jumping spiders - those are my favourite. I think they're cute and they're a lot of fun to watch jump around. I'm fascinated by the fact that they can jump distances up to 10 times their body length. That would be 20 meters for someone my size.

4 comments:

  1. I can never understand you guys and you fascination with insects. I get a mad urge to scream whenever I see an insect. If it's large enough for me to see: it's too large :P

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  2. I kill all spiders that enter the house!! Len is the came as you, Mike. He well let the little intruders roam the whole house. Sick! When you said you catch them and put them outside, it reminded me of Beatlejuice. The first scene with the big spider crawling on the house. He caught him and tossed him out the window.

    Love Danni

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  3. Vera - Insects are just cool. Some of them are kind of creepy looking but that makes them cooler. :)

    Danni - They're just lost when they end up in your house. You wouldn't kill a lost little mouse. :)

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  4. I can't believe you pick those things up! I got up to go to the bathroom last night and there was a big brownish greyish spider on the back of the door. I was trapped! So I started crying and knocking on the wall to wake Jesse up and come and kill it for me....he laughed at me

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