old battler

[miriam_e]

Had a visit from an old spider who clearly has been in a few battles. He has lost most of his legs on one side. I wonder what had been after him. Undoubtedly many animals would consider him a juicy tidbit. Life would be difficult for such a large spider. I don't think life expectancy would be very long. Hmmm... I wonder how long Huntsman spiders live. I must ask my Mum.

The pictures were taken in my kitchen. I noticed him just as I was about to turn out my lights, so I got a few snapshots before switching the lights off and retiring for the night. I don't know why he is covered in cobweb detritus. Perhaps he's just blundered through a web to eat one of the spiders that spin webs. There are plenty of those here. It is one of the things I like about huntsman spiders: they don't mess up the place with web. I have to periodically clear away the webs of all the other spiders. I hate wrecking their homes, but it would be a mass of web here if I didn't.