*adjusts cap to appear more scholarly than usual*
Thank you for coming today to this Spiders 101 class. I do appreciate your attendance and please remember you are given citizenship grades in this class as well.
/ahem
Today we will be focusing on poisonous spiders.
Loxosceles reclusa, is a well-known member of the family Sicariidae. It's common name is the Brown Recluse spider . . . you may have also heard it called the fiddleback spider. Our friends at the world's most fantastic and user-editable encyclopedia will tell you that these spiders are 1/4 inch to 3/4 inch in size. I would like to remind my students that wikipedia is user-editable: they are clearly larger as shown in slide 1.
For a necromancer like myself, it's interesting to note that the bite of a brown recluse will cause necrosis. (only click that link if you have a strong stomach. /shiver). Necromancers and Necrosis share the same prefix, which stems from the Greek word Νεκρός, which means "dead."
I discovered a good way of making these things Νεκρός was to use bugspray. fantastic.
Another poisonous spider of note is the black widow. The venom of a black widow is very potent. You can die from their bite; however, it's more likely you will simply experience extreme pain. You can imagine my dismay when I was instructed to go play with one of these things. Is that reward really worth it?
I was even more dismayed when I discovered something wikipedia couldn't tell me about black widows . . . apparently they like to talk smack.
And wouldn't you know it . . . they are much bigger than the purported 35 millimeters in length, and they like to pal around with other poisonous spiders. Great. Ah the thrill!
Once again, bugspray seemed to do the trick.
*RING*
Blast that bell!
Be careful out there, fellow wizards, and enjoy the rest of your school day!
Happy Spider hunting!
/waves bye
4 comments:
Since you seem to be such an Arachnophile you should try defeating the Black Widow a few more times to get your own Doom Scurrier pet! It doesn't have a card but looks cool.
On a side note, the general rule of thumb is that the larger the arachnid (so scorpions are included as well!) the less potent the venom. As the owner and caretaker of two tarantulas I take heart knowing that there are no records of a human death caused by a tarantula bite.
However giant, magical, LEPRECHAUN SUMMONING spiders are a whole different matter.
Toodles!
You, sir, get an A+ for your arachnid academia.
You know, a doom scurrier pet would be kind of cool! I may have to put my fears aside and try that. maybe.
hehe.
Thanks for the response tarlac! Good to see a fellow wizards 101 blogger. :-)
Use your imagination of how 2 brothers could torment a little sister with their pet tarantula (that's what I survived ... lol)
Your website is very well written. I will return to learn more.
If you see me on one of the worlds, please say hi.
Tara Windwalker
I love these new friends dropping by!
Your brothers sound like agents of malistaire. I'll be on the lookout for two tarantuala carrying thugs while hunting in Marleybone. Thank you for the warning!
I will definitely say hello, Tara, and likewise! :)
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