As I was getting ready to go to work one day I noticed a Badge Huntsman Spider (Neosparassus sp.) on the main hall ceiling. It was sitting there still. Even when the lights came on it did not budge. My wife is absolutely scared of spiders. I figured I could spray it with insect spray but that would kill the spider, which I did not want to do as these eat the insects my wife hates like cockroaches. I was rushing to leave so I did not have time to catch it then release it. I was also annoyed I would not have an opportunity to photograph it, as I have hardly seen any spiders. Thus, I concluded, the best course of action was to leave it put. My wife and son are not morning people so I figured there was not much chance of them noticing it before my son went to school. I hoped by that time the spider would have crawled off to a day time hollow to conceal itself and my wife would be none the wiser.
When I came home, I was amazed to see the spider was still where it was when I left in the morning. My wife greeted me and I explained I would now get rid of the spider. Strangely, she was less than impressed I had left it there the whole day. She was not thrilled when I said I knew she would not notice. I had a shallow plastic container with a lid to catch it in, as well as a piece of paper I planned to slide across the container’s opening once I put it over the spider. As the spider was just out of reach, and I did not want to stand on the kitchen stool, I gave it a soft nudge with the sheet of paper. The one thing that impressed my wife was the spider “flying”. I explained the spider was not flying, it had used its silk thread it had anchored to the ceiling and was letting it out to control its descent. She preferred to think ti was flying. The spider’s controlled repelling allowed me to simply open the container to catch it in mid-air. I was impressed with my dexterity, even if my wife plainly was not.
She was even less impressed that after I released it outside, instead of coming in to talk to her, I grabbed my camera and went back outside to photograph it.
Huntsman spiders are very common spiders. This one was part of the Badge Huntsman variety because of the colourful “badge” they have on the underside of their abdomen. I did not get a picture of the badge unfortunately. They do not make webs but crawl along looking for their prey. That need to keep moving to find food often leads them inside houses. They often cause a shock for people as they tend to go into dark crevices, which may also be behind a kitchen appliance, which, when moved, shocks both the human and the spider.
Looking closely at the spider’s face I cursed the fact I did not have a decent macro lens and that my macro skills are still in need of work. The eyes in the flash reflected back as a lovely emerald green. With four of the eight eyes very prominent on the front of the face.
I was glad I had a chance to photograph this spider but I have not asked my wife to view my work. I hope you like the photographs.
Looking at the business end of the spider, the end that will be the last thing the prey sees
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 200, 55mm, f/5.6 and 1/250 SEC] with flash)
A slightly wider shot of the spider on the brick work where I released it
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 200, 55mm, f/5.6 and 1/250 SEC] with flash)