SPIDER COURTSHIP

Gotta' meet this chic!

A romantic Spider moment.

Back for seconds. Not a good idea!

Her beak opens

Too late, he backs away

Paralyzed from his mate's venom he is helpless.

She wraps him and into the pantry he goes!

And she wears a cross!

Click to enlarge photos.

I took these a few years ago behind my house. I had never seen spiders courting before. It was fascinating. I had heard that the female would kill and wrap the male for her babies to later eat, or maybe for her snack. Apparently it's true.

They are interesting to watch but a few weeks ago I grabbed a handful of seed pods from a Musk-Mallow plant and accidentally got a BIG spider. When I saw it in the bag with the seed pods and realized It had been in my hand, it gave me the heebie-jeebie's!

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