A Saved Life: This is the third little jumping spider that I found floating in the dog's outdoor watering bowl thus far. The other two were beyond hope and I thought that this little...

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

This is the third little jumping spider that I found floating in the dog's outdoor watering bowl thus far. The other two were beyond hope and I thought that this little creature may have suffered the same fate and I brought it in and placed it on a paper towel to dry to do something with later.

I was about to stage it for a focus stacking session when I noticed a little flinch with a small spark of life still there. I placed in on a clover blossom and placed a pastel gradient art paper a bit behind it for a backdrop.

This is a single shot macro image taken with the Z6 camera mounted on a little travel tripod utilizing the dual head bendy arm flash with DIY diffuser. 105mm f/2.8 lens set at f/16, 1/160 sec., ISO 200 and flash at 1/16th power duration.

The little jumper is presently convalescing and will be returned to our bushes when it hopefully pulls through.

(Download)

Quixdraw Loc: x

Fabulous photo! I just can't make myself a friend of Spiders. Outside, unless close in and venomous, o.k. Inside, dead on sight!

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

quixdraw wrote:

Fabulous photo! I just can't make myself a friend of Spiders. Outside, unless close in and venomous, o.k. Inside, dead on sight!

Thanks, I've returned it to the wild in the bushes along our shed where I hope to see it again. I've learned to live among spiders even indoors knowing that they are feeding on "something" so they are doing their part. The Brown Recluse are the only ones that get dispatched solely for the potential of getting an accidental bite when picking something up that they are hiding in. They are non-aggressive and quite plentiful around here and aside from the Black Widows, which are quite a rare find, are the only venomous threat in Missouri to humans.

Quixdraw Loc: x

sippyjug104 wrote:

Thanks, I've returned it to the wild in the bushes... (show quote)

Understand. We have both Recluse & BW, don't think any other venomous. The old quote, and it doesn't bother me, "You are never more than three feet from a spider." Actually, I lied!

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

Sippy, that is a stellar picture. Its just beautiful.
I can understand that spiders aren't for everyone. The wife and I are polar opposites on that particular group.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Mark Sturtevant wrote:

Sippy, that is a stellar picture. Its just beautiful.
I can understand that spiders aren't for everyone. The wife and I are polar opposites on that particular group.

Mark, I was quite surprised with the outcome of the shot. Perhaps it was a gift for having saved a life from a watery grave. It is a single shot image taken with the old Lester A. Dine macro lens. This was the first time that I used the zoom feature on the electronic viewfinder which was a big help along with the spider remaining still as it recouped. It's now lives in the bushes along our shed.😊

I get my craft supplies at Hobby Lobby and they have a wide assortment of patterned sheet papers which make nice backdrops. I get my plasticine modeling clay and vellum tracing paper there too as well as clips, pins, black felt and adhesives.

ejones0310 Loc: Tulsa, OK

quixdraw wrote:

Fabulous photo! I just can't make myself a friend of Spiders. Outside, unless close in and venomous, o.k. Inside, dead on sight!

I am with you, but before I kill one indoors, I will try to trap it and take it back outside. That is except for fiddlebacks and black widows. Ther are immediately squashed even if outside. If the other spiders are too hard to catch, then I just dispatch them before they can get away.

I never saw a black widow except in photos until last year. Then I saw two in separate habitats, which makes me believe they were different spiders. Attempts to dispatch both failed. They are quick.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

ejones0310 wrote:

I am with you, but before I kill one indoors, I will try to trap it and take it back outside. That is except for fiddlebacks and black widows. Ther are immediately squashed even if outside. If the other spiders are too hard to catch, then I just dispatch them before they can get away.

I never saw a black widow except in photos until last year. Then I saw two in separate habitats, which makes me believe they were different spiders. Attempts to dispatch both failed. They are quick.

The orb weavers are good at keeping the flying nuisance insects down and the stalkers hunt the ones that are pest to plants and agriculture as well as the ones that like to make their way into our homes. Several spiders hunt other spiders so there is a natural balance in effect. Strangest are the wasps like mud daubers that hunt and paralyze spiders and entomb them with their eggs for the emerging larvae to eat. If you ever see a mud dauber clod that has yet to have an exit hole in it, open it up and you'll find it full of spiders. Here's one that I opened that is full of spiders.

(Download)

ejones0310 Loc: Tulsa, OK

sippyjug104 wrote:

The orb weavers are good at keeping the flying nui... (show quote)

That is the most awesome photo that you have posted yet.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

ejones0310 wrote:

That is the most awesome photo that you have posted yet.

Thanks, it's nice to know that you enjoyed seeing it. I've watched the mud daubers flying with spiders in their clutches and if there is a bit of a wind it's quite entertaining for they go forward....then blown back...then forward, and on and on. We have a shed that they use to plaster their nest on the beams and walls. As you can tell, it doesn't take much to entertain me.

ejones0310 Loc: Tulsa, OK

sippyjug104 wrote:

Thanks, it's nice to know that you enjoyed seeing it. I've watched the mud daubers flying with spiders in their clutches and if there is a bit of a wind it's quite entertaining for they go forward....then blown back...then forward, and on and on. We have a shed that they use to plaster their nest on the beams and walls. As you can tell, it doesn't take much to entertain me.

You can post your boring stuff anytime you want. I enjoy it.

EnglishBrenda Loc: Kent, England

On download that is a beautiful image of the spider, well done for saving it and for getting such a nice result.

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

Glad you didn't need to do mouth to mouth! Great photo, Gary.

napabob Loc: Napa CA

Nice one......

sirvive Loc: South Louisiana

napabob wrote:

Nice one......

Nice shot and great information. Here is an another dirt dauber nest (pipe organ mud dauber) that does the same. Spiders are stuffed into approximately 1-inch sections. Pictured tubes are about 5 inches long. The dirt daubers "sing" while they doing the construction inside. Kudos to you also for your appreciation of the natural world.