Monday, July 14, 2008

Wolf Spiders are my friends

I grew up in an old cracker house that had lots of crooks and crannies. We often had wolf spiders hanging out in the house. The house was two story with the only bathroom downstairs. I quickly had to become used to having to step over a wolf spider when I was a little girl. We had one particular wolf spider that would come out at night and take up almost the entire step every night for what seemed like forever (I was little, probably 7 or 8, so it probably wasn't as long as it seemed). I didn't have friends over to spend the night much because of the big spiders (and no AC). As an adult, I've come to appreciate wolf spiders because they eat roaches.

My youngest sister was always the most fascinated with wolf spiders (she took these pictures for me). When she came over to make us dinner the other night, she noticed a big wolf spider hanging out between the screened door and sliding door (protecting himself from Tebow, I'm sure). According to Alli, wolf spiders also really like to eat frogs. We've had a proliferation of frogs with my new water pond and seasonal pond that's somewhat full of water which means we've also had a proliferation of wolf spiders.

I couldn't get the camera to focus (the macro lens is out on loan), so Alli took some great close-ups for me.




4 comments:

R.Powers said...

You too?

I grew up in St. Augustine with no A/C.

We have these guys on our front porch at night. I confess to a little arachnascaredycatia, but they do a lot of good pest control.

AlliJean said...

yes, I have a love of wolf spiders... mainly because mom always told me they ate roaches. I have several memories of them... perhaps I will post some of them.

Emily said...

FC - yes, we had no AC until I was 15. Then, we moved to suburbia. These guys always spook me a little, but I HATE roaches so they can stay.

Alli - you should definitely post some stories. You probably have more vivid spider memories than I do. Maybe I'll post the one about you, the bathroom, and the snake. He he.

Jen said...

My parents have wolf spiders - maybe it has something to do with no AC? We used to alert the dog to one spider's nightly scramble from behind one picture on the wall to the next. He'd go crazy - until the spider disappeared from view. I know they're beneficial, but they're so . . . [shivering] big.