Halloween Creepy Crawlies

This has been quite the autumn for spider spotting around here! In only the past few weeks, I've spotted the creepy crawlies I'm going to share pics of here. I started off with that cute decorating spider cartoon to warn off anyone who is traumatized by spiders. There are some here that might make you feel like your screen is crawling!

I spotted three new spiders this month and have managed to identify some of them with the help of the internet. This first one is a standard garden spider or Argiope aurantia. (Obviously, I'm going to stick with calling them garden spiders.)  This far away pic shows how big she is next to regular siding. Pretty big, hey?

Something interesting about this spider is that she catches her prey and wraps it up in webbing for a snack at a later time. I'm not sure where she stores the little bundles of food - probably a spider fridge of sorts in part of the larger web, although I never spotted any leftovers. By the way, I'm nearly 100% sure this is a female, because it's mainly the female spiders who are out and about (alive). The adult males have mostly become another snack for the females.

Here she is a little closer:

The Garden Spider will generally keep her web in the same place all summer long, just waiting for those snacks to drop by. And get this - each night she will eat the center of the web and rebuild it! Maybe she's tidying up? One theory is that she's getting any little nutrients or bug "crumbs" that are left on the web. Nothing goes to waste.

Big as she is, this spider isn't something for you to be scared of. She isn't aggressive by nature, but if you did for some reason want to grab her, the most you'd get is a bee sting type bite.

I love Daddy-LongLegs! This one was so beautiful and delicate and nicely stayed put for me to take multiple photos. All of these spiders were cooperative in that way. By the way, that black border is there so I can show the photo larger. I don't know why with blogger, but I'm able to post the vertical pictures a lot larger than the horizontal ones. 

This little guy is a mystery. Can anyone help me identify him? This spider was super tiny and looks a lot larger here because I was up in his face taking photos.

He was inside of a container I turned over today. What a nice surprise, as I was planning to put up this spider themed post already! The sun cast a long, spooky spidery, shadow that I actually think is cooler than the spider itself!

So something that you would never see in real life, but can see magnified here, are the markings on this spider. There are two dark marks on his head and this light marbleized pattern on his body. That might help in identification.

This of course isn't a spider, but I had to share it anyway. How cool to see a Halloween colored caterpillar mid-October! In addition to some cool coloring, this caterpillar has the cute name of "Woolly Bear".

This caterpillar was very active and fast moving. I had to kind of chase it around as it explored the leaves. I found this photo adorable.

The Woolly Bear also gave wall climbing a try, but soon tired of that. If you look closely, probably by clicking on this pic, you might just see a black nose at the top of this caterpillar. At least that's what I interpret it as.

For those of you who are curious about what this caterpillar will mature into, it becomes an Isabella Tiger Moth. Another cool name, but the moth isn't quite as cute as the caterpillar. If you're interested in seeing what one looks like:

Isabella Tiger Moth

I guess they're pretty as moths go...

The Woolly Bear/Isabella Tiger Moth has quite the life, which you can read about in more detail here. Some neat trivia I learned here is that in extremely cold places where the summer is short, the Woolly Bear must go through several summers to get enough food/energy in it to pupate. The caterpillars have a special "cryoprotectant" which keeps them alive through freezing conditions. You can think of it as a sort of antifreeze. So the Woolly Bear can keep up this cycle of living through frozen weather/briefly feeding in warm weather for years! I read that these guys can even last through 14 summers. That's a surprisingly old Woolly Bear!

As far as the rumor about fuzzy caterpillars being poisonous, it appears that's not the case with the Woolly Bear. I'll be honest, I was thinking about those rumors while taking these photos. I'd heard that each of these fuzzy bits was actually a spike with venom in it! From what I just read, they wouldn't actually inject poison into a person, but you could still get dermatitis from touching one. That doesn't look like any fun! So as sweet and fuzzy as they look, it's not worth getting some crusty skin condition by touching them.

Have you guys been seeing a lot of Halloween creepy crawlies this month? There are still a few more weeks to go...



 
P.S. ~ I'm planning to do the Halloween Blog Party again this year! So you're all welcome to send me a costumed photo of yourself from any point of your life, and I'll include you at the party. I'll probably put up that blog post on the 23rd or 24th of this month.

Update! I saw a new spider today:

I was shaking out a piece of fabric outside and about five of these little guys crawled out in different directions. I happened to have my camera out there with me so I quickly took a photo of one of them. Then it occurred to me that this might be a Brown Recluse and I thought Uh Oh. So I went online and compared my pic to that of a Brown Recluse. Luckily this wasn't a Brown Recluse. With the help of some Twitter friends, I now know this is a Wolf Spider.

Happy Earth Day!

I thought this would be the perfect time to share some of the little veggies I have coming up in my garden.

Lettuce

This first photo is a bit of a cheat because this lettuce managed to stay alive through the winter! It started really growing during the past few weeks. I planted some from seed this spring and here's what the little baby version looks like:

The seeds came in a mixed pack. They turn into a gourmet mix of lettuce and it's fun to see the different forms it comes in. This one is a little bit more red:

Mesculin (also Mesclun)

Mesculin is another type of fancy mixed lettuce. It will be fun to see what this lacy little one grows into.

Dwarf Kale

Isn't the dwarf kale cute? It looks like a little bow for now. These are called blue dwarf kale, so we'll see how blue they get. They're supposed to stay relatively small and not spread out too much. I was reading in a magazine recently that miniature kale is the hot new thing because it's ultra nutritious. It's like all the nutrients got compressed into a tiny little package. Funny enough, I read that in a fashion magazine on the "IN" page. So my garden will have the cool new accessory for spring.

Arugula

I love arugula so much! I bought these seeds last spring on ebay and I swear they have a germination rate of near 100%. It's nuts! Arugula everywhere!

This is one that has grown a little faster than the others.

Spinach

It looks like it's going to fly away! But look how different the mustard spinach is.

Mustard Spinach

I'm excited to be growing spinach this year and to have it coming along so well! I can't remember ever growing it in the past. I've read that the mustard spinach is pretty spicy!

Cilantro

You can never have enough of this, which is good because there are countless little sprouts out there. I think some decided to grow itself along with what I planted.

Dill

The dill was difficult to photograph because it's so tiny! No, that isn't an egg behind the little dill. It's one of the many rocks I put in my pots to discourage the chipmunks from digging around.

Sugar Snap Peas

It looks like a little bunny rabbit. This is a view showing more:

I think I have nine or ten coming up.

It's amazing how well all these little plants are doing during a Wisconsin "spring". It's snowing lightly right now. But they're hardy plants that can take it. We still have a long time until tomatoes and basil can be grown outside. I have started some basil seeds, though.

If any of you would like to get started with growing vegetables or herbs from seed, let me know. I can help you if you aren't used to gardening. It doesn't take much to get going. I bought most of my seeds at Dollar Tree for only 25 cents a package! A few packs were 20 cents at Big Lots. The dill is even in this Dollar Tree container I cut holes in the bottom of.

So growing seeds isn't that difficult, it doesn't have to be expensive, and it is really rewarding. Besides saving a ton of money, you'll find that the vegetables and herbs you grow taste a whole lot better than what you buy from the store. That and you'll feel more connected to nature and learn about many of the little critters in it as you take care of your plants.

If you are already into gardening, I'm open to a seed exchange!

Also on the topic of nature, I picked up a book at the library yesterday that I've been meaning to read for a while. Wicked Bugs! Look at this beautiful cover:

The awesome, intricate back cover:

To give you an idea of the illustrations:

I picked a bad customer for this example, but I guess the nice bugs probably didn't make it into the book. I think I remember reading about this book on some of your blogs a while back. I've only read the intro so far, but I can't wait to read the stories of bugs behaving badly!

Getting Acquainted with the Bugs of Summer

Last summer, I really got to know the local insects. It turns out that we have more varieties of insects in Wisconsin than I was aware of. After taking notice of a few different bugs, I decided it would be fun to photograph everything that crawled by. Taking the following photos and studying them turned out to be a great learning experience for me!

Closely viewing these insects is going to be a little like watching the movie Them! So if you're at all sensitive to creepy crawlies, especially spiders, you might want to close out of this page.

One insect I learned a lot about was the firefly. Believe it or not, I didn't know what they looked like in the daylight until last summer. I told some of my friends (who are from more rural areas) about my discovery and they thought it was funny. I guess this was common knowledge for them! For my part, I was glad to know what those "funny looking beetles" were on my plants.

Check out his feet! They look like little hands.

If you look closely, you can see some yellow near this firefly's butt area. I assume that's what we see light up.

I also learned that if I stood still in the dark of night and flashed my camera, lots of fireflies would approach me. It was a magical experience to be surrounded by these little glowing bugs in an otherwise dark space. I learned later that the fireflies interpret glowing as a mating signal. So I guess I came across as a giant bug giving them the wrong idea!

Another new bug I learned about was the cicada. I first got to know these guys when I found one of their shells. As anyone who's seen a cicada knows, they're quite large. At first I thought the shell was a giant bug, then I saw the slit where the cicada had emerged.

Yeah, that's its shell! To give you an idea of how large a cicada is, I flipped the shell onto a tissue and placed a quarter next to it.

Do you see the slit in the back area? That's where he came out of his little cicada coat.

I later came across a cicada who was in the process of shedding his shell! The cicada is sort of sitting on the shell he just emerged from in this picture. I guess I'm the first thing he saw in his new form. What lucky timing!

 
They really are beautiful and not at all dangerous. Look at these wings!

There are many videos online of cicadas who are in the process of molting their shells. I found a quick time lapse video that will give you an idea of what I witnessed:



After my cicada and firefly experiences, I was ready to photograph more local insects. I was familiar with all of the next ones already, but it was interesting to see them up close. There are so many beautiful details that you might not have noticed. We're used to brushing these things away or swatting at them, but you'll actually be able to observe them in these photos.

This one is the Japanese Beetle. They came to Wisconsin in droves last year and tore through many people's rose gardens. They're nasty bugs who tear holes through rose petals and leaves. They're beautiful in their way but very destructive. For the many I saw last year, I haven't seen one this summer! My guess is that it's been too dry for them.

If you look closely, you can see the little hairs on this one's legs. I suggest clicking on these photos to enlarge them, if you can take it!

I know this one is just a boring old ant, but it's still interesting to see it up close.

Honestly, I was kind of scared as I photographed this next one. I don't know what kind of spider this is, and you never know what's poisonous.

I actually feel creeped out even looking at my own photo! I swear I just now felt like something was crawling on my neck. That must be the psychological affect of looking at creepy spider photos! Here's another view of him:

I like the Daddy Long Legs spiders, but there's something about these big, squishy looking ones...

This dragonfly is a little more innocent looking. He nearly blends into the environment with his iridescent wings.

Next we have a closeup view of a hornet who was safely on the other side of a window. I never realized that their legs have stripes on them. Then again, I never wanted to study a hornet closely. I'm usually just hoping not to get stung.

These I always thought were cute, but I've been told that Chiggers can bite and hurt a person pretty badly.

I know that fuzzy white caterpillars are lethal to plants, but aren't they cute and soft looking? Check out those little legs!

This grasshopper really blended in to the sand and wood around him. Looking closer, I saw a cool zigzag type pattern on his hind legs.

I haven't a clue about the following insects. Does anyone know what these are?

I found this next one to be the ickiest of the mystery insects. I was just sitting outside minding my own business, and this thing came trotting along.

I usually have my camera with me, so I was ready to photograph it. This bug was incredibly small, so I was surprised to see it in detail after loading this photo on my computer. It's just so weird! I thought it might be some kind of larvae, but it's walking.

This next one was really tiny and creepy. Do you think this might be a tick? That's my best guess so far. It looks similar to the tick photos I've seen online. As I remember, it was hopping around.

After last summer, I started referring to myself as "The Insect Paparazzi". Luckily, every little critter I photographed was well behaved and I wasn't stung or bitten while getting close to them. I feel especially lucky if the above photo is of a tick.

Speaking of semi-creepy things in nature, I observed something amazing yesterday and I just had to share it. Some of my snapdragons have gone to seed and here's what was left of them:

Snapdragon skulls! Look at these expressions. Some of them even have noses. For those who aren't familiar with Snapdragons, here's what their flowers look like:

If you managed to survive looking through all these creepy insect photos and flower skeletons, you deserve a treat! So here's a little music to go with the title of this post:



...and here's a little silliness to go with your music:



Update as of July 18! I just took a photo of this little guy today as he was lounging on a leaf. I took about ten photos of him and he didn't even seem afraid of the camera! He was maybe an inch long at largest. Do you guys think this might be a butterfly? He had a really fuzzy body.