Monday, August 14, 2017

Proteinaceous Spider Silk

Image by jollygorilla.

14 comments:

Sara said...

So I'm the type who will freak the HELL out if I walk straight into spiderwebs. I have great eyes and avoid them at all costs. I scale brick walls to avoid touching them with my feet, I scooch along the side of cars trying to get around them when sandwhiched between a wall, I will do a long jump to avoid them. Yesterday I opened our garage to use the treadmill and walked straight into a loooooong web from the top of our grarage door to the floor. The moment I did it I knew it was a Brown Widow's, those bastards with their abnormally sticky webs. I freaked. I couldn't get the web off me! :( UGH. Internally I'm trying to calm down because I'm sure despite the web there are no living spiders in our garage due to temps in the 100's. I look down and crawling off my SOCK is a freaking BROWN WIDOW. And then I died.

Rot said...

haha
so funny! (and awful)

http://sarasota.ifas.ufl.edu/IPM/images/BrWdow/Ltbrnabdist.jpg

Sara said...

Shaking. My. Head. Ugh, SO gross. Bleh.

Rot said...

I hope you wrangled it into a cup and released it into the wild.

Sara said...

That's so funny you mention that. That's exactly what I did. ... .........

Autumnleaf said...

Yeah, I walked straight threw one this morning. VERY sticky. I was able to use local weeds to shed the thing....Sorry you had to experience that Sara. At least it was crawling off your sock and not up your pant leg.

Sara said...

Haha Autumnleaf I thought the same thing!:)

Willow Cove said...

Sara, your so funny! Glad your okay. I've had their webs knock my hat off before when walking into them.

girl6 said...

nothing beats the old school webbage. i think Drac would totally approve this setup for his castle. we were watching a very low budget indie film recently (which was pretty good) & whoever strung the web in the attic scene OMG....HAHAHAHHAHA!!! someone literally just opened the bag, took the web fluff out & slapped it on the wall. NO stretching. Nooooooo nothing. just a big ol square of fluff. you can never stretch webbing too much. the more detail the better!!!

NICE instagram. love the Bigfoot t.shirt. "undefeated hide & seek champ".. : D

Sara said...

Willow Cove, they are so, so strong! Pretty impressive. I've used a hose on them full blast to clean them off play equipment and it just pushes them back and forth.

Willow Cove said...

Here's a trick, Sara- heat gun or paint stripper. Melts the webs and egg sacks too. Especially when there around me the kids stuff or pets/ animals.

Sara said...

Ooohhh great tip! And yes, I don't randomly start attacking living widows unless they are actively on our used items. I swear I love nature, and I even love bees! Well......sorta.

Autumnleaf said...

Ha! August is definitely the month of walking through the yard with one arm raised in front of your face. Of course I always forget to. Yup, those webs are crazy strong.
And girl6, I totally agree you can never stretch the webbing too much. NEVER!

Sara said...

Autumnleaf are brown widows a southern ca thing? Did they originate in the west? Two summers ago our patio became infested when we were away for a week. Straight out of Arachnophobia. I never saw them growing up. It's a new type I've been told. They are also much heartier than black widows. And more bold,too.