Winni critters

[ApS]

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!)