A fun thing to do on a warm spring or summer night is to go outside with a bright flashlight and hunt for spiders. Hold the flashlight above your head and scan the grass. If you see a tiny white light shining back at you, it will be the reflected eyeshine of a spider (kind of like the "deer in the headlights" effect). The bigger the spider, the bigger the reflection; this Wolf Spider was really easy to find! The hard part of getting this photo was the position I had to get in to be at the right angle to catch the reflection! My husband held the light and I had to lay flat on the ground! This photo was taken at my parents' house in Florida.
Oak Ridge, TN August 18, 2008 I found this guy in my room at school. I put him in a plastic "critter cage", which explains the backwards Japanese writing in the photo! The female's web was nearby, I tried "introducing" the couple by putting her in his web, but she would have no part of it! ;) These spiders can become cannibals if they don't have enough food from insect prey!
