Vegetarian spiders and bat eating birds. In the animal kingdom, like in human society, looks can be deceiving.
Before I get to the stories I’ll start with some question.
1.Do creepy crawlies (spiders and such) creep you out?
I have handled hissing cockroaches and let a tarantula crawl up my arm, it was a pet of a friend.
2. Any creepy crawly stories you wild like to share?
I love to enjoy a nice relaxing bath. I follow the Japaneses system of showering to get clean that a long soak in hot water to relax. One time I was chilling out in my hot bathtub. When I open my eyes to find I was sharing my bath with a spider, which was swimming towards my face.
I jump up out of the tub, almost killing my self in the process. I will admit to letting out a scream, but it was a very manly scream.
As I said I creepy crawlies don’t bother me as long as I can see them first. I did put the spider in a jar and released it outside, after putting on some clothes of course. 🙂
3. Do you feed wild animals, and I don’t mean teenagers. 🙂
I believe it is the job of wild animals to find their own food. My cousin feeds birds, groundhogs, raccoons and deer. Some will now feed out of her hand.
The stores.
The Vegetarian Spider
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8302535.stm
Proving once again how much we have still learn about the creatures we share our world with, a spider tha feeds on plants has been found in Central America, and Mexico.
From the article:
It is the first-known predominantly vegetarian spider; all of the other known 40,000 spider species are thought to be mainly carnivorous.
Bagheera kiplingi, which is found in Central America and Mexico, bucks the meat-eating trend by feasting on acacia plants.
The jumping arachnid, which is 5-6mm long, has developed a taste for the tips of the acacia plants – known as Beltian bodies – which are packed full of protein.
But to reach this leafy fare, the spider has to evade the attention of ants, which live in the hollow spines of the tree.
“The spiders live on the plants – but way out on the tips of the old leaves, where the ants don’t spend a lot of time, because there isn’t any food on those leaves.”
But when they get hungry, the spiders head to the newer leaves, and get ready to run the ant gauntlet.
Professor Curry said: “And they wait for an opening – they watch the ants move around, and they watch to see that there are not any ants in the local area that they are going after.
“And then they zip in and grab one of these Beltian bodies and then clip it off, hold it in their mouths and run away.
“And then they retreat to one of the undefended parts of the plant to eat it.”
Bat Eating Birds
A very pretty, samll, bird found in Europe, the Great Tit, get over the name guys, we are suppose to be adults here 🙂 , the insect eating bird will dine on hibernation bats when food is scarce.
Necessity is the mother of invention: Great Tits eat hibernating common pipistrelle bats under harsh conditions of snow cover. This remarkable newly-acquired behaviour was observed by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen and their colleagues in a cave in Hungary. When the researchers offered the birds alternative feed, they ate it and showed little or no interest in flying into the cave again.
The observed cave had a large entrance. Therefore, a small amount of light penetrated into it and the birds were able to find their way around in the semi-darkness. The birds probably locate the bats in the cave through the sounds that hibernating animals make when disturbed and awoken. These sounds range from the human acoustic range to the ultra-sound range. The researchers proved that these sounds were within the audible range of the birds by playing a recording of the bat sounds to them. The birds responded by moving towards the loudspeaker with interest. “These sounds probably have a defensive purpose,” says Bjorn Siemers, “and it would seem plausible that the birds use the sounds to locate the bats.” The Great Tits needed at most 15 minutes from entry into the cave to capture a bat. In some cases, they carried the Pipistrelles out of the cave in their beaks and ate them on nearby trees.
The World Through My Eyes 
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October 19, 2009 at 7:48 am
Indian Lake Papa
Creepy crawly things really don’t bother me – however, I was walking through the forest/swamp of Louisiana turkey hunting one day and suddenly heard a copperhead snake rattling his tale in the leaves by my feet! I screamed (like you, very manly) jumped straight in the air several feet (so much for staying still!) then settled down. When i regained my composure, I actually picked up the snake and told him not to do that again – really.
Shortly after that an A-10 Air Force jet (this is also true!) flew over and fired several bursts of its 30mm cannons – I was turkey hunting on their “firing range” – my “friend” who set up the firing range schedule at England air force base was suppose to call me – early – if anyone was scheduled to fly – he called too late, I had left. The snake ordeal was not so bad afterall. I actually picked up several 30mm cannon rounds for souveniers. Yep, manly screams are permissible at times.
October 19, 2009 at 11:21 pm
edfromct
I think a snake could take a bigger bite out of us than a spider. I do feel the same way however. I have handled pythons, and saw a copperhead, it think, once, it did have a rattle tail . I would jump a mile high myself if I came accross one by surprise.
I think cannons firing off around me would scare me a lot more than a snake. Are you sure it wasn’t the turkeys who were shoting at you? 🙂
October 20, 2009 at 8:24 am
Indian Lake Papa
Actually ED, I don’t think Copperheads have rattles – they rattle their tales in the leaves making noise as if they do have rattles – not real sure though.
October 21, 2009 at 12:26 am
edfromct
I looked it up and your are right. The copperhead does not have a rattle. A country boy like you does not a lot more about snakes that a city boy like me. Now the two legged kind is something I know about. 🙂
October 19, 2009 at 11:53 am
Debs
Hi Ed! “1.Do creepy crawlies (spiders and such) creep you out?”
Only til I get my foot over them… 🙂
“2. Any creepy crawly stories you wild like to share?”
Well yeah…. I was in the kitchen one evening cooking dinner and saw something out of the corner of my eye. (Never a good thing in the country) … I got down on my hands and knees as “it” had gone under the hutch… couldn’t find anything so I stood up to get a flashlight. Right when I turned it on, the biggest gardner snake I had seen for while was laughing at me. Umm… yeah, the flashlight flew, and so did I…. I was very thankful it wasn’t a rattler…
“3. Do you feed wild animals, and I don’t mean teenagers”
Yes I do, especially teenagers 😉 I feed the deer and squirrels, and not intentionally I’m sure I feed the skunks, possum and a variety of other critters. Tons of birds, anything that moves pretty much. They know where to go for food…. 🙂
October 19, 2009 at 11:41 pm
edfromct
Living in the country will bring you up close, and personal, with all kinds of wildlife. It is amazing how quickly animals will find out where the diner bell is ringing.
My stepmother also feed birds and squirrels. She would throw out some nuts and it was a race between the cardinals and the squirrels for the nuts.
My stepmother bought different types of bird feeders that where supposed to be squirrel proof, but the were always able to figure out away around them. My cousin does have a squirrel proof bird feeder that seems to work.
When it comes to finding food we can learn a lot from our back yard friends.
October 19, 2009 at 1:34 pm
therealstorie
1. Yes, creepy crawly things make me feel creep-crawly inside, but I always resist the urge to kill them. So I was the child (and still am) that gently grabbed it up in a napkin or paper towel and takes it out doors. I figure, as part of the food chain, we don’t want to eliminate the existance of something else’s dinner. lol!
2. creepy crawly story. Does waking up with a carpenter ant inside your ear count? I screamed….a very girly scream!
3. I resist feeding the birds in the winter because I understand that it can weaken them. Birds that need to fly south for the winter to find their food may stay here instead. I am not sure that is God’s best plan for them. However, in the spring and summer, upon their return to my yard, I do plant things that encourage them to come….nectar in flowers…..the hummingbird love our Magnolia tree. My father-in-law (former Science teacher is the one who educated me on the dangers of feeding the birds in the winter.)
October 19, 2009 at 11:59 pm
edfromct
I also try to catch any spider I see in the house and bring it outside. However after having been bitten by a few, if I catch one in my bedroom at night it is toast.
Finding an ant in my ear would definately freak me out.
Creating a bird friendly environment is the best way to help them in natural way. If we are going to feed birds we should learn what is the best type of food for them. My stepmother grew sunflowers that the birds and squirrels went nuts over.
It is great to have an expert around like your father-in-law to give you good advice.
October 19, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Michelle
Creepy crawly things don’t really bother me unless they rattle, sting, or hiss (ewwww, you touched a hissing cockroach!!!).
My creepy crawly story scares me to this day and causes me to be very careful of what moves in my home. I was in high school when we moved to a new house in a new development. In Texas that means scorpions. I woke one morning with a burning sting on my arm and brushed away a tiny yellow creature with the sharpest tail. Scorpion stings hurt worse than wasps!! Thankfully it was tiny. I can’t imagine if it had been any bigger!! My whole arm swelled up. Hurt for days and caused a fever. 😥
Feeding wild animals…no, not anymore. But we did at one time, when the kids were younger. Two mallard ducks would land in the yard every evening. Once, when we didn’t have birdseed out, they came and knocked on the door. It was the funniest thing. They lived in a nearby pond but would come every evening for four years in the Spring and Fall And a few times they enjoyed the pool.
October 20, 2009 at 12:12 am
edfromct
We have black widows spiders in CT, but they hide out in dark places. I am thankful we don’t any scorpions this far north. Desert country has the most dangerous spiders. Our friend Love can tell us all about dangerous spiders. Australia has the worst.
Do you have to check your shoes for anything that might be hiding their? That is common practise in desert country.
Ducks knocking on your door for a hand out must have been funny. We have some very agressive geese in CT that will chase you into the house. 🙂
My stepmother had a pair of ducks that came back every year and stayed in her backyard.
October 20, 2009 at 2:32 am
lovewillbringustogether
i loved imagining the very different scenes described by Papa and Michelle 🙂
i am a male so naturally am immune from any creepiness feeling about creepy crawlies
Particularly when in the presence of members of the weaker sex 😉
Being woken up in the middle of a warm night by the sound of flying cockroaches a couple of inches long crawling around my bedroom though has been known to disrupt my composure just a tad ( can’t stand cockroaches or earwigs – fortunately we don’t have scorpions over here). And it is not unknown to have wolf spiders the size of saucers found in Perth suburban homes!
My creepy crawlie story i might have mentioned before? i rented my home to a family from New Zealand and they were unfamiliar with the local wildlife. While we were out in the garden Ian, a mechanic who had quite tough skin from years of cuts and manual labour found a large female redback spider hiding behind some bricks. The redback is a very close relative of the Black Widow and is capable of killing a human – and this female was a very impressive member of her species.
So Ian says: ‘Ahhh, isn’t she pretty” and picks her up out of her web and lets her run over his hands while i was quietly having an apopleptic fit and trying to tell him it was NOT a good idea to make her annoyed – say by pulling her from her nest, bringing her out into bright sunlight, stopping her from getting back to her nest, etc – all of which Ian seemed intent upon doing.
Somehow he survived unpoisoned?
Storie does have the right idea about feeding, but like just about everyone i will occasionally offer food for the rarer wild animals i get to meet – particularly the cute ones and not the people-eating ones! 😉
Kookaburra’s are not unknown in my capital city and suburbs – but they are not all that frequent visitors to my garden. Hearing their song (laughter) is a very rare thing and something i was once fortunate enough to hear as one perched atop our clothes line.
These beautiful birds are members of the Kingfisher family and eat small fish, lizards, snakes and insects. i was able to watch as the bird sat carefullly watching my garden from the clothes line and then suddenly dive onto a flower bed and come up with some wriggling food in his beak and then fly back to the line to eat and then seek his next meal. Wanting to save the small geckos (sun-lizards) that populate my garden fences i tried feeding the Kookaburras some tinned tuna steak- which they seemed to enjoy and there was obviously a breeding pair here as they brought their young offspring for a free feed one day.
Having three of these unusual and delightful birds in my garden for a few days was quite a highlight and it was a ‘once off’ – they never came back after a couple of weeks.
Unlike Michelle’s ducks they never knocked, but when you hear a Kookaburra’s laugh close by you can’t help but go out and say hello. Take a tin of tuna!
<B
October 20, 2009 at 11:38 pm
edfromct
We also have some pretty big wolf spiders here in CT, but not quite saucer size, at least none that come indoors. In Florida they have flying cockroaches, the asian cockroach. They call their cockroaches Palmetto Bugs, but there just roaches like everywhere else.
Your redback spider does look like our black widows. Your friend Ian was very lucky, or, if he was married, he might have made his wife a widow. Both of these spiders sometimes eat their mates, much like my ex-girlfriends. 🙂
The Kookaburra does have a very loud, and distinctive laugh/cry. It must have been neat to have a pair coming to your yard, but I hope they did come around too early in the morning to disturb your beauty sleep. 🙂
October 21, 2009 at 1:12 am
lovewillbringustogether
That is a really good video of our Kookaburras Ed 🙂 ( Well, of their laugh anyway)
and fortunately mine were kind enough to visit in the late afternoon ensuring i got my beauty sleep – sadly, it has not helped much 😉
<B
October 20, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Rain
Hehe, I loved your creepy stories! I have a great great phobia of anything creepy or crawly. I nearly gassed myself one night with insect killing spray. I lived in a little cottage in a bit of a bush at the sea- it was very hot and humid there so everything grew twice its normal size. Having such a great fear of insects I tried to keep all windows and doors either shut or if it got too hot I’d open like one window and keep all the lights off.
One night I heard this awful scratching tapping noise close to my bed and freaked out, it sounded like a rat! Eventually I found the creepy crawly flying thing- it was huge- an insect probably only a little smaller than my hand! I sprayed about half the bottle of insect killer on it, and made sure all the the windows and doors were shut so nothing else could come in. After a while I heard it scratching and kocking and tapping again- it still wasnt dead! So I sprayed the other half of the bottle out on it. In the morning it was still half alive so I threw it out- but I almost died! A few weeks later I ended up in hospital with a very strange pneumonia- I’m sure from all the insect killer I inhaled.
Very commendable that you catch the thing and put it in a bottle!! 🙂
October 21, 2009 at 12:21 am
edfromct
I guess in the end that huge flying creepy crawly go the last laugh on your Rain. It lived, and you almost died. 🙂
To bad we don’t have a video of your “Night With The Flying Monster”. Phobias however are not fun.
I use to live in an apartment building. I tried to keep it as clean as I could, but every once in awhile a raoch would find its way into mine looking far a snack. Nothing will wake you up quicker then feeling something crawling on you.
October 21, 2009 at 1:04 am
lovewillbringustogether
Rain – i can empathise. My bedroom cockroaches (fortunately there are only ever a couple each year as the first hot weather causes eggs to hatch) are only about the size of my thumb – and they can sound like mice rustling across polished boards and bits of paper, so that thing you describe would really give me the willies 🙂 I’m glad i live in suburban Australia and not African bush!
Our flyspray also just slows these bugs down – but a good shoe can make sure they don’t cause further concern – maybe not too Christian, but i find it very effective and conducive to a far better nights sleep. 😉
<B