30 sec walk

[Pulk]

about 30 seconds from my house is a small-to-medium canyon...
inspired by cacoseraph and GQ's hunt & hike I went out there and actually looked carefully - today I found
a foot-long alligator lizard
a cactus with three large, well-fed, unique Argiope argenta... one of which had a male, which I took home. I'd provide a photo, but it would not be an interesting one.

and

without too much searching, in what can only be called "Agelenopsisland", this.

I plan to go out tomorrow and not be able to find any more, ever.

 

[cacoseraph]

nice dude

the grass spiders are out in FORCE now! some places are getting a definite Arachnophobia (the movie) feel to them

 

[Pulk]

i saw the biggest one i've yet seen on monday. it was a female.
is it just me or do males seem bigger than females? maybe they just mature faster and in a few months the females will look bigger.

 

[cacoseraph]

i saw the biggest one i've yet seen on monday. it was a female.
is it just me or do males seem bigger than females? maybe they just mature faster and in a few months the females will look bigger.

hmmm... the truly massive grass spiders i have seen have been from both sexes, iirc. i wasn't really paying attn though.

i think i would like to capture a few of the giants and get babies from them. these are kind of fun captives. especially contrasted to most tarantulas, these things grow insanely fast.

 

[Pulk]

...these things grow insanely fast.

and move, too!

lots of pictures...
this is basically my own personal "canyon," not many people go there.

you can't tell, but this is agelenopsisland

post-pulk

where this trapdoor was

taken standing at that spot... my house ;P

big version

it doesn't look like there's a lot of room for a door... what do you think?

(more pictures of the slings in the true spiders/other arachnids section)

 

[luna]

That is so awesome that you found your own trapdoor! I guess that is how you had the trapdoor that had babies... It is so nice seeing a kid going outside and doing something where they can really learn.

(Just and old science teacher thinking out loud)

 

[8+)]

i saw the biggest one i've yet seen on monday. it was a female.
is it just me or do males seem bigger than females? maybe they just mature faster and in a few months the females will look bigger.

I caught a pair of large ones in TN and it definitely seems that the male is larger, but as you said, maybe they mature sooner. They are really fun to keep and they seem to settle down quite quickly in captivity.

 

[Pulk]

Both of the ones I had escaped because of crappy homemade lids; one of them I never found the second time and the other died presumably of old age... but I might get another.

What do you keep yours in?

 

[froggyman]

i would love to be able to find a trapdoor in my backyard!
you're braver than i am i would never handle a trapdoor spider(something kinda creepy about their Chelicerae) are they normally docile?

 

[Pulk]

i would love to be able to find a trapdoor in my backyard!
you're braver than i am i would never handle a trapdoor spider(something kinda creepy about their Chelicerae) are they normally docile?

i realized just after holding her i don't really know

 

[froggyman]

anyway nice find! agelenopsis can make neat pets too(especially once they make their webs