OUT!! #33: A Tribute to the Awe-Inspiring Horror that are Wolf Spiders

When you first gaze upon this image, the first thoughts that might come to mind are fear, disgust, and yet, a certain level of reverence. I had an interesting problem this evening involving the lightning fast speed of this particular spider.

Before I get ahead of myself, I should introduce my nemesis. This fine, yet terrifying fellow to my left is a wolf spider (Lycosidae) which is a medium sized (my measurement of "medium" is any spider capable of growing over an inch long) spider that hunts down its prey by chasing it and delivering a venomous bite. Occasionally they are also sit and wait hunters that wait for prey to walk by before pouncing. Their main identification feature are their eight eyes (four large and four small) and are found in three rows on the head. This gives them an excellent field of vision and makes them harder to squish as they are more aware of movement and therefore more aware of errant Welshmen that wish harm upon them.

Back to the main story though. The past few nights I've had a short, but terrifying dream involving a spider and my bedside table. Thinking I could just blow the spider off the edge, I did so, but each time I did, the spider returned and covered double the distance that I'd just blown it backwards. Simply put, if I blew it back two inches, it advanced four. I did this a few times until it was nearly at the edge and gave out one big final gust. However, this blew the spider to about the edge of the table and, as expected, it flew right at my face causing me to awaken in terror.

So as I lounged in my bed this evening, I noticed a blur on the floor with my peripheral vision. I looked down and froze. It was a wolf spider. The very same kind that had terrified me in my dream. I did not want them to come true so I tried to crush it with my tea cup. I only succeeded in sloshing tea on my computer cord as it scarpered away under my bed. Now I was paranoid that it wouldn't come back out. I tried to convince myself it had fled to safety and wouldn't venture out after that. However, about two minutes later, I saw it had returned. I saw it for about two seconds and, as if seeming to sense that something was wrong, it scuttled back under the bed.

Determined not to spend a paranoia ridden night with a wolf spider under my bed, I got off the bed and moved it away from the wall (it's only a twin so it was easy). However, there was nothing underneath it. The speedy little ninja had gotten away. Now I was really paranoid. I scanned the room, but could see nothing. I pushed the bed back against the wall and scanned again. Nothing under the chair. Nothing near the fireplace, Nothing near the- AH HA!!

In the corner, near the bedside table was the spider. It had spread itself up into the corner and remained still. As stealthily as I could I picked up my tin box of colored pencils and was ready to do battle with the eight-eyed speed demon. I moved closer and it came inching towards me. I stopped. It stopped. I moved. It moved. I lunged. It dashed along the wall towards the chair and I tried to attack it there. But it doubled back and headed towards the corner again. Another lunge and it headed back towards the chair. Once more, it doubled back and tried to escape under the table. I didn't even try to aim. I brought down the edge of the tin box to where I last saw the spider. It slammed into the ground and ground a few centimeters into the nearby wall. I paused. Was it dead?

I lifted the tin box and looked at the side. Three pairs of mangled legs and a body section were all that remained. I let out a maniacal laugh. One that could only be associated with pure dumb luck at the joy of having killed a miniscule threat and yet how hard it had seemed at the time to have done so. With the threat neutralized, I scraped the remains into my trash and settled back down. And that's my exciting story for the week. And to think I'd thought I would have had to scrape something interesting together to put on here. Well, that's one blog down for the week...

OUT!! #32: Eastern Box Turtle

While on a program the other day, I had the great fortune to have one of the participants spot a female Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) digging near the side of the trail. By the looks of it, she'd either just finished the job, just started, or was making a false nest (designed to throw off predators from where the real nest might be). Seeing one of these creatures is a wonderful sight to behold as they are woefully endangered largely by human influence.

The Eastern Box Turtle is one of six subspecies spread across the eastern and south central United States and is the state reptile (at least the nominate species is) of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Missouri. A pretty high distinction for a very cool reptile. They are called box turtles because of their ability to shut their shells completely to prevent predators from securing a limb or their heads in order to incapacitate them. Their domed shells are also intricately patterned meaning that individual box turtles can be identified by the unique patterns on the carapace of the shell. Adding to the individuality are the scales on the back of the shell itself which have rings allowing one to be able to determine the age of the turtle as well. This is a pretty good tool, but it might be harder than it looks as these turtles can live to be 50 to 75 years old.

While they can live to such ages, they are vulnerable to human-related injury. They are often hit by cars, crushed by agricultural equipment, or taken in for the pet trade. As a result they are regarded by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) as a vulnerable species.

Despite this, they are still a fairly common sight in the East being seen most often in fields, open woods, and yards bordering wild areas. Despite being portrayed in many internet videos as aggressive maulers of strawberries, they are actually omnivores that eat a wide variety of plant and animal matter. There is even a current theory that suggests that the young are more likely to be carnivores when they first start out before gradually moving on to eat the often slower and easier to catch plants and fungi. Why then don't they just start off with plants you may wonder? My thoughts are that it's a theory supported mainly by anecdotal evidence and might instead be an interesting hypothesis instead of a working theory.

Having never seen a box turtle in the wild before, I would have spent more time looking and observing, but with a program to burn and time running out, I had to move on. If on my own time however, I see one, I'll be sure to check it out and let you know about it too.