An invasive species of spider the size of a child's hand is expected to “colonize” the entire East Coast this spring by parachuting down from the sky, researchers announced. https://t.co/Dnwer6RC8j
— Axios (@axios) March 9, 2022
Millions of bright yellow, palm-sized Joro spiders, native to East Asia, have invaded northern Georgia. pic.twitter.com/0z6rYQjK9i
— The Weather Network (@weathernetwork) November 1, 2021
Eeeeeeeeeewww.. time to hit store for some more birdshot..
Time to update the Star Wars Mosquito Defense System!
(Years ago, someone actually paid Jordin Kare to make such a thing work in real life. There have been occasional reports of a product in development.)
Hmmm. Can’t track spider paratroops by the distinctive buzzing sound they don’t make. Have to use maybe active sonar, or millimeter radar, or some sort of machine-vision scheme.
… And the ol’ crate of DEATH RAY COMPONENTS out in the barn contains a Q-switched ruby laser head (for a tank rangefinder or some such), for which I never got around to building a power supply. Hmmm.
Or there’s always FIDO.
I hate when they something like, “the size of a child’s hand.” Do they mean a two year old or a 12 year old? Children’s hands come in a wide range of sizes. Do they mean just the spider’s body, or across its (spread) legs?
This being Florida, Australia of the northern hemisphere, it’ll probably end up being a prime food for Burmese pythons or pygmy rattlesnakes or some other problem critter, which will cause their population to explode.
“the size of a child’s hand.”
Bring to mind The Flying Sorcerers, wherein the new Speaker of a village needs his Speaking Token; central to this is a stone the weight of a small child, which calls for choosing a child to be the reference weight.
Or Henry Morgan’s long-ago complaint about products advertised as “king sized” – “One thing I have to know is, which king do you mean? King Gustav of Sweden? He’s six foot four. King Peter of Romania? He’s four foot seven. You’ve got to make all the products the same size, or you’ve got to make all the kings the same size.”
Shoogar was a reasonable guy compared to As-A-Shade-of-Purple-Gray.
Gotta make allowances… Purple was a space alien, and space aliens often appear unreasonable when judged by local standards.
Not as big as deal as the clickbaiters are looking for. The Joro spider is an invasive species from Asia, true — and it’s big, leg span measurable in inches — but it’s not typically dangerous to humans and in fact likes to target the marmorated stink bug, another invasive pest that’s known for damaging houses and crops.
So yeah, not my cup of tea, but I can live with this.
They look about as large as yellow garden spiders.
They eat stink bugs? I’ll take a half dozen of them.
I went from a brown recluse infestation to a stinkbug infestation. At least the brown recluses were reclusive and I only saw them occasionally.
At any one time I can see 3-5 stinkbugs in my living room.
I am reminded of Lawdog’s tale about the native geckos in Africa, and I often wonder if we could import some.
As someone who loves exotic pets, I’ve told my spider phobic wife that I want to acquire a small breeding colony of these spiders. She told me in no uncertain terms that if I do, she’ll be giving them to me in meals. There are recipes for cooking spiders out there on the internet.
She tolerates the house spiders, including the large ones, in the garage where I have my figure painting studio, but if they cross the threshold into the main house, she considers them legitimate targets. Compromise is the secret of 43 years together…
I’d rather just watch the movie:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giant_Spider_Invasion
Bonus: it stars *both* Barbara Hale *and* Alan Hale, Jr.
There is an advantage to living in Minnesota and suffering through an occasional week of Below Zero Weather. It definitely thins out the non-natives.