A Dangerous Obsession

You may remember my previous post on the spiders and insects that have infested my home. Apparently I have a little arachnophobia. I've notice a couple of spider webs outside our door and chose to ignore them, but yesterday one of them decided to wander out of it's little funnel web. Wrong decision spider. Let's just say he was a goner within seconds. Why did I have Noah, the official spider exterminator, kill it? Because it was HUGE! Oh my gosh it was like the size of a dime! For a spider that's big in my opinion. Too big to be anywhere near me.

I of course inspected said spider before its extermination and have reason to believe that it was a hobo spider. Because this spider was squashed beyond recognition I can't use it for identification, but I have saved not only the specimen mentioned previously in my blog, but another one of similar size.

I called BYU promptly after researching Hobo spiders on Google. I'm sure the BYU Info girl thought I was just crazy, but I'm not on health insurance here people. I can't take any risks! She directs me to the biology department where a very friendly girl helps me locate the name of a Utah State professor who specializes in Hobo spiders. All right! Now I just have to give him a call on Monday. As a side note, she also must have thought I was crazy because I made some really stange noises in describing the spiders, kind of like gagging, but she was helpful despite everything.

I have counted 12 webs of similar size and shape. Below you will see the squished spider and its web. Its body is not visible at this time (it got squished).