Mantis vs. Big Spider

[EdwardA]

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One of my favorite spiders. They eat mosquitoes. I've fed them grasshoppers. This one is a bit over the three inches in diameter. However, I don't think he stands much chance against this huge Mantis...over four inches long. I was hoping to see this, but I got close enough with my camera to scare off he Mantis. It just climbed up a couple feet and is still setting there. So I'll check later.

 

[jobo]

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One of my favorite spiders. They eat mosquitoes. I've fed them grasshoppers. This one is a bit over the three inches in diameter. However, I don't think he stands much chance against this huge Mantis...over four inches long. I was hoping to see this, but I got close enough with my camera to scare off he Mantis. It just climbed up a couple feet and is still setting there. So I'll check later.

View attachment 23167

is it a slow day at the edwarda residence?

 

[EdwardA]

is it a slow day at the edwarda residence?

Yeah, it's been raining and drizzling for days....can't do outside chores. I also got a macro lens for my camera so I've been watching the spider. I need to put some lighting on it to get the right shot. The photo above is not with the macro, its my 18 to 105mm. The one below is my 80mm macro.

If you feed these guys a grasshopper once every 2-3 days they get much bigger....I've gotten them up to 4 inches in diameter before. I'm thinking the Mantis may eat this one tho....I don't know, I'd like to watch it happen, that'd be a great photo, but I doubt I'll spend the time standing around out there in the drizzle....even standing mostly under one of my awnings.

 

[Buka]

I always enjoyed watching nature, even the creepy crawlies. I remember a couple years back we were drove out to the backside (think middle of nowhere) to play some extreme croquet.

We were watching a blue wasp who had just stung this really big spider and was dragging it up to her nest, right along the wall of the house, struggling with it’s weight.

As we’re watching - a gecko comes running fast from the side, snatches the spider out of the wasp’s grasp and disappears around the other side of the house. You could see the wasp, turning back and forth, looking for where it’s snack just went. We imagined it thinking, “hey, WTF?"

 

[Flying Crane]

I filmed a big orb-spinning spider for about a half hour, spinning her web outside my door. It was fascinating, watching her feed out the line and attach it as she worked her way around the web.

 

[granfire]

I have about 4 or 5 spider webs around my house right now.
The resident crafter is one of the kind that has a spiky rim and a smiley face on it's back.
These are small, I have had some as big as a nickel before.
I have some cool spider picks somewhere.
I need to get the lead out and sort my IT junk (again)

 

[Flying Crane]

We’ve got a lot of black widows around my area. I find them around the house all summer. I capture them and let them go in a park, away from where people gather. They are really quite shy, not aggressive. They run and hide when I capture them.