Child educates arach fanatic

[The Snark]

I noticed my friends 6 year old child playing with a spider crawling across the driveway. I pointed out to the child that the spider was walking oddly. The child was very curious so I explained it was obviously a comb footed spider outside of it's web. Questions rained down on me. What web, where, what was the spider and so on. The child then picked up the spider and carefully installed it in a nearby bush explaining that was where he had seen other webs.

The child then took me to his 'secret place'. His mother being a arachnophobidiot he had to keep it a secret. He lifted a board off the ground and out raced a huge lycosid. The child explained to me as he ran to corral the critter that it was a wolf spider. He had overheard me pointing out the 'stargazer' top eyes of a deceased lyco to his father months earlier.
He captured the lyco and proudly pointed out the topmost eyes. I mentioned that this specimen, a leg span of about 6 inches, could give a pretty serious bite. The child cranked up his patience and began to explain to me that it wouldn't bite unless he 'made it bite'. He put the spider gently on his arm and it raced up and onto his head. He explained that the spider would only bite him if he tried to 'squish it', trap it between parts of his body.
At last he grinned at me and said, 'I'll put him back."
He went out into the middle of the driveway and jumped up and down several times. The spider, which was on the back of his neck, took the hint and made a dash for freedom, jumping off and running across the driveway. The child easily recaptured the spider (with a dexterity I envied) then put the board back on the ground, He let the spider slip under the edge of the board.
I asked how long he had been keeping the spider there. He told me almost a month and that he had been catching grasshoppers and tossing them under the board for it to eat.
Unreal. Who needs terrariums! Just get a wily kid!

[NrthCstInverts]

MAn, What can you even say about that!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!!!!
:) :) :) :} :razz:

that is one seriously cool kid

[The Snark]

MAn, What can you even say about that!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!!!!
:) :) :) :} :razz:

that is one seriously cool kid
I heard that! I don't think the kid is really exceptional though. He was simply raised without those silly inhibitions and his dad is always ready to try to answer his questions without sounding parental. His dad has often called me up: "We want to get your opinion of..." or "We want you to identify..."
But still, remembering the eyes of the lyco? And how did he know it wouldn't try to bite? And don't all us adult arachnopliliacs wish we had the dexterity and agility to grab a racing lyco on the fly without harming him?

[Grim91Z]

That's a pretty awesome and brave kid. I didn't know wolf spiders were so dangerous, though.

[The Snark]

That's a pretty awesome and brave kid. I didn't know wolf spiders were so dangerous, though.
They aren't, but some can give a pretty painful nip and cause some (normally minor) latent problems. Our lyco hot shots could fill that in a bit. I would also mention, the monsters we have around here have huge fangs, about 1/8th inch, and the chelicerae spread of up to 3/8ths inch, and would have no trouble getting a good munch just about anywhere on your bod.

[Scorpendra]

so tell me....does this kid have internet access?

[pitbulllady]

That kid reminds me a LOT of myself, when I was that age! My mother was an "Ophidiophobidiot"(to borrow some of your clever phrases), who hated snakes and believed that ALL snakes were dangerous in one way or another, and that the only good one was a dead one! She did her best to instill that phobia into me, but it failed, miserably, on her part. I used to have secret places where I would keep Eastern Hognoses, Green Snakes, Garters, and Ratsnakes, that only I knew about. She finally relented when I turned 12, and my father paid to have an old one-room building that used to be the local post office(until a new brick post office was built)where my great aunt was post-mistress for 50 years moved into our back yard, so I could keep my snakes and my stereo(my mother hated KISS almost as much as she hated snakes)there. My grandfather bought me a baby Brazilian Redtailed Boa(back then, Brazilians were the cheap, common boas and Colombians were difficult to come by-go figure)for Christmas, and the rest was history.

pitbulllady

[Amanda]

That reminds me of when my next door neighbor "gave" the narrow dirty space between his detatched garage and the fenced edge of his property to my friend and I to use as our secret fort. We kept all sorts of insects and arachnids back there in the eaves and studied them. It was fascinating. We were 7-8 years old and made some pretty interesting "discoveries," but this kid sounds absolutely amazing! 6 years old?!? Maybe he's the Dr. Doolittle of arachnids, or some kind of savant.

I hope I have a kid like that, lol.

[kahoy]

hes awsome...

can anyone tell him that AB exists...

maybe someday he'll be one of the best

[dtknow]

Sounds like a few things I did when I was a kid. Never found any big wolfies though! We kept cellar spiders and smaller versions of wolf spiders and of course let them crawl around on us. In early elementary I was part of the whole "bug catcher" group. I also kept a lot of bugs around in jars...started early and gradually wore those folks down. First they were only downstairs but before long I managed to sneak some up into my room and they didn't bother telling me to take them back downstairs.

Have you showed him your collection yet? That is a great story!

[The Snark]

This is the same kid that dragged daddy aside one day to point out the emergence of one of (it turned out to be 15 all totaled) the 'toilet kraits', black and white banded-bungarus fasciatus, whispering, "Don't tell mom!".
He laughed himself into hysterics when a rat snake came up the drain and sent big sister careening through the house naked.

He asked me if the kraits were poisonous and I told him they could be deadly. He gave that some serious thought then applied perfect logic: "Then we shouldn't use that bathroom anymore."

[Dragoon]

Having a kid like that would be awesome!
I wish I could have him for a friend...you're pretty lucky, Snark, that he is so generous and patient with you. :D

I wasn't allowed pets as a kid, but I kept bringing home snails and caterpillars as a tot...later kept any sort of bug I could catch in jars...and liked to feed spiders by dropping crushed flies in their webs...nature provides pets for pet-less kids in spite of their dumb mothers.:rolleyes:
D.

[Arietans]

Great story, and a cool kid! :)

[Cirith Ungol]

Awsome stuff! But "only" in Thailand eh? ;) I wish there were as large native spiders here!!

[Venom]

O man, that is an awesome story! What a cool kid! Lol {D .

You should introduce him to AB Snark!! Or buy him a tarantula or something, lol!

[darkpredator]

Great story, lol as i am still trying to sneak arachnids and insects into my house I should have thought of having an outside place to keep them.

[bistrobob85]

If i had a kid like that, i wouldnt go to work, i'd stay home hunting for spiders with him :).

phil.