As you know we identify any bug, insect, spider, or basically anything that moves that is found, inside or outside, that comes across our path. The kids capture, bring it to me, and then we search online until we have successfully identified without a doubt what creature we hold in captivity. Then typically, we observe for a little while and it is either let go or it gets to go on to buggy heaven as a few have that have been found inside the house.

Today, we are adding a few new spiders to our spider identification collection. This week, we have identified three new ones here.

The parson spider. This one is a ground spider, but unlike the Hobo spider, likes to climb walls. It was found in the girls room climbing the walls by the girls bed. This was a perfect teaching lesson on WHY they should keep their room clean. This spider LOVES to hide under things on the ground…like clothes and trash….like messy rooms. The girls room is getting cleaned quickly thanks to this spider. https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Parson-Spider

Next, we found a wolf spider. We typically do find them in the basement, so they really are not “new” to us. Plus, we had them in Baltimore. So, we are very familiar with them. We didn’t even take a picture of him. What is significant about it is, that it is the first one we have seen since we started seeing the hobo spiders. Now that the hobo spiders have just about disappeared, we are starting to see wolf spiders again. (I did find one hobo last week when I moved a book shelf in the basement. He seemed to be almost dead. See the post about blue mudd daubers to find out about the hobo spiders.)

Now, if those are not enough spiders in the house, Jo comes down with a little container and said that there were all these TINY spiders all over her new desk that she bought off marketplace. (?!?!) These spiders are super tiny! So we both use our phones and try to take pictures to enlarge them to get a good look at them. They have very cool white and black striped legs…, a black body,….white butt….searching…..they look like jumping spiders…Jo says…”He just jumped, and landed on his back!”….hmm Yes, they are jumping spiders. In fact, they are zebra jumping spiders. Johanna goes upstairs to spray her desk with some kind of bug spray and notices a nice egg sack with lots of some dead, some alive spiders. This needs to be sprayed immediately. Sorry, but I know that some people like to raise jumping spiders as pets, because they are so cute…but I do not want to share my living space with them. I am sure that some have already escaped the boundaries of her desk and are enjoying freedom….hopefully not for long. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_spider

Moral of the story….when you buy something on marketplace, yard sales, or even in the mail, check for critters or egg sacks. First, we dealt with the hobo spiders. Now, we have “cute” tiny little jumping zebra spiders that are going to grow up to be adult “cute” little jumping zebra spiders to add to our collection. Yes, they are amazingly beautiful, and have a part in God’s master plan for creation. . . but I do not care to share my living space with any kind of insect.