Saturday, August 15, 2009

Life and Death Under a Plastic Table


This may not appeal to everyone.



But there's bound to be a few of you out there. You know how you are.



If your favorite TV is the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet, this post is for you!



I took these pictures almost a year ago at my deer lease in Kent County.



I had a plastic table that I kept scooted up under my travel trailer when I wasn't using it. When I pulled it out, I found this going on underneath.



Behold, the life and death struggle between a rather large black widow spider and a rhinoceros beetle!



The spider was in constant motion on an ever-bouncing web, making macro photography a challenge.



The spider frantically spun its web.



The beetle kicked and struggled against its bondage.



The rhino beetle was beautiful iridescent green, blue and purple.



Beware the red hour glass of the black widow!



And just when it seemed that fate was sealed.



And all hope for the beetle was gone.



I circumvented nature by freeing the beetle.



I know I shouldn't have. But sometimes it's hard to be impartial. Poor hungry black widow!


12 comments:

Tracy said...

Ewwwwww those spiders creep me out!

Debra@CommonGround said...

Good for you!!! As I always say to "nature". "Go be a" ...'whatever', in this case spider, "somewhere that I don't have to see it."
Debra

summersundays-jw said...

And then you stepped on the black widow. Thanks for freeing that beetle. You're a part of nature too & I think you were where you were suppose to be at that moment. Fantastic pictures!!! Jan

Mindy said...

Look at that. You are my hero. And the scarab thinks you're pretty cool, too. ~Mindy

Margo said...

And I'm assuming you killed the BW???
Those things scare me.

M

Margo said...

OH, I love the photo's, Forgot to say that. I'm a discovery channel addict myself.
Margo

David said...

I did not kill the black widow spider. It was probably the biggest one I've ever seen and I thought that was kind of neat. I wasn't too worried about getting bitten because it was outside and underneath the table. Seemed like a good place for it. I was just kind of careful when I moved the table.

Phyllis said...

Hurrah for David.
Phyllis

trash talk said...

Coises, foiled again!!!
Trash

Anonymous said...

My son will love these picts...I'll have to show him. Spiders are a little creepy to me. I once read that we swallow an average of twelve spiders in our sleep over the course of a lifetime. Terrible thought, isn't it?

-FringeGirl

David said...

Tricia, that is a terrible thought for us. But even more terrible for those twelve spiders, huh?!

:-)

lovesoldstuff said...

ugh....I bet I will dream about spiders tonight! lol