Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Maybe they just love beetroot...

In South Africa the redback is just one of a larger group of spiders we referred to as button spiders... some black some a brownish colour.. the colours I remember seeing were a yellow, red and orange... but cant remember seeing white (perhaps it has dandruff )

yet another variety of lady bug found in the school system this morning... and another type of spider - have not identified them yet (still working on it )

The spiders is a Lynx Spider and can be found in shrubs or on grass, usually on the top of the plants. They tend to move actively in day time hunting various small insects. They have a long body and long thin legs. Legs are covered with long spines. They hunt in a similar way to a cat, i.e., slowly approach the prey and suddenly jump to it. Lynx Spiders have very good vision although their eyes are relatively small

How do you do that actual size thing AM?

I keep making a separate copy of the photo smaller until it is as close to the size of the real insect... then I drag it across and dump it into the main image I want to post (I use Adobe Photoshop 7 to do this)

the spider is a Lynx spider.... I know this 'cos I got bitten by one! (Ahem!, That was actually Jaymie that was bitten, not Me! pesky wife taking over my keyboard, mumble mumble.........)

So how is the spider?

this was a number of years ago VB, the spider was humanely captured and released back into the wild to live a full and healthy life

I hear the spider still goes for weekly counselling sessions

LOL - is telling everyone on the spider forum about it's aweful experience

at least now you know what sort of spider it is :hmph, hands on hips:

By humanely, she means that we identified it by its squashed remains! Apparently they don't normally bite people, in fact it is one on the only documented case in quite a while. Wasn't that nice that it made an exeption in Jaymie's case

When I went and googled it for info on its hunting habits they said that the Australian one had NO known cases of humans being bitten Guess they don't know much Anyways, in my school system they dont dart away as soon as they see you ... only if you try touch them

alright, we'll clarify the story here....
When I work in the yard I usually put a loose long-sleeved shirt on for sun protection. On this occasion, the shirt was hanging up downstairs, when I put it on over my underwear (it is North Queensland) something bit me on my back. I quickly pulled the shirt off and found this spider with characteristically hairy leg joints.
I'd say the only reason it bit me was because it felt squashed in the shirt.
A very good reason to check your clothes and footwear before putting them on

more pics...
this is a composite pic of a bugger I found grazing on lady bugs today... sucked the guts out of a little yellow lady bug as I watched...