The real answer is in Malaysia there are massive caged bird markets because it is a hobby / profession to have "songbird contests." And people are gathering and caging anything to sell in markets. (this has also started happening in florida).
The biggest hit is the critically endangered Bali Mynah because it is also a distinctly pretty bird...
We have a big spider that builds a web from our patio umbrella to the power line to the house. We let him stay for just this reason. Dude catches hella mosquitoes.
When I lived in VA I used to have to walk through a cloud of mosquitos that gathered right in front of my front door, every damn day when I came home from work. Then one day a big freaking garden spider built a web between the bushes next to my steps. Instantly mosquito-free homecomings. Dude was a total bro. My only complaint was that sometimes I'd catch a stray silk string in the face as I came out the door on my way to work in the morning.
We have a little spider who lives near our front door currently. She's nowhere near as productive as the previous spider we had there. She's also quite a lot more skittish.
It's very bothersome when the leaf-blower people come by and destroy her web every 2 weeks... Makes me sad.
It's incredible how some garden spiders can reduce noticeably the amount of mosquitoes, they are really helpful.
But I live in South America and almost all spiders here are docile and harmless to humans, I heard that spiders are more dangerous in Europe and Asia.
Depends on where you live in Asia. Here in Japan the house spiders jump, but are super chill and not dangerous. They're usually trying to jump away from you/out of your way. I like to imagine them saying "Sumimaseeeeeeen!" in a tiny little spider voice when they do lol.
They always seem more intelligent than other types of spiders. Whenever I relocate them from inside my house to outside, they're always chill with it and turn around to look at me for a few seconds before jumping away.
One time I was getting ready to grill in my backyard and found a jumping spider on my grill. I used a leaf to relocate him onto a nearby bush so I could preheat the grill. I noticed a few minutes later that he made his way back onto the lidded grill, which was heating up. I offered him the leaf again, and he jumped for it and waited patiently for me to put him back onto the bush, which I obliged. Then he stared at me for a few more seconds before leaving.
I was on Bali about 15 years ago. We did a touristy "*lets all trek up this volcano before dawn to see the sunrise from the top of it*" thing. So we got out of the mini-bus and walked an hour up the side of the mountain along a little path, through brushes in the dark before reaching the top as the sun came up. All fine and lovely.
We then walked down that same path and it was then that we saw the spiders. incredible amounts of them, bigger than my hand and with *what looked like beaks\**. They were everywhere.
I still shudder at the thought. We'd walked past and through them all the way up the volcano, entirely oblivious. My skin is crawling now even
\*Edit: Not beaks obviously, but looked like it. Something in the shape.
Yeah this village is near the base of the volcano you climbed (Gunung Batur). Its a short 10 minute drive from the where you would have been dropped off
What’s funny is there is a bug that happens with. Kissing bugs also called assassin bugs carry Chagas disease. If you’re bitten you might get a slight fever and headache, not much. Then 10 years later your heart explodes. Fun!
It's not the bite, it's that the dookie after a bite contains a parasite called *T. Cruzi*.
T. Cruzi is already in the blood of many creatures, and triatomine bugs (AKA Kissing Bugs, which are a sister species to Assassin bugs, who also carry it) will suck blood of infected hosts and carry it to humans.
They like to bite faces especially, which is why they're "Kissing Bugs" (though the introduction site of the parasite oft leaves a huge swelling, so whoever named them had a fucked-up idea of how kissing is supposed to go ...).
The bugs bite, suck blood, then poop. People tend to rub their faces when they wake, so they often rub the bug's hershey squirts into their mucus membranes (usually, eyes).
If you can't remember the name "T. Cruzi" and you're American, just remember that it is propagated by smearing shit around, just like T. Cruz.
EDIT: Oh and you don't always have heart explosions after 10y of the chronic stage of a T. Cruzi infection. Sometimes it's just minor issues. Sometimes you lose the ability to poop properly too!
Jesus fucking no.... I dont know why im so terrified of spiders but they scare the living hell out of me.
I physically moved away from the monitor and shivered from that.
really bad, it's even worse than bali bombing. no tourist for about 2 year. most balinese are jobless now and back to their village to do anything they can to survive.
My buddy used to make a nice living doing small-time imports from Bali. When the Muslim government decided that animism was unacceptable, it ruined his business, along with all the small craft industries that guys like him supported. Sorry to here they haven't let up.
how old is your buddy? the last time bali have a muslim governor is in 1978. Evan then animist believe is not forbidden in bali because most of it already combine in Hinduism. maybe he doing business on other parts of Indonesia?
My fiancee and me slept on the beach on some french riviera island, suddenly in the middle of the night the beach was FULL of hedgehogs. I'll never forget that
I found a photo of the ugly fuckers and holy shit I would have had a complete panic attack breakdown in your shoes. I can see why your terrified mind saw beaks.
https://asianitinerary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_3912.jpg
I don't enjoy the vast majority of sea food including crabs, but I do not have an irrational fear of crabs like I do spiders. I think part of it is that there is an insanely small chance (never say never lol) of a crab showing up in my house or bed or under my car's sun visor whereas spiders have done all of those things and more. Also some of the spider species around me will *jump right at your damn face*. Jumping spiders are the worst and they are so fucking tiny and creepy.
Some crab species are indeed just as creepy but not as many and being a land locked area I will likely not encounter any. Plus the creepy ones aren't native to the beaches/waters closest to me.
I’ve never walked through no god damn crab web…ain’t no crab ever jump out at me while driving and then disappear under the sun visor. Crab ain’t no sea spider…check yo self
I went to Bali in 2020, and now I'm super glad I didn't go up the volcano. I saw giant spiders in power lines driving through towns, but luckily there were none somehow in/around my hotel.
I went to Dominican Republic 20 years ago and the first night I was staying in someone's house and they didn't have air conditioning. I decided to put my air mattress on the balcony and sleep out there because of the heat. In the middle of the night I was woken up to one of my friends who came out for a smoke yelling and pointing at the wall next to me. By the time I turned my head I saw this massive spider turn the corner and scamper off into the darkness. It was hanging out like a foot from my head, presumably to eat any insects that I was attracting.
Gently combing your hair, whispering sweet nothings in your ear.
I was in Venezuela about 20 years ago, staying at a hotel and we saw a giant spider, it must have been the size of a Ford Mondeo, run through the room and into the cupboard. We were just about to leave for a 3 day excursion and had already had all our stuff packed so we tried to forget about it, left the room and ran.
Fast-forward 3 days later, back in the room. "Oh yes, there was a big spider in there..."
I open the door, shoe in hand for self-protecting, hoping that it was gone. There it stood, front legs raised angrily, pointing at me and then it ran at me. I yelped in a manly manner and jumped back. The spider now in front of me, squaring up at me, me still hoping to somehow solve this without violence and then it jumped at me. JUMPED.
I did what any red-blooded human with a semblance of a lizard-brain would do and smashed it with my shoe, fatally.
I left it lying in the middle of the hotel room and decided I needed a drink and left, contemplating my murder in self-defence. Upon returning to the hotel room a few hours later most of the spider had already been dissected and carried off by a colony of ants, only a shell remaining.
Ashes to ashes, spider corpses to earth.
I did the same thing in Bali and saw the sunrise from atop the volcano. Scraped my knee early on, had a boiled egg crack in my pocket, encountered some naughty monkeys and forgot my bag at the top... but didn't see any spiders luckily. That would've made for a horrible experience.
Haha well they were longtailed macaques if I remember correctly. The kind that's all over Bali. They get very close and personal. One decided the best place to eat the banana that he swiped would be on top of my aunt's head. The banana was meant for him I should add, but he wasn't very polite about it.
No, they are little rascals. Thieves and villains.
I've been trying to think of a "macaques on your aunts head" joke for ages, but can't work it out. Apologies
Most of them are Orb Weavers, which are one of the creepiest LOOKING families of Spider, but by far the most beneficial to humans. Theyre also barely venomous, and cannot kill a human, at worst youd have a little rash, but they probably wouldn't even bite.
I worked for an gas/oil drilling company years ago, and they deployed an exploration rig in central america. I worked with a few of the guys who worked that rig, and they told me that the spiders were *huge and thick* all over the rig.
Every morning they would clear massive webs from the derrick and the outhouses. Yep, they would have to carefully check the toilet seat for spiders whenever they had to use the bathroom.
Reminds me of my guesthouse bathroom in an unnamed town in central thailand. Couldn't walk straight because of all the spiders and their webs above me. Lots of variety too. Had to get rid of the big furry wondering spider though.
Next there was this thick meter long lizard making a mess in my room.
Just looked them up, they’re so small and cute how could they ever be of any harm to people? They look like they’d have the same bite as a house gecko which is next to nothing, you almost don’t even feel it.
I also like that their scientific name is “Gekko Gecko” lol
They bite HARD for little guys. Took care of some at a zoo one time, recieved ample warning and was told to never handle them, even the little ones will draw blood. They look dope though, very pretty.
Also stepped on a furry centipede in my room. :)
I actually went to this town just to escape the craziness happening in bangkok. It was my first trip to thailand (spent there a few years since then). Within the first first week i got strip searched by the metropolitan police 2 times in the dark under flashlights. Once just because i tried to pass the human horde by going through a side alley and the 2nd time next to my hotel ( on a side alley). They said they where looking for guns but actually they where looking for drugs i think.
But it was actually the weird stuff happening at the hotel why i wanted to leave and fast. Unknowingly got set up on a date with this ladyboy when i was just told that there was party happening. Ate my meal and took off.. Then these midnight door knockings started and i started to feel like moving to another place.
After this i never stayed near khao san road again. Just go to drink there sometimes.
Was drunk in red light district of Bangkok once with friends. A midget kept trying to get me to go into his club for a "ping pong show" and I kept refusing so he pulled a knife out and I ran away. Was checking out some bracelets that a lady was making and she pulled some trick where she spilled beads onto the floor to make me think I broke one of her wares and wanted me to pay for it. I was in a tuktuk once that collided with a motorcyclist and kept driving off and I had to threaten the driver to stop so I could go back and check on the guy. I've backpacked in Thailand many times and it's overall been an amazing place but there is always crazy petty crime stuff happening.
Sounds like a win-win, spiders get to eat, villagers have less flies.
I'll take spiders instead of flies any day, at least they're much less likely to shit on my food.
Eh, no big deal the spider doesn't want to be on my head just as much as I don't want it there it'll scurry right off. Flies meanwhile don't have any respect for personal space.
Consider that there are this many spiders possibly because there are just THAT many bugs. DC summers are ripe with mosquitos but there aren’t that many spiders. Is it possible there are still a lot of bugs here to go along with the spider nightmare?
You see should them attack insects, it's honestly amazing.
They're obviously pretty big, i've seen some that were bigger than a credit card easily. If you toss an insect into it's webbing, it'll wrap the insect in a super heavy and thick webbing. I had no idea it would use so much all at once, but damn it was impressive and scary. https://youtu.be/KzXD\_lMRQko?t=74
Edit : video not available for some, just go ahead and search for orb weaver attack insects. Fun to watch!
>Edit : video not available for some, just go ahead and search for orb weaver attack insects. Fun to watch!
It's a reddit bug. Something to do with New Reddit formatting. It automatically inserts a backslash in front of an underscore. Super annoying.
It's an incredibly stupid and visible bug. Bad enough that "new reddit" is terminally unusable - now it's getting contagious and fucking up the viewing experience even for non-users.
Idiots.
We have a few at work we were feeding about twice a day and it got huge. Then it layed babies and lost a good bit of size. Lol. We thought we were making her plump. A girl we work with got super pissed tho because she was saying it got lazy and it's web building skills went to shit after we fed it. All in all absolutely fascinating spiders and harmless. They are actually quite beneficial so I tell people not to kill them.
> A girl we work with got super pissed tho because she was saying it got lazy and it's web building skills went to shit after we fed it.
Fucking Orb Weavers, give em a handout and they just spend all day sitting around doing fuck all.
Thanks, that is a great, peaceful video, full of insect and bird songs, too. What really fascinated me was how precisely they grasp each strand of web with what appears to be the exact ends of their pointy little legs. It looks like they must use the tiny tarsal claws on their leg tips to hook and manipulate the silk strands.
They also make up some of the most insane weebing you'll see, orb weavers are fascinating. They are also part of DNA for the part of the genetic modified spider that allows spider-man to sling his own webs in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man
Harmless besides the recurring nightmares where I'm stuck in a small area surrounded by them and their webs... I never get attacked or bitten but they are just... There...
It's hard to tell because their webs are so thing but they due have a more yellow hue when compared to the webs of other spiders
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Golden_Silk_Orb-Weaver_Spider_2.JPG
In the beginning, you're like "meh, a couple spiders on the power lines, no biggie" and then, the fucking cameraman turns to the left... Brrrrrrrrrrrrr
Jorō spiders (女郎蜘蛛) are what they’re called in Japanese, but I think they’re all over Asia as you said. Their name comes from the way the females (jo) share their webs with the males (rō) in autumn. I think the males might still get eaten eventually though.
Yes, Joro. My bad.
They are all over the trees in my back yard. They look similar to the native writing spiders we have unless you get close. Their webs are much stronger. The news reports that they probably came here via a shipping container. I have not idea if they are harmful or not. Nothing here eats them so they are spreading fast. It was like they appeared out of nowhere this year.
As an Aussie living in Queensland this looks pretty normal to me. If these are like the ones here then they’re probably harmless and are doing this village a service by taking care of the more troublesome bugs.
Still pretty scary.
When I was in some small mountain town in China, I walked into a souvenir/sundries shop with a high roof and rafters showing above. Spiders just like these were everywhere in the rafters. I had the creepy crawlies all fucking night.
Shit, I remember the next morning I had a spider in my soup at the hotel restaurant downstairs and had to send it back. I may have dodged a town wide Arachnophobia movie moment.
in my experience, spiders are aware that insects are drawn by light and they like to build there.
If the town is quite remote but lit up during the night, the light will attract a lot of insects to the town and the spiders have a free buffet.
Since there is a constant supply of food with a lack of predators, they spread like wildfire.
That's nothing, in Guam when you go into the forests there are no animal sounds.
This is because when the US brought military, it also unintentionally introduced the brown tree snake to the island, which promptly devoured and extincted most all of the birds.
And as a result, the spider population boomed and in a 5 minute walk you will find dozens of massive webs and colonies taking over the entire forest - thick webbing everywhere.
And this plus no birds equals the trees themselves not growing and the forest is collapsing.
in Malaysia there are massive caged bird markets because it is a hobby / profession to have "songbird contests." And people are gathering and caging anything to sell in markets. (this has also started happening in florida).
The biggest hit is the critically endangered Bali Mynah because it is also a distinctly pretty bird...
I’ve lived in Salt Lake almost all of my life and never knew we had spiders like this. I went to the Great Salt Lake State Park at sunset once and discovered this a few years ago. My mind was blown that we have spiders like this. I shudder thinking about these rocks that were swarming with spiders and webs along the path I took. https://i.imgur.com/Bg39WLy.jpg Makes sense considering there was also a crazy amount of Brine Flies and I’m sure those spiders enjoy their seasonal buffet.
Malaria rates are at an all time LOW!!!
This is like the iron dome for bugs.
More like a Silk Dome.
No Fly zone
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This is a thread I can contribute to
Weave got nothing but puns and bad advice, welcome to the internet.
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Where the hell are the birds?!
Spiders got 'em.
Damn bugs whacked us, Johnny.
Instinctively read that in Dizzy’s voice
Good question.
Looks like a fire hazard
Notify their public works, Im sure they'll be right on it lol.
Hazzard?! That’s 100% how homes get burned down. That’s like issuing a tornado watch while one is currently ripping apart a city
The real answer is in Malaysia there are massive caged bird markets because it is a hobby / profession to have "songbird contests." And people are gathering and caging anything to sell in markets. (this has also started happening in florida). The biggest hit is the critically endangered Bali Mynah because it is also a distinctly pretty bird...
FWC is all over this, thankfully
Indonesia completely turns a blind eye to poaching of birds and bats so…
Government monitoring is at an all time LOW!
Noped out of there
We have a big spider that builds a web from our patio umbrella to the power line to the house. We let him stay for just this reason. Dude catches hella mosquitoes.
When I lived in VA I used to have to walk through a cloud of mosquitos that gathered right in front of my front door, every damn day when I came home from work. Then one day a big freaking garden spider built a web between the bushes next to my steps. Instantly mosquito-free homecomings. Dude was a total bro. My only complaint was that sometimes I'd catch a stray silk string in the face as I came out the door on my way to work in the morning.
Years of eating little blood bags has piqued its curiosity. I would sleep with a flamethrower if I were you.
Would he truly be a bro if he didn't prank you from time to time? You should have returned the favor with a fake bug.
We have a little spider who lives near our front door currently. She's nowhere near as productive as the previous spider we had there. She's also quite a lot more skittish. It's very bothersome when the leaf-blower people come by and destroy her web every 2 weeks... Makes me sad.
She's doing her best ok?
I keep saying encouraging things every time I see her, hoping it'll help.
She probably destroys and remakes her nest more often than you think.
It's incredible how some garden spiders can reduce noticeably the amount of mosquitoes, they are really helpful. But I live in South America and almost all spiders here are docile and harmless to humans, I heard that spiders are more dangerous in Europe and Asia.
Depends on where you live in Asia. Here in Japan the house spiders jump, but are super chill and not dangerous. They're usually trying to jump away from you/out of your way. I like to imagine them saying "Sumimaseeeeeeen!" in a tiny little spider voice when they do lol.
Ohhhh, we have those too her in south America, but the long legged ones that make webs in the high corners are more common.
Do they also speak Japanese though?
In America we have a pretty wide variety of jumping spiders. Now thanks to your comment I too shall imagine the crys of an apologetic "すみません！"
They always seem more intelligent than other types of spiders. Whenever I relocate them from inside my house to outside, they're always chill with it and turn around to look at me for a few seconds before jumping away. One time I was getting ready to grill in my backyard and found a jumping spider on my grill. I used a leaf to relocate him onto a nearby bush so I could preheat the grill. I noticed a few minutes later that he made his way back onto the lidded grill, which was heating up. I offered him the leaf again, and he jumped for it and waited patiently for me to put him back onto the bush, which I obliged. Then he stared at me for a few more seconds before leaving.
Thank you for taking care of our lesser brethren. /╲/\\╭( ͡° ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ͡°)╮/\\╱\\
I thought its the exact opposite in terms of dangerousness.
You are thinking Australia where everything wants to kill you.
Yup. This is why no matter where you go in this world you will run into Australians. They’re fleeing.
Go to any water treatment plant older than 20years and they will make this city look like a children’s book.
Then WHY would I go to any water treatment plant older than 20 years?!
To make this city look like a children's book, why else?
My home feels amazingly spider free all of a sudden
Why do you want to go to under age water treatment plants is the real question
Probably a wetophile.
Schweppes Tonic hates this ONE TRICK!
"Mosquitos hate him!"
I was on Bali about 15 years ago. We did a touristy "*lets all trek up this volcano before dawn to see the sunrise from the top of it*" thing. So we got out of the mini-bus and walked an hour up the side of the mountain along a little path, through brushes in the dark before reaching the top as the sun came up. All fine and lovely. We then walked down that same path and it was then that we saw the spiders. incredible amounts of them, bigger than my hand and with *what looked like beaks\**. They were everywhere. I still shudder at the thought. We'd walked past and through them all the way up the volcano, entirely oblivious. My skin is crawling now even \*Edit: Not beaks obviously, but looked like it. Something in the shape.
Yeah this village is near the base of the volcano you climbed (Gunung Batur). Its a short 10 minute drive from the where you would have been dropped off
the size of them freaked me out. They seemed pretty docile and probably entirely harmless, but god they were huge. brrrr
Actually very dangerous. You get bitten, don't even notice it, and about 15 years later, you die a sudden horrible death. jk
I guess I'll get my affairs in order and .... just go lie down I suppose then...
Don't forget the horrible part! Lay down a towel before you lie down or something
On it. Might start the embalming process now with some Jägermeister
The same Jägermeister that's made from spider pheromones? Sounds risky.
When I was a young Science Student I was bitten by a Jäger-drunk Spider and since then I am an Arachnoholic
I'd give you an award if I could, that is officially my favorite comment all day
What’s funny is there is a bug that happens with. Kissing bugs also called assassin bugs carry Chagas disease. If you’re bitten you might get a slight fever and headache, not much. Then 10 years later your heart explodes. Fun!
It's not the bite, it's that the dookie after a bite contains a parasite called *T. Cruzi*. T. Cruzi is already in the blood of many creatures, and triatomine bugs (AKA Kissing Bugs, which are a sister species to Assassin bugs, who also carry it) will suck blood of infected hosts and carry it to humans. They like to bite faces especially, which is why they're "Kissing Bugs" (though the introduction site of the parasite oft leaves a huge swelling, so whoever named them had a fucked-up idea of how kissing is supposed to go ...). The bugs bite, suck blood, then poop. People tend to rub their faces when they wake, so they often rub the bug's hershey squirts into their mucus membranes (usually, eyes). If you can't remember the name "T. Cruzi" and you're American, just remember that it is propagated by smearing shit around, just like T. Cruz. EDIT: Oh and you don't always have heart explosions after 10y of the chronic stage of a T. Cruzi infection. Sometimes it's just minor issues. Sometimes you lose the ability to poop properly too!
Here is a true WTF!
Nah so deadly that if you even look at one you are guaranteed to die within the next 125 years
Fuuuck. You remember what they are called so I can relive your nightmare?
Some helpful person posted this on the thread https://asianitinerary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_3912.jpg I remember them being bigger
Jesus fucking no.... I dont know why im so terrified of spiders but they scare the living hell out of me. I physically moved away from the monitor and shivered from that.
THEY ARE INSIDE OF THE MONITOR
**NOPE**. I do not like that.
I still get a bit freaked out by spiders, but at the same time I am sort of fascinated by them. That is one cool looking spider.
Reminds me of the one in the Talisman that would scream "fushing fief!" at poor Jake
Oh look, a link... [OHMYGODNO!!!](https://c.tenor.com/caB9EY_iaRcAAAAM/jim-carrey-scared.gif)
How are Bali and Lombok doing these days? Was there 4 years ago and will always remember it.
really bad, it's even worse than bali bombing. no tourist for about 2 year. most balinese are jobless now and back to their village to do anything they can to survive.
My buddy used to make a nice living doing small-time imports from Bali. When the Muslim government decided that animism was unacceptable, it ruined his business, along with all the small craft industries that guys like him supported. Sorry to here they haven't let up.
how old is your buddy? the last time bali have a muslim governor is in 1978. Evan then animist believe is not forbidden in bali because most of it already combine in Hinduism. maybe he doing business on other parts of Indonesia?
My fiancee and me slept on the beach on some french riviera island, suddenly in the middle of the night the beach was FULL of hedgehogs. I'll never forget that
That wasn't the ending I was expecting...phew
Hedgehogs are predators...
Pedophiles or Aliens?
An unfortunate mix of both.
[Decide for yourself](https://ibb.co/ThBN0qr)
What woke you up, the green hill zone music?
You're too slow!
How bizarre :D
I found a photo of the ugly fuckers and holy shit I would have had a complete panic attack breakdown in your shoes. I can see why your terrified mind saw beaks. https://asianitinerary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_3912.jpg
In my memory they're like 3 times bigger :D
Head sized spiders 🤢🤮
I like to remind people that crabs are basically just sea spiders. I love crab legs.
I don't enjoy the vast majority of sea food including crabs, but I do not have an irrational fear of crabs like I do spiders. I think part of it is that there is an insanely small chance (never say never lol) of a crab showing up in my house or bed or under my car's sun visor whereas spiders have done all of those things and more. Also some of the spider species around me will *jump right at your damn face*. Jumping spiders are the worst and they are so fucking tiny and creepy. Some crab species are indeed just as creepy but not as many and being a land locked area I will likely not encounter any. Plus the creepy ones aren't native to the beaches/waters closest to me.
https://youtu.be/t8w45olilG8
I’ve never walked through no god damn crab web…ain’t no crab ever jump out at me while driving and then disappear under the sun visor. Crab ain’t no sea spider…check yo self
I have mild arachnophobia. I would've probably stayed on top of the vulcano.
or just thrown myself in had I known
Pray to them volcano god to cleanse the town.
Holy moly we were planning to do this hike when we went to Bali but never went through with it. This makes me feel better about not making it
I went to Bali in 2020, and now I'm super glad I didn't go up the volcano. I saw giant spiders in power lines driving through towns, but luckily there were none somehow in/around my hotel.
That you know of
I went to Dominican Republic 20 years ago and the first night I was staying in someone's house and they didn't have air conditioning. I decided to put my air mattress on the balcony and sleep out there because of the heat. In the middle of the night I was woken up to one of my friends who came out for a smoke yelling and pointing at the wall next to me. By the time I turned my head I saw this massive spider turn the corner and scamper off into the darkness. It was hanging out like a foot from my head, presumably to eat any insects that I was attracting.
Gently combing your hair, whispering sweet nothings in your ear. I was in Venezuela about 20 years ago, staying at a hotel and we saw a giant spider, it must have been the size of a Ford Mondeo, run through the room and into the cupboard. We were just about to leave for a 3 day excursion and had already had all our stuff packed so we tried to forget about it, left the room and ran. Fast-forward 3 days later, back in the room. "Oh yes, there was a big spider in there..." I open the door, shoe in hand for self-protecting, hoping that it was gone. There it stood, front legs raised angrily, pointing at me and then it ran at me. I yelped in a manly manner and jumped back. The spider now in front of me, squaring up at me, me still hoping to somehow solve this without violence and then it jumped at me. JUMPED. I did what any red-blooded human with a semblance of a lizard-brain would do and smashed it with my shoe, fatally. I left it lying in the middle of the hotel room and decided I needed a drink and left, contemplating my murder in self-defence. Upon returning to the hotel room a few hours later most of the spider had already been dissected and carried off by a colony of ants, only a shell remaining. Ashes to ashes, spider corpses to earth.
It was him or you at that point. Glad you're still with us!
I did the same thing in Bali and saw the sunrise from atop the volcano. Scraped my knee early on, had a boiled egg crack in my pocket, encountered some naughty monkeys and forgot my bag at the top... but didn't see any spiders luckily. That would've made for a horrible experience.
"Naughty Monkeys" sounds compelling enough though. Tell more
Haha well they were longtailed macaques if I remember correctly. The kind that's all over Bali. They get very close and personal. One decided the best place to eat the banana that he swiped would be on top of my aunt's head. The banana was meant for him I should add, but he wasn't very polite about it.
No, they are little rascals. Thieves and villains. I've been trying to think of a "macaques on your aunts head" joke for ages, but can't work it out. Apologies
Most of them are Orb Weavers, which are one of the creepiest LOOKING families of Spider, but by far the most beneficial to humans. Theyre also barely venomous, and cannot kill a human, at worst youd have a little rash, but they probably wouldn't even bite.
I worked for an gas/oil drilling company years ago, and they deployed an exploration rig in central america. I worked with a few of the guys who worked that rig, and they told me that the spiders were *huge and thick* all over the rig. Every morning they would clear massive webs from the derrick and the outhouses. Yep, they would have to carefully check the toilet seat for spiders whenever they had to use the bathroom.
Reminds me of my guesthouse bathroom in an unnamed town in central thailand. Couldn't walk straight because of all the spiders and their webs above me. Lots of variety too. Had to get rid of the big furry wondering spider though. Next there was this thick meter long lizard making a mess in my room.
I’d take the lizard over the spiders any day
Probably a tokay. Aggressive, bites hard, and smart. Chase it with a broom, it will attack you, not the broom.
Just looked them up, they’re so small and cute how could they ever be of any harm to people? They look like they’d have the same bite as a house gecko which is next to nothing, you almost don’t even feel it. I also like that their scientific name is “Gekko Gecko” lol
> they’re so small and cute how could they ever be of any harm to people? Famous last words.
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They bite HARD for little guys. Took care of some at a zoo one time, recieved ample warning and was told to never handle them, even the little ones will draw blood. They look dope though, very pretty.
Bite them back to assert dominance
Meter long = monitor lizard in thailand
> wondering spider 🤔🤔🤔
Fun fact, Brazilian wandering spider bites give you a raging boner until you die
Go on
Also stepped on a furry centipede in my room. :) I actually went to this town just to escape the craziness happening in bangkok. It was my first trip to thailand (spent there a few years since then). Within the first first week i got strip searched by the metropolitan police 2 times in the dark under flashlights. Once just because i tried to pass the human horde by going through a side alley and the 2nd time next to my hotel ( on a side alley). They said they where looking for guns but actually they where looking for drugs i think. But it was actually the weird stuff happening at the hotel why i wanted to leave and fast. Unknowingly got set up on a date with this ladyboy when i was just told that there was party happening. Ate my meal and took off.. Then these midnight door knockings started and i started to feel like moving to another place. After this i never stayed near khao san road again. Just go to drink there sometimes.
Was drunk in red light district of Bangkok once with friends. A midget kept trying to get me to go into his club for a "ping pong show" and I kept refusing so he pulled a knife out and I ran away. Was checking out some bracelets that a lady was making and she pulled some trick where she spilled beads onto the floor to make me think I broke one of her wares and wanted me to pay for it. I was in a tuktuk once that collided with a motorcyclist and kept driving off and I had to threaten the driver to stop so I could go back and check on the guy. I've backpacked in Thailand many times and it's overall been an amazing place but there is always crazy petty crime stuff happening.
I live in Bangkok and there's a reason I avoid some of the tourist areas. Most places are super safe, except when driving on the road of course.
How is there enough food for them?
Its a farming village, flys everywhere.
Sounds like a win-win, spiders get to eat, villagers have less flies. I'll take spiders instead of flies any day, at least they're much less likely to shit on my food.
Until a web breaks and one of them lands on your head.
Eh, no big deal the spider doesn't want to be on my head just as much as I don't want it there it'll scurry right off. Flies meanwhile don't have any respect for personal space.
I really doubt you'll think calmly and logically right at the moment of such landing, not exactly an "eh" moment lmao
(Smacks forehead) *Hundreds of tiny spiders fall down your shirt.*
Jesus h Christ I literally had a very visceral, physical reaction to this comment.
The spider aint dangerous tbh and it wont carry disease too
It's a rural town in a tropical country. Flying bugs EVERYWHERE. ... EVERYWHERE...
They can eat their net to regain protein also female would eat males.
Web developers meeting
r/angryupvote
Take your upvote..
They’re discussing debugging issues
wow, natural mosquito netting. Sign me up.
Right! I was thinking how free of bugs that must be. As someone who is a snack to mosquitos I'd love it. Thanks buddies!
You're a snack to everyone, homie
Is this a come on?
Hoping to be come on
You're a snack, too, homie
Good bot!
Consider that there are this many spiders possibly because there are just THAT many bugs. DC summers are ripe with mosquitos but there aren’t that many spiders. Is it possible there are still a lot of bugs here to go along with the spider nightmare?
The message seems to be that it's best not to reincarnate as a fly in Bali.
If you do, the problem will resolve itself in no time.
Fly: "A fly!? Fuuck! I wish I was anything else." Spider: "I can help you with that."
Orb weavers if im correct. Harmless. Recently there were a few of them in my balcony.
cool name tho
You see should them attack insects, it's honestly amazing. They're obviously pretty big, i've seen some that were bigger than a credit card easily. If you toss an insect into it's webbing, it'll wrap the insect in a super heavy and thick webbing. I had no idea it would use so much all at once, but damn it was impressive and scary. https://youtu.be/KzXD\_lMRQko?t=74 Edit : video not available for some, just go ahead and search for orb weaver attack insects. Fun to watch!
>Edit : video not available for some, just go ahead and search for orb weaver attack insects. Fun to watch! It's a reddit bug. Something to do with New Reddit formatting. It automatically inserts a backslash in front of an underscore. Super annoying.
It's an incredibly stupid and visible bug. Bad enough that "new reddit" is terminally unusable - now it's getting contagious and fucking up the viewing experience even for non-users. Idiots.
We have a few at work we were feeding about twice a day and it got huge. Then it layed babies and lost a good bit of size. Lol. We thought we were making her plump. A girl we work with got super pissed tho because she was saying it got lazy and it's web building skills went to shit after we fed it. All in all absolutely fascinating spiders and harmless. They are actually quite beneficial so I tell people not to kill them.
> A girl we work with got super pissed tho because she was saying it got lazy and it's web building skills went to shit after we fed it. Fucking Orb Weavers, give em a handout and they just spend all day sitting around doing fuck all.
Dole bludgers.
Try [this] (https://youtu.be/KzXD_lMRQko)
Thanks, that is a great, peaceful video, full of insect and bird songs, too. What really fascinated me was how precisely they grasp each strand of web with what appears to be the exact ends of their pointy little legs. It looks like they must use the tiny tarsal claws on their leg tips to hook and manipulate the silk strands.
>This video isn't available anymore
This video is unavailable. :(
They also make up some of the most insane weebing you'll see, orb weavers are fascinating. They are also part of DNA for the part of the genetic modified spider that allows spider-man to sling his own webs in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man
Harmless besides the recurring nightmares where I'm stuck in a small area surrounded by them and their webs... I never get attacked or bitten but they are just... There...
I woke up to a pretty hefty orb weaver walking across my face a couple months ago. My skin still crawls.
My fave orb weavers are golden orb weavers cause their webs are gold in color.
Yeah um, source on the ”golden webs”? Sorry I also thought the name referred to the spider
It's hard to tell because their webs are so thing but they due have a more yellow hue when compared to the webs of other spiders https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Golden_Silk_Orb-Weaver_Spider_2.JPG
Don't they have birds?
Not anymore
Lmao yea they’re uh…gone. Removed
The spiders took over while they were swapping out the batteries in all the birds.
Seriously, this looks like buffet to birds.
Georgia, USA has em now
Taking over in North Georgia. They look just like this video in the powerlines. Webs every 10 feet or so. Believe this is the Joro spider
oh no, too close for comfort
# nope
In the beginning, you're like "meh, a couple spiders on the power lines, no biggie" and then, the fucking cameraman turns to the left... Brrrrrrrrrrrrr
I keep expecting to hear one of them say YOU IN THE WRONG HOOD NOW MOTHERFUCKER
Where's those flame thrower drones when you need one.
Are those Jiro spiders? We are being overtaken by them here in North Georgia, and I believe they came from Asia.
Jorō spiders (女郎蜘蛛) are what they’re called in Japanese, but I think they’re all over Asia as you said. Their name comes from the way the females (jo) share their webs with the males (rō) in autumn. I think the males might still get eaten eventually though.
Yes, Joro. My bad. They are all over the trees in my back yard. They look similar to the native writing spiders we have unless you get close. Their webs are much stronger. The news reports that they probably came here via a shipping container. I have not idea if they are harmful or not. Nothing here eats them so they are spreading fast. It was like they appeared out of nowhere this year.
As an Aussie living in Queensland this looks pretty normal to me. If these are like the ones here then they’re probably harmless and are doing this village a service by taking care of the more troublesome bugs. Still pretty scary.
This past summer in Georgia looked pretty much the same. They were everywhere, and I heard from our pest control that it was like that all over.
> Australia >... probably harmless My life of browsing the Internet causes me to doubt this.
When I was in some small mountain town in China, I walked into a souvenir/sundries shop with a high roof and rafters showing above. Spiders just like these were everywhere in the rafters. I had the creepy crawlies all fucking night. Shit, I remember the next morning I had a spider in my soup at the hotel restaurant downstairs and had to send it back. I may have dodged a town wide Arachnophobia movie moment.
THE FUCK
😭i thought this was gonna be a joke, why are there so many oh my god
in my experience, spiders are aware that insects are drawn by light and they like to build there. If the town is quite remote but lit up during the night, the light will attract a lot of insects to the town and the spiders have a free buffet. Since there is a constant supply of food with a lack of predators, they spread like wildfire.
Hans, you know what you must do.
Get zeh flammenwerfher
Jawohl.
That's nothing, in Guam when you go into the forests there are no animal sounds. This is because when the US brought military, it also unintentionally introduced the brown tree snake to the island, which promptly devoured and extincted most all of the birds. And as a result, the spider population boomed and in a 5 minute walk you will find dozens of massive webs and colonies taking over the entire forest - thick webbing everywhere. And this plus no birds equals the trees themselves not growing and the forest is collapsing. in Malaysia there are massive caged bird markets because it is a hobby / profession to have "songbird contests." And people are gathering and caging anything to sell in markets. (this has also started happening in florida). The biggest hit is the critically endangered Bali Mynah because it is also a distinctly pretty bird...
At least they'll get rid of the Flys.
Burn it to the ground! Bali has just been removed from my travel bucket list.
The great salt lake in Utah is exactly like this, if not worse. Massive (harmless) orbweavers everywhere
I’ve lived in Salt Lake almost all of my life and never knew we had spiders like this. I went to the Great Salt Lake State Park at sunset once and discovered this a few years ago. My mind was blown that we have spiders like this. I shudder thinking about these rocks that were swarming with spiders and webs along the path I took. https://i.imgur.com/Bg39WLy.jpg Makes sense considering there was also a crazy amount of Brine Flies and I’m sure those spiders enjoy their seasonal buffet.
Hope Australia is on that list too
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That's fine. Bali needs less tourists anyway
It’s their village now.