#redback spiders

[look-at-a-speck-on-the-ground]

redback spiders can be so damn pretty. such ornate butts on these ladies

[spid3rs0up]

Being a social spider is hard.

About 99.95% of spider species are non-social. Most of the 0.05% are quasi-social, roomates if you will, but not friends. Spiders don't have partners, it's rare they don't try to kill eachother after mating. Every academic says not to anthropomorphize bugs, but I can't go on thinking any kind of cooperation is a thoughtless numbers game spiders are forced into because of their dna. I want to imagine the golden orb weaver is friends with the other spiders sharing a web. I need to think the patches of golden silk in the tent spiders web were left as a gift. That she likes the smaller spiders she lets eat the tiny flies caught in her web. Who's to say redbacks don't offer themselves to their girlfriend out of love. Maybe the bee and the spider that share a burrow love eachother and the tarantula loves his tiny frog pets. Maybe the spider in your house doesn't just learn your routine to stay away from you but because it's just as curious as us. Spiders think, remember, count and learn, we're just barely beginning to understand that, i wanna believe they can feel too.

Because being a social spider is hard. It would be easier if I was happy on my own aside from occasionaly killing any lovers long before we could break up or even get to know eachother. But i want lots of friends and I'm sick of building a new web every year. I need to believe that's possible for a spider.

[look-at-a-speck-on-the-ground]

i believe this is a male and female redback spider!

[mirrorbxlls]

killed a redback spider in my room and thought there was one crawling on my arm as i was falling asleep...it was a piece of string that i have had on for the past three days

[timelord-in-neverland]

Found 3 redbacks in the garden today... Such is the life of an aussie.

[gardenmelt-blog]

I was just pulling out some onion weeds in the back bit near the bins when a biggish redback spider crawled out of the corner. I always have a bit of a dilemma with actual, poisonous spiders - the golden orbs and leaf spiders are fine, even the huntsman are okay provided they don't attempt to take up residence on the ceiling directly above my bed. But redbacks? Argh, I don't know. I ended up lacquering this one in fly spray and feeling guilty about it. I was worried it'd take up residence on the bins and someone would get a chomp putting then out - unlikely I know. There must be a better way, hm.