Bothriocyrtum californicum - California Trapdoor Spider

[GQ.]

I took Paladin just outside of San Diego to find a couple trapdoor spiders. None of my photos on a naturalistic background turned out very well, but I have a couple others to share.

Photo of Paladin's first trapdoor find. I showed him the first one and he caught on quick after that.

This is a photo of the same hole with an open door.

Trapdoor in defensive posture.

Trapdoor in defensive posture closeup. I didn't notice the dripping fang until I made it home and uploaded the photos.

Apparently it was a bit cold and rainy for the tarantulas to open up their burrows. This weekend or next should be better for tarantulas and other crawly things. Enjoy!

 

[Stylopidae]

cool spider...can you get more of those? I'd love to own a trapdoor but with a kid in the house, the african species make me nervous

 

[P. Novak]

i live in cali but i dont know where to look, id really love to find some creepy crawlies!

nice pics though, and very nice find! did you keep it?

 

[cacoseraph]

you taught your dog to help you bug hunt!?

smart dog!

and smart human!!

that is freakin awesome!

 

[Paladin]

Are you calling me a dog.........haha

yeah that trip was awesome, it was unfortunate there werent any snakes to be seen and only that one tarantula burrow but the weather is warming up and that should make these trips even more interesting.

my pictures didnt come out all that great or else i would share them.....bummer

 

[cacoseraph]

Are you calling me a dog.........haha

yeah that trip was awesome, it was unfortunate there werent any snakes to be seen and only that one tarantula burrow but the weather is warming up and that should make these trips even more interesting.

my pictures didnt come out all that great or else i would share them.....bummer

dang, i think i'm actually blushing

i looked at AB and saw a post by someone named Paladin and was like... oh carp!

but now i want to train a dog to find bugs

 

[GQ.]

They are very common around San Diego. To find one you simply need to find any open area with no homes on it. Take a short hike in one of those areas and you will find some. I don't know if they can be found up near San Jose. I've never checked on what their range is.

I didn't keep any for myself. I just like to go out in the field to see what I can find.

 

[Galapoheros]

dang, i think i'm actually blushing

i looked at AB and saw a post by someone named Paladin and was like... oh carp!

but now i want to train a dog to find bugs

AND it can post on the AB! That is one smart puppy! Budump..chiiiing. Ha! Man, I know you could train a dog to do this for real. I think a really good dog to try and train would be a Rat terrier. I had one that could locate grubs in the dirt. Just to make sure he wasn't getting lucky, I encouraged him to find them and I would help him dig them up. I couldn't believe it. But yea Caco, I've thought about it too. I bet you could train a dog to find Traps. I thought about it when I was doing the herp thing, but too dangerous for the dog I would think...rattlesnakes.

 

[moricollins]

Very COOL GQ I wish we had cool native bugs up here

 

[aliceinwl]

What's the habitat like where you find them. From the pic, to looks like it's in a pretty dense grassland.

-Alice

 

[GQ.]

The below photo is from a similar area. The grasses are nice and green during the brief rainy season. The thick grasses are great for concealing the the numerous Southern Pacific Rattlesnakes in the area. A lot of the taller brush is dried mustard. The mustard really makes my legs itch when it is actively blooming.

 

[Malkavian]

How do you get 'em out? Do they pop out pretty readily when disturbed, or do they take coaxing with a blade of grass or something?

 

[Paladin]

bring a decent shovel, mine stopped looking like one after about 5 minutes