Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Head's up! ~or~ While other's find metal, I find bitey stuff!

Ashtro1969

Ashtro1969

Full Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2013
Messages
119
Location
Jacksonville, NC
I was detecting along a path at a park yesterday when I looked up to see this :fright:....not gonna lie, almost pee'd myself!!!! It was one of the largest spiders I had ever seen, and I almost walked straight into it's web (it was a little above eye level for me)! The picture does not do it justice, it's circumference (around the tips of it's legs) was probably somewhere between 4-6 inches.
After I settled down, I took the picture. It turns out there were about 6 more at various places in the park, with huge webs stretched our between pines. I am not scared of spiders unless I get startled by one (as in this case). I looked it up and it is a Goldensilk Spider which apparently are among the largest of the orb weavers in the country. Mostly harmless but I am still glad I didn't walk into it. You can be darned certain that I made sure to look up every few seconds after that!
So, I guess the point of this post is, watch for bitey stuff in the ground when you dig/walk and look up once in awhile also! What's next, killer bee's???? :grin: HH....
 

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Ashtro1969 said:
What's next, killer bee's???? :grin: HH....
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well we do have africanized ones which are among the most aggressive. But as for the killer wasps(they are huge and very very deadly) are down in the amazon if i remember correctly. Their sting is reported to feel like someone is driving red hot nails into your body.
 
All spiders inject digestive juice, might not be poison, but it really can't be all that good for you, possibly a real bad deal for some people. Showing caution and commonsense respect, force something that can potential do some damage, isn't fear. All living creatures try to avoid injury. The more successful you are, the longer you live, more likely to reproduce.

Big spiders poke big holes in you, couldn't feel good. Think spiders are kind of creepy. Even other spiders don't like to be around them...
 
Yikes....Looks like it could blot out the sun in that photo!

My scariest spider story....
I was caving one time and had crawled on my stomach through a small passage for a distance until it petered out. I rolled over onto my back at that point and found that the ceiling of the cave was covered in big spiders only a foot or so from my face, all I can remember thinking was that they were all going to drop onto my face and body at once..
I still get the shivers thinking about that and it was half a lifetime ago.
 
Here is your Golden Orb Weaver preparing a meal.
 

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that thing is huge! :shock:
and this is the time of year they seem to be out in full force, fattening up for the winter. :roll:
and some species of them can sure deliver a nasty bite. a co-worker of mine got bitten on the forearm a couple of years ago. he didn't think of keeping the spider. actually he didn't even know he was bitten..... until that night/next morning!
long story short, broad spectrum of antibiotics for 3 weeks and he couldn't use his arm and had to keep it in a sling for about 2 weeks, from the elbow down it looked like one huge bruise and the pain to go along with it and absolutely no strength.
one nailed me around that same time and the "bruise" was slightly larger than a quarter and very painful but unlike him, i didn't need any meds for it.
 
Just in case you wonder where the silk for the web comes out. Left side of picture, about a 45 degree angle to spiders abdomen.
 

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Ive walked into these spiders webs a number of times accidentally , the web is really strong. Once I walked through one and the spider ended up on my back. I jumped around swinging my arms beating myself silly trying to get that thing off me and then couldnt shake that creepy feeling the rest of the day :lol: Spiders dont normally bother me much but having one that big on me makes me want to turn inside out !
 
I hate those dang banana spiders! The other month while canoeing here in FL we saw a spider whose abdomen was at least 1 1/2 in thick!!! :fright: It was eating a freaking crayfish it had caught!! SO STINKING GROSS! My Uncle had to use a paddle to kill it! And even then i don't know if it died immediately!
 
ohiochris said:
Ive walked into these spiders webs a number of times accidentally , the web is really strong. Once I walked through one and the spider ended up on my back. I jumped around swinging my arms beating myself silly trying to get that thing off me and then couldnt shake that creepy feeling the rest of the day :lol: Spiders dont normally bother me much but having one that big on me makes me want to turn inside out !
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I too, have walked into webs while detecting, fortunately spiders were not in said webs. Truthfully, the web feels creepy enough without the spider tagging along. I can pick spiders up as long as I see them and feel that I have control yet, when one is on me that I did not see it first, panic city!!! I don't think I would pick this one up though, his legs...:scared:

FindandDetect said:
If you see a zig zag pattern in the web it means that it has mated fun fact.
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Weird, I would have figured it would smoke a cigarette....:laughing:

Rudy said:
How about these babies?

You know, a lot of my fellow Marines had seen these in Iraq but it wasn't that common. They also said they make a very big mess when squished. I never went to Iraq, but I did go to Afghanistan. Although camel spiders probably did exist there, I never saw one. Truth of the matter is, scorpions were more feared then camel spiders. There are some very poisonous/deadly varieties in both countries. I did see scorpions occasionally, and I always shook out my boots before putting them on, just in case.

camel-spiders.jpg

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Sunspider (order Solifugae), formerly Solpugida, also called sun scorpion, wind scorpion, or camel spider, any of 900 species of the arthropod class Arachnida whose common name refers to their habitation of hot, dry regions as well as to the golden colour and daytime activity of most species. They are also called wind scorpions because of their swiftness, camel spiders because of their humped heads, and solpugids because of the former scientific name. Their hairiness and rounded opisthosoma (abdomen) are spiderlike, while the front appendages somewhat resemble those of a scorpion.
 
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