Comments on: California funnel web spider

By: damian dude

damian dude — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:57:57 +0000

that is a tarantula the american funnel web spider is a very nice spider i hold mine all the time their as wide as a dime some a little bigger.

By: damian

damian — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:56:13 +0000

that is a tarantula the american funnel web spider is a very nice spider i hold mine all the time their as wide as a dime some a little bigger

By: For the want of a good knot « Jacquie Phelan’s Weblog

For the want of a good knot « Jacquie Phelan’s Weblog — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 05:56:43 +0000

[...] For the want of a good knot Some tread was lost. Yesterday was the first ride I’ve done with the great Anne Cutler, infrared photographer and blues guitarist of questionable repute. Who greeted me at the Halloween party last week saying: “I was going to come as YOU (alice b.? Really? Moi?) but I decided “software pirate” would be cool. Aarrgh! Nice to finally meet you”. Hard to not want to go out on a ride as soon as possible with someone so gracious, kind, articulate, with such terrific taste in roll models, and whose costume has an embedded pun. We agreed a day or two later to do the Lagunitas Loop–your basic perfect ride, all the ingredients– and maybe climb beyond the morning fog. Barely up to five corners I jump off my bike, unshoulder my banjo, and ask if A.C. has ever ‘teased spiders’ before. On misty moisty mornings the webs of the funnel spiders become shimmeringly visible, diamond-studded tissues of two sizes: momma spider (doily) or baby spider (beer coaster). THe latter ones come in huge numbers…a few dozen within a couple of meter’s radius. Every funnel has a perfect little black circular entrance at its center, in ominous contrast to the light-reflecting funnel that surrounds it. I took a thin strip of soft long grass, and touched it to the web , peering into the hole. The natural tremor in my huge hominid hand shook the web. It must have been a botched job at first, but finally OUT RACED THE SPIDER to find..trick or treat ha-ha-false alarm, no fly , just a perverted person messing with the spider’s brain. And ripping a hole in the web. [...]

By: Roza Tammer

Roza Tammer — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 22:13:41 +0000

We found one in the Oakland hills at Skyline High School the other day. Ours is a silvery gray, just about an inch if its legs are spread out.

By: Robert Garriock

Robert Garriock — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 02:24:25 +0000

I found this spider recently North of San Francisco in Marin Co. It is a male like the one in the photograph. I have it captive right now and might give it some room to make a burrow.

By: Nancy Sanchietti

Nancy Sanchietti — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 01:08:38 +0000

Nov. 18, 2006 We found a funnel-web spider at the bottom of our swimming pool yesterday. We scooped it out and placed it in a beer cup, thinking it was dead, so we could try and identify it. This morning, we found that it was alive and feisty. It is about 1 1/2 by 2 inches, brown and hairy, looks just like the one in your picture. We live in rural Sebastopol, CA.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 19:01:02 +0000

I saw one near my apt in Mill Valley, late at night. I thought it was a tarantula. Phew!

By: Brad DeVillez

Brad DeVillez — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 20:33:53 +0000

I noticed about five funnel webs in my back yard. I live in Fontana, CA. The first thing that popped into my head was, “man I’ve heard those funnel spiders are deadly”. Thanks for the info. I’ll let the spiders stay!