Spider hunting in public... and the publics perception of you.

[RzezniksRunAway]

Yesterday I was at the Old Courthouse in York, PA waiting for my boyfriend to deal with some stuff. It was going to be at least 2 hours, so I sat around and drank crappy coffee, looked at the poorly maintained structure and read pretty much every interesting sign I could find. I went outside to sit and saw a spider web, so I started walking around the two "deck" areas looking at all of the wrought iron railing for spiders. Tons of babies of all different species, nothing super interesting. A couple of lady bugs, a stink bug (ugh. the smell) and a few moths. Then I found what I am ALWAYS looking for, a little bitty jumper. It looked like a Platycryptus of some sort. Maybe undatus. So I gently poked him onto my hand and hung out with him for a while. He was bopping from hand to hand, and would make a crazy leap of faith into the air and suspend himself from my hand with a web. I'd scoop him back up and watch him more. He was so entertaining, looking at me, investigating my fingernails like they were so alien to him. Then he sat there cleaning himself. All the while I'm standing in front of the courthouse. This went on for about 15 minutes before a random lady came over and asked if I was okay. My response was "Uh yeah... just caught a little jumping spider, wanna see?" She said No, that she just wanted to make sure I was okay.


It was then I realized I was standing in front of the courthouse, waving my arms around like mad (catching him as he jumped), talking to "myself" (the tiny, pretty much invisible spider), and walking in circles ( to head him off when his web took him in weird directions with the wind).

I'm not sure she believed me, she didn't want to see the spider. She also didn't go inside and tell security that a crazy woman was outside supposedly playing with a spider. Urban spider hunting looks a lot like being insane, apparently.

 

[MarkmD]

Brilliant story thanks for sharing

 

[sezra]

haha, made me laugh, and such a cute story!

 

[darksidemxer]

lol sounds like something my wife would do. she talks to the spiders in her garden all the time. my family thinks we are nuts.

 

[MrCrackerpants]

Great story! Thanks for sharing. : )

 

[The Snark]

I was doing pretty much the same thing myself in front of a coffee shop yesterday. Little trucker kept trying to get inside my shirt.

But if you think about it, what contributes more to your life? Conforming to social expectations of a bunch of strangers or some fun quality time with a really fascinating critter?

 

[advan]

I was doing pretty much the same thing myself in front of a coffee shop yesterday. Little trucker kept trying to get inside my shirt.

But if you think about it, what contributes more to your life? Conforming to social expectations of a bunch of strangers or some fun quality time with a really fascinating critter?

So when is The Snark going to go do this with a camera and post it here?-----> http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?255282-Foggy-morning-in-the-rain-forest

 

[TomM]

she talks to the spiders in her garden all the time. my family thinks we are nuts.

You're only nuts if they start talking back.

 

[The Snark]

So when is The Snark going to go do this with a camera and post it here?-----> http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?255282-Foggy-morning-in-the-rain-forest

Sigh. I probably miss about a hundred photo ops a year, forgetting or can't be bothered to carry the camera. We almost bought a helmet mounted camera for my bike rides but decided it was a scam piece of sheet and we don't have the $$$ for a decent one ATM. And this morning I was cruising the fields Imagining I had a camera and grabbing all sorts of fantastic views of my little stomping grounds. Sigh again. Someday I'm determined to grab a solid hour or two of simple pastoral back roads and youtube it. Give people something to fall asleep by.

 

[Smokehound714]

I'd say I look like a mantis when I'm searching for jumping spiders, moving slowly, with my tall lanky appearance.

 

[Silberrücken]

I honestly don't care if people stare while I am spider-hunting. They all think I am weird already as it is. ;P

 

[stewstew8282]

great thread, and like snark said...i'd take the jumper over social norms anyday....

 

[Ambly]

haha been that guy, too - looking for and finding trapdoor spiders in the office park I work, hands and knees, usually implies insane.

 

[Lucidd]

OP, I can relate to that. I spent several minutes chasing a spider in the soda aisle at a supermarket. I stop for all spiders wherever I spot them. I don't really care who thinks I'm crazy honestly, I'm sure they wouldn't be far off.

lol sounds like something my wife would do. she talks to the spiders in her garden all the time. my family thinks we are nuts.

I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm nuts for that reason. I'm out in the yard every other day carefully examining the bushes, trees, crevices around the house. Once I was trying to trick a fly into the web of an orb weaver and a woman walking her dog down the street stopped and asked me what I was doing. I actually felt a tad embarrassed to say I was trying to feed the spiders in the yard... but I was honest and she took sympathy for the fly. LOL.

 

[Formerphobe]

You're only nuts if they start talking back.

>>>raising hand...<<<
Certifiable! LOL

 

[Scoolman]

I am still laughing. That was a hilarious story.......especially since I myself have done nearly the exact same thing.

 

[darksidemxer]

Its ok. I feed the wild spiders too. I usually have extra crickets and go drop them in a web or in the case of a jumper i will hand feed them lol.

OP, I can relate to that. I spent several minutes chasing a spider in the soda aisle at a supermarket. I stop for all spiders wherever I spot them. I don't really care who thinks I'm crazy honestly, I'm sure they wouldn't be far off.



I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm nuts for that reason. I'm out in the yard every other day carefully examining the bushes, trees, crevices around the house. Once I was trying to trick a fly into the web of an orb weaver and a woman walking her dog down the street stopped and asked me what I was doing. I actually felt a tad embarrassed to say I was trying to feed the spiders in the yard... but I was honest and she took sympathy for the fly. LOL.

 

[Smokehound714]

Most of my collecting is done in wilderness areas adjacent to rich people, and they're almost always xenophobic, though to be fair, I have really long hair, and I look like a vagrant, and carrying a sack and three different flashlights doesn't help my image, either. =\

 

[Galapoheros]

OP, I can relate to that. I spent several minutes chasing a spider in the soda aisle at a supermarket. I stop for all spiders wherever I spot them. I don't really care who thinks I'm crazy honestly, I'm sure they wouldn't be far off.



I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm nuts for that reason. I'm out in the yard every other day carefully examining the bushes, trees, crevices around the house. Once I was trying to trick a fly into the web of an orb weaver and a woman walking her dog down the street stopped and asked me what I was doing. I actually felt a tad embarrassed to say I was trying to feed the spiders in the yard... but I was honest and she took sympathy for the fly. LOL.

Each of my neighbors have walked over to the fence and said, "Todd, what are you looking at?" It's not just spiders but everything, caterpillars, centipedes, scorpions, diff plants, we have about 2 acre lots here and I keep mine pretty natural. The last time, I was letting a 10" centipede walk around in the backyard. "Todd what do you have now?" I brought the centipede next to the fence, the look on their faces, ...that was soooooo worth it, esp. the young teenage girl, her eyes got so big that it looked like she went blind, kind of leaned back with her mouth open haha.

 

[The Snark]

I have a slight advantage over most of your folks in the ferst welrd. To begin with, almost everyone I meet things I'm a little wacky, riding around on my bike armed with a snake hook and a teddy bear (my co-pilot). Secondly, the rural people here are far more down to earth, figuratively and literally. Critters great and small are commonplace. Thus, like my ride this morning where I was giving a monologue to a dragonfly hitch hiking on my shoulder, the locals who can even be bothered to take note of me just give me a smile. When I hook a snake off the road they think I'm a little more touched as that critter could have graced a stew pot but oh well, and with spiders, since everyone knows compared to the other hazards of life around here that they are harmless.* When I'm packing and or chatting it up with some lovely sparassid or the like, I get no typical EEEEWWWWW!!! reaction at all. Only occasional interested curiosity.

I do so wish and fervently hope the ferst welrd will someday get over itself and become a little more in touch with what they be a living in/with.

* Spiders? You want ouch problems, go cut some green stripe bamboo that leaves micro spikes in your skin for days, go harvesting red ant eggs or get out in the orchard picking lamyai and run afoul of those mini wasps apparently armed with bazookas and flame throwers.. Spiders are poofs in comparison.