SE Suburban Spider Safari II

[padkison]

Nice warm weather tonight, so I went out in search of spiders and got a few pictures.

Black Widows - First 3 are males I assume (all in the same web). Lots of widow webs. They were made from the ground to a branch about 3 feet up. As soon as I disturbed the web, the females would zip to the ground and hide in the leaf litter at the bottom of their web.

Also found but not pictured were Dolomedes tenebrosus and Hemiscolopendra marginata.

Female

Web

Hogna georgicola at burrow entrance with a huge load of babies

The burrow after she went back in

Bullfrog

Mating wood roaches

Two of the female H. georgicola I picked up. Both large at 2"+ legspan.

 

[Blaster]

Great photos! I especially like Hogna, they're cuties! Good luck with the sac.
Regards, Matthew.

 

[KUJordan]

cool widows. their webs are certainly unmistakable, huh? i went out looking for rattlesnakes yesterday and ended up just playing with L. variolus out and about as well.

 

[padkison]

The widow webs are easy to find at night in the woods because of the leaves, etc stuck in them. I have started bringing the camera on a regular basis because I like taking pictures of these guys. The red/black contrast is great.

cool widows. their webs are certainly unmistakable, huh? i went out looking for rattlesnakes yesterday and ended up just playing with L. variolus out and about as well.

 

[Crotalus]

I love the Hogna with babies photo! Thanks for sharing!

 

[cacoseraph]

amazing babies pic

 

[syndicate]

great pictures!any tips on shooting at night?do u bring a lamp with u or somehting?i really wanna go on some night missions to find local spiders but there really isnt anyone who wants to go with me round here lol

 

[padkison]

I have a point and shoot Canon S400 with a macro function and a flash. No extra lights used. I'm not ready to invest the time, effort, and equipment needed to get top-line photos like some achieve.

My daughter goes out with me sometimes, but I mostly go alone since it is about 9PM before it gets dark and the kids have a bedtime. It's nice and peaceful in the woods at night around here. The place I go most is near I-40 and can be noisy when I get close to the freeway. I see beaver, deer, possum, and the occasional cat. No other people though. Not sure what I would think if I saw someone else out there. No one I know around here is wacky enough to go out at night looking for inverts.

great pictures!any tips on shooting at night?do u bring a lamp with u or somehting?i really wanna go on some night missions to find local spiders but there really isnt anyone who wants to go with me round here lol

 

[syndicate]

lol man yeah us spider people are rare.tried gettin some nice spider pics out in the woods today but they all came out blurry :/
keep at it tho man

 

[padkison]

More pictures

Mother of all Dolomedes (think she's ready to lay a sac?)

Widow

Funnel Web Spider

Dolomedes albineus (thanks to gunslinger for the ID). Perched on the bark of a tree like a type of fishing spider. I initially thought it was a color variation of Pisuarina mira. Leg span is about 2 inches.

Rabidosa wolf spider species, leg span 2 inches.

 

[syndicate]

man that albineus is a beauty!great find

 

[gunslinger]

Be sure to keep us posted on the albineus, if it does toss a sac your way.........that would be sweet. Its a beautiful species, and I would love to add to it the collection.