Zebra Spider

I have more spider pictures! This is a household jumping spider, or more specifically the Zebra Spider. You've probably seen these little guys hanging around your house too. Don't worry though, they are harmless to us. They are cool to watch because they are stealthy fast. They have some interesting hunting behaviors. Here's an excerpt on zebra spiders from Wikipedia.

"Like other jumping spiders, these spiders use their large front eyes to locate and stalk their prey. They move slowly towards their prey until they are close enough to pounce on top of their victim, and their hunting behaviour has been described as cat-like. Using their acute eyesight, they are able to accurately judge the distances they need to jump. Before jumping, they glue a silk thread to the surface that they are jumping from so that if they miss the target, they can climb up the thread and try again. They ignore unappetising insects such as ants."

It's true these little spiders have two giant eyes. Normally I don't go around looking for spiders to photograph. So there must be a reason. I found one of these spiders hanging out on my wall chomping on a fly! Flies irritate more than Nancy Pelosi, so you can imagine how excited I was when I seen this spider feast on one of my fly enemies. Okay, I'll get to the pictures already.


I say it all the time, but I encourage you to click on the pictures to enlarge. It's actually worth it this time...that is if you're intrigued by hairy little arachnids with giant eyeballs.


I'm sure you can tell I really like doing these zoom pictures. But these spiders are so small it's hard to get a good look at them otherwise. Look at those eyes!