Quote:
Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal
I'm with Green's Basin Girl, dock spiders... ick! The only dock spider that I like to see is a dead one. Kill em all!  |
Is that spider incapacitated in some way? I've never seen one that would sit on someone's hand.
(NOT—at least, when
I was around!
)
However, I did spend a second of sheer terror when one had hidden within a dockline. I'd picked up the dockline, and it chose that second to run up my arm!
(But we have even-larger "shed" spiders in Central Florida which are similar—somewhat heavier and somewhat faster—and whose
eight eyes glow turquoise in the beam of a flashlight
)
Besides docks, those spiders use
all of our near-shorelines. I've often wondered what these dock spiders subsist on to keep so many around (mostly, out of sight). Last week, for the first time, I saw one chomping on a recently-emerged dragonfly nymph.
The only hunting I do in New Hampshire is
on these spiders, and it's with a can of hornet spray
. (And you
do need use some stealth to "zap" one).
My favorite "critter" is the chipmunk: with a little training using sunflower seeds, I've had them bounding up to me at the very end of the dock.
(Much to the delight and amazement of our passing Bass fishermen!)