IM-convo
Co-worker says:
That and arachnid wars were the two things completely unrelated to class that I most enjoyed about highschool.
Co-worker says:
I had a fascination with arachnids from Kindergarten to well now
Co-worker says:
The school I went to had a lot of land, and therefore a lot of bug life
Co-worker says:
In particular, our school had a healthy population of black widow spiders
Soon, Angeline says:
spiders are cool
Co-worker says:
In my younger days, I was very foolish when around them
Soon, Angeline says:
wait.. are they deadly? or is that the brown recluse
Co-worker says:
black widow are deadly
Co-worker says:
brown recluse mostly just rot away the area they bite
Co-worker says:
especially deadly to a 1st or 2nd grader
Co-worker says:
but that didn't cross my mind
Soon, Angeline says:
yikes
Co-worker says:
I was walking by an area of dirt that was dug up while they were redoing a field
Co-worker says:
and I saw a hole with web
Co-worker says:
So I dug
Co-worker says:
with my bare hands
Soon, Angeline says:
AIYAI YAI!
Co-worker says:
I found two black widows
Co-worker says:
one a male, one a female
Soon, Angeline says:
did you recognize them at that time?
Co-worker says:
Oh I knew they could bite me
Co-worker says:
But it didn't exactly click that digging with my hands increased that chance....
Co-worker says:
The female (which I didn't actually know as female at the time) I got into my empty lunch bag (this was after school)
Co-worker says:
I got her in there using a stick
Co-worker says:
The male I prodded until he crawled onto the stick
Co-worker says:
I carried both back towards the school buildings
Soon, Angeline says:
good gawd
Co-worker says:
The male, as you may know, is not venomous
Co-worker says:
poisonous rather
Co-worker says:
and I probably saved him from being eaten
Co-worker says:
Anyway, I put the bag down to go find my sister to tell her I had caught it
Co-worker says:
I told one of her friends on the way to find her, and then continued looking for her
Co-worker says:
I couldn't find her so I went back to the bag and she was there with her friend looking in the bag
Co-worker says:
All they saw was some dirt so they were like "There's no spider in there!"
Co-worker says:
so they shook the bag out on the ground and it looked like only dirt
Co-worker says:
except one clod, after a moment, sprouted legs and ran towards them
Co-worker says:
While this resulted in them believing me
Co-worker says:
it also resulted in the spider being crushed
Co-worker says:
ANYWAY, so arachnid wars.
Co-worker says:
In one of my other harrowing spider adventures I had seen a blue belly lizard attempting to eat a black widow
Co-worker says:
so when 10th grade biology class came along and one of our assignments was bug collection
Co-worker says:
I had a wealth of time to spend with the creepy crawlies
Co-worker says:
about this time, one of my friends who lived in a more rural area, found a scorpion in his hosue
Co-worker says:
he brought it to school we had some fun testing its sting reflex
Co-worker says:
then I realized that I had a live black widow in one of my containers
Co-worker says:
I said...I bet my black widow can take your scorpion
Co-worker says:
the scorpions in that area don't get much bigger than an inch or so, so I thought for sure the black widow could paralyze the scorpion
Co-worker says:
At first, the fight was far less exciting that I thought it would be.
Soon, Angeline says:
NICE
Soon, Angeline says:
both were slow?
Co-worker says:
They mostly just stayed away from each other
Co-worker says:
So I realized they required some incentive to get a little closer
Co-worker says:
We nudged them together with some implement...probably a ruler or something and a reasonably entertaining grappling match took place
Co-worker says:
The black widow has a very net-like web
Co-worker says:
it pretty much webbed up the scorpions pinchers
Co-worker says:
That slowed the pace down again, though, so I had to push the widow back onto the scorpion
Co-worker says:
this didn't seem to phase the scorpion until I saw the little fangs poking out and trying to bite him
Co-worker says:
even then it didn't seem to be getting through his tough carapace
Soon, Angeline says:
did you cut the web off of the scorpion?
Co-worker says:
so I nudged the widow until the little fangs were at the joint of his exoskeleton
Co-worker says:
and he immediately went berserk
Soon, Angeline says:
wait wait wait
Co-worker says:
he thrashed the web from his claws and grabbed the widow
Soon, Angeline says:
the fangs on the scorpion you meant
Co-worker says:
no
Co-worker says:
fangs on the widow
Co-worker says:
very very small
Co-worker says:
no fangs on a scorpion that I know of
Co-worker says:
scorpion let go finally and the widow had 4 of 8 legs permanently pointing straight up
Co-worker says:
this severely limited the spider's mobility, but its fight or flight reaction was engaged
Co-worker says:
it tried some more web and successfully bit a few more times
Co-worker says:
but it made the mistake of getting on the scorps back
Co-worker says:
the scorpion finally stung the spider with its tail in three quick strikes
Soon, Angeline says:
oooh
Soon, Angeline says:
and...
Co-worker says:
right in the spiders abdomen
Co-worker says:
the spider gave up
Soon, Angeline says:
did the spider die?
Co-worker says:
the scorpion later ripped the spiders body open...we found its guts spilled all over the bottom of the container
Soon, Angeline says:
whoa
Co-worker says:
the same guy who found the scorpion found a really big wolf spider on his property and brought it in
Soon, Angeline says:
is the scorpion's ummm shell tougher than the spider?
Co-worker says:
definitely
Soon, Angeline says:
wolf spider?
Co-worker says:
wolf spider is essentially the same look as a tarantula
Co-worker says:
this one was a gray furry beast
Co-worker says:
and he was THE most aggressive spider I have ever seen
Co-worker says:
no matter what it was faced with it attacked.....sticks...rocks....anything
Co-worker says:
naturally we crated it around to various classes and in english class the guy who found it...his name was Ryan, he was teasing it with a rolled up piece of tissue paper
Co-worker says:
it attacked it and grabbed on to the bottom
Co-worker says:
and when Ryan lifted it up to shake it off, it actually tried to run up the paper
Co-worker says:
fortunately he dropped it right back in the container, but man was he aggressive
Co-worker says:
so he also had another scorpion and we had Arachnid Wars 2 all planned out
Co-worker says:
buuuuut Ryan left the spider in his locker......in mid-May
Co-worker says:
which means 80-90 degrees of dry heat
Co-worker says:
and we found the poor guy essentially dead
Co-worker says:
it was depressing because I would have loved to see what would have happened
Co-worker says:
I'm not sure the spider could have done anything to the scorpion, but he would have tried!
Co-worker says:
And his fangs, which were quite large, COULD have done some damage
Soon, Angeline says:
oh no
Soon, Angeline says:
poor spidy died
Soon, Angeline says:
the war #2 would've been COOL!
Co-worker says:
yes, it would have been.
Co-worker says:
That and arachnid wars were the two things completely unrelated to class that I most enjoyed about highschool.
Co-worker says:
I had a fascination with arachnids from Kindergarten to well now
Co-worker says:
The school I went to had a lot of land, and therefore a lot of bug life
Co-worker says:
In particular, our school had a healthy population of black widow spiders
Soon, Angeline says:
spiders are cool
Co-worker says:
In my younger days, I was very foolish when around them
Soon, Angeline says:
wait.. are they deadly? or is that the brown recluse
Co-worker says:
black widow are deadly
Co-worker says:
brown recluse mostly just rot away the area they bite
Co-worker says:
especially deadly to a 1st or 2nd grader
Co-worker says:
but that didn't cross my mind
Soon, Angeline says:
yikes
Co-worker says:
I was walking by an area of dirt that was dug up while they were redoing a field
Co-worker says:
and I saw a hole with web
Co-worker says:
So I dug
Co-worker says:
with my bare hands
Soon, Angeline says:
AIYAI YAI!
Co-worker says:
I found two black widows
Co-worker says:
one a male, one a female
Soon, Angeline says:
did you recognize them at that time?
Co-worker says:
Oh I knew they could bite me
Co-worker says:
But it didn't exactly click that digging with my hands increased that chance....
Co-worker says:
The female (which I didn't actually know as female at the time) I got into my empty lunch bag (this was after school)
Co-worker says:
I got her in there using a stick
Co-worker says:
The male I prodded until he crawled onto the stick
Co-worker says:
I carried both back towards the school buildings
Soon, Angeline says:
good gawd
Co-worker says:
The male, as you may know, is not venomous
Co-worker says:
poisonous rather
Co-worker says:
and I probably saved him from being eaten
Co-worker says:
Anyway, I put the bag down to go find my sister to tell her I had caught it
Co-worker says:
I told one of her friends on the way to find her, and then continued looking for her
Co-worker says:
I couldn't find her so I went back to the bag and she was there with her friend looking in the bag
Co-worker says:
All they saw was some dirt so they were like "There's no spider in there!"
Co-worker says:
so they shook the bag out on the ground and it looked like only dirt
Co-worker says:
except one clod, after a moment, sprouted legs and ran towards them
Co-worker says:
While this resulted in them believing me
Co-worker says:
it also resulted in the spider being crushed
Co-worker says:
ANYWAY, so arachnid wars.
Co-worker says:
In one of my other harrowing spider adventures I had seen a blue belly lizard attempting to eat a black widow
Co-worker says:
so when 10th grade biology class came along and one of our assignments was bug collection
Co-worker says:
I had a wealth of time to spend with the creepy crawlies
Co-worker says:
about this time, one of my friends who lived in a more rural area, found a scorpion in his hosue
Co-worker says:
he brought it to school we had some fun testing its sting reflex
Co-worker says:
then I realized that I had a live black widow in one of my containers
Co-worker says:
I said...I bet my black widow can take your scorpion
Co-worker says:
the scorpions in that area don't get much bigger than an inch or so, so I thought for sure the black widow could paralyze the scorpion
Co-worker says:
At first, the fight was far less exciting that I thought it would be.
Soon, Angeline says:
NICE
Soon, Angeline says:
both were slow?
Co-worker says:
They mostly just stayed away from each other
Co-worker says:
So I realized they required some incentive to get a little closer
Co-worker says:
We nudged them together with some implement...probably a ruler or something and a reasonably entertaining grappling match took place
Co-worker says:
The black widow has a very net-like web
Co-worker says:
it pretty much webbed up the scorpions pinchers
Co-worker says:
That slowed the pace down again, though, so I had to push the widow back onto the scorpion
Co-worker says:
this didn't seem to phase the scorpion until I saw the little fangs poking out and trying to bite him
Co-worker says:
even then it didn't seem to be getting through his tough carapace
Soon, Angeline says:
did you cut the web off of the scorpion?
Co-worker says:
so I nudged the widow until the little fangs were at the joint of his exoskeleton
Co-worker says:
and he immediately went berserk
Soon, Angeline says:
wait wait wait
Co-worker says:
he thrashed the web from his claws and grabbed the widow
Soon, Angeline says:
the fangs on the scorpion you meant
Co-worker says:
no
Co-worker says:
fangs on the widow
Co-worker says:
very very small
Co-worker says:
no fangs on a scorpion that I know of
Co-worker says:
scorpion let go finally and the widow had 4 of 8 legs permanently pointing straight up
Co-worker says:
this severely limited the spider's mobility, but its fight or flight reaction was engaged
Co-worker says:
it tried some more web and successfully bit a few more times
Co-worker says:
but it made the mistake of getting on the scorps back
Co-worker says:
the scorpion finally stung the spider with its tail in three quick strikes
Soon, Angeline says:
oooh
Soon, Angeline says:
and...
Co-worker says:
right in the spiders abdomen
Co-worker says:
the spider gave up
Soon, Angeline says:
did the spider die?
Co-worker says:
the scorpion later ripped the spiders body open...we found its guts spilled all over the bottom of the container
Soon, Angeline says:
whoa
Co-worker says:
the same guy who found the scorpion found a really big wolf spider on his property and brought it in
Soon, Angeline says:
is the scorpion's ummm shell tougher than the spider?
Co-worker says:
definitely
Soon, Angeline says:
wolf spider?
Co-worker says:
wolf spider is essentially the same look as a tarantula
Co-worker says:
this one was a gray furry beast
Co-worker says:
and he was THE most aggressive spider I have ever seen
Co-worker says:
no matter what it was faced with it attacked.....sticks...rocks....anything
Co-worker says:
naturally we crated it around to various classes and in english class the guy who found it...his name was Ryan, he was teasing it with a rolled up piece of tissue paper
Co-worker says:
it attacked it and grabbed on to the bottom
Co-worker says:
and when Ryan lifted it up to shake it off, it actually tried to run up the paper
Co-worker says:
fortunately he dropped it right back in the container, but man was he aggressive
Co-worker says:
so he also had another scorpion and we had Arachnid Wars 2 all planned out
Co-worker says:
buuuuut Ryan left the spider in his locker......in mid-May
Co-worker says:
which means 80-90 degrees of dry heat
Co-worker says:
and we found the poor guy essentially dead
Co-worker says:
it was depressing because I would have loved to see what would have happened
Co-worker says:
I'm not sure the spider could have done anything to the scorpion, but he would have tried!
Co-worker says:
And his fangs, which were quite large, COULD have done some damage
Soon, Angeline says:
oh no
Soon, Angeline says:
poor spidy died
Soon, Angeline says:
the war #2 would've been COOL!
Co-worker says:
yes, it would have been.
