BugAttraction | One of my pet wasps. I’ve named him Gerald. Narrated. Explore at your own risk. @Bugattraction | Uploaded September 2021 | Updated October 2024, 20 minutes ago.
It’s all in how you ‘talk’ to them.
There’s a story behind all of this that has changed my view of life and living things. I should note that I have spent most of life terrified of spiders and wasps. But especially spiders. My worst nightmares were those in which I’d walk into webs. I was one of those who would freak out and tip over furniture if I spotted one near it.
I was cleaning my garage one day and grabbed a handle, touching a big black furry spider. She did not bite, but fell to the ground. I was about instinctively about to smash her when she turned and looked at me. She had no escape, and I swear I could see the fear in her little face. I saved her instead, putting her outside. My wife thought I was crazy when I told her that it turned and looked at me again, then slowly crawled under the foundation of my house. I encountered her a few more times, and she behaved as if she recognized me - no kidding. You can actually see her in one of my older videos on this channel. It was the first spider video I posted.
I’ve since learned there are about 45,000 species of spider, a few of which are known as Phidippus Regius, and Phidippus Audax, or Regal and Bold Jumping spiders. They are among a very few that have extraordinary vision, can actually hear, and not only have memory and can learn, but also show evidence of facial recognition. I began keeping a few, but it was still years before I’d put my hand near one, let alone having one touch me. Then came Genifer. She was a Regal Jumping spider with unusual abilities that taught me more about how to interact with them than any other.
The short answer to your question is that I keep about a half-dozen, mostly in enclosures, but also have a few free-roamers, like Charley who lives in the Aero-garden on my kitchen table. Spiders can bite, but rarely do, and only if they are being caused physical harm. No spider is just going to run out and bite your toe, or whatever. In fact, even when I feed them by hand, they carefully avoid it.
Nearly all spiders have venom. Most is relatively harmless to us, and most of what we think are spider bites are actually something else. Jumping spider venom is not considered harmful to humans, but here’s the more important part. IN OVER EIGHT YEARS OF HANDLING HUNDREDS, EVEN WILD ONES, NOT ONE HAS EVER TRIED TO BITE.
Once we make a trust-connection, I can literally tickle their fangs, and they don’t bite. I can coax them onto my hand, or give them a gentle nudge in the direction I want them to go, and they haven’t bitten me even once. This species has fairly complex and easily interpreted visual signaling, and will display a defensive posture and back away if they feel threatened. But in most cases, it’s like befriending a stray dog. Once they ‘sniff’ you, so to speak, you’ll both know if your safe for each other.
It’s Genifer that really taught me how to engage not only other spider species, but the wasps as well. I don’t know if it’s a mindset, or some pheromone we put off if we are fearful or friendly, but I’ve never been bitten or stung, even by accident.
If you look through my other videos, you’ll see all of this including larger species and other jumping spiders I’ve trained as well.
All original content.
Copyright
Kyle BURDASH, a.k.a.
Bug Attraction
The Phidippus Project
It’s all in how you ‘talk’ to them.
There’s a story behind all of this that has changed my view of life and living things. I should note that I have spent most of life terrified of spiders and wasps. But especially spiders. My worst nightmares were those in which I’d walk into webs. I was one of those who would freak out and tip over furniture if I spotted one near it.
I was cleaning my garage one day and grabbed a handle, touching a big black furry spider. She did not bite, but fell to the ground. I was about instinctively about to smash her when she turned and looked at me. She had no escape, and I swear I could see the fear in her little face. I saved her instead, putting her outside. My wife thought I was crazy when I told her that it turned and looked at me again, then slowly crawled under the foundation of my house. I encountered her a few more times, and she behaved as if she recognized me - no kidding. You can actually see her in one of my older videos on this channel. It was the first spider video I posted.
I’ve since learned there are about 45,000 species of spider, a few of which are known as Phidippus Regius, and Phidippus Audax, or Regal and Bold Jumping spiders. They are among a very few that have extraordinary vision, can actually hear, and not only have memory and can learn, but also show evidence of facial recognition. I began keeping a few, but it was still years before I’d put my hand near one, let alone having one touch me. Then came Genifer. She was a Regal Jumping spider with unusual abilities that taught me more about how to interact with them than any other.
The short answer to your question is that I keep about a half-dozen, mostly in enclosures, but also have a few free-roamers, like Charley who lives in the Aero-garden on my kitchen table. Spiders can bite, but rarely do, and only if they are being caused physical harm. No spider is just going to run out and bite your toe, or whatever. In fact, even when I feed them by hand, they carefully avoid it.
Nearly all spiders have venom. Most is relatively harmless to us, and most of what we think are spider bites are actually something else. Jumping spider venom is not considered harmful to humans, but here’s the more important part. IN OVER EIGHT YEARS OF HANDLING HUNDREDS, EVEN WILD ONES, NOT ONE HAS EVER TRIED TO BITE.
Once we make a trust-connection, I can literally tickle their fangs, and they don’t bite. I can coax them onto my hand, or give them a gentle nudge in the direction I want them to go, and they haven’t bitten me even once. This species has fairly complex and easily interpreted visual signaling, and will display a defensive posture and back away if they feel threatened. But in most cases, it’s like befriending a stray dog. Once they ‘sniff’ you, so to speak, you’ll both know if your safe for each other.
It’s Genifer that really taught me how to engage not only other spider species, but the wasps as well. I don’t know if it’s a mindset, or some pheromone we put off if we are fearful or friendly, but I’ve never been bitten or stung, even by accident.
If you look through my other videos, you’ll see all of this including larger species and other jumping spiders I’ve trained as well.
All original content.
Copyright
Kyle BURDASH, a.k.a.
Bug Attraction
The Phidippus Project
