Luna moth, Black Widow, Misc. Spiders

[huskyjackal]

First are my favorites..Luna moths! I have not seen a Luna moth in probably a good 5-10 years and earlier this summer I was lucky enough to have one on my screen door. My boyfriend took it in for me to photograph before we released it back into the woods. I was ridiculously excited about this, I even bought a Luna moth cup cozy from a vendor on Etsy. :3 I was too skittish to hold it so I had my boyfriend do it for me. We had a hard time keeping the cats from eating it.

I almost touched it but at the last second decided not to..

<--not me

 

[huskyjackal]

This Black Widow inhabited my old workplace..we never did find it after I took this photo.

Various spiders in North Carolina.

 

[yeatzee]

What DSLR + lens combo?

 

[huskyjackal]

What DSLR + lens combo?

Canon 40D and either the 28-135mm or 50mm f/1.8

 

[yeatzee]

What ISO?

(cool shots btw)

 

[Katnapper]

Nice pics! Too bad you didn't hold the Luna moth... they don't bite, hehe. Good thing you didn't hold the black widow!

 

[Rick]

Great pics. We have a guy on here that raises luna moths. I think he sells them too.

 

[huskyjackal]

What ISO?(cool shots btw)

Thanks! Er, I completely forget..the Black Widow and other spider were taken n 2007 or 2008 I think but I'm pretty sure my ISO wasn't over 400 for either. The Luna moth looks a bit grainy so I probably flipped up to 800+ ISO because it was night and I didn't want to turn ALL my room lights on and freak the moth out any more than the cats already had.

Nice pics! Too bad you didn't hold the Luna moth... they don't bite, hehe. Good thing you didn't hold the black widow!

I wanted to soo bad (the moth!)! I actually did "catch" it when it flew at my lamp because the cats were impossible to get out of the room (2 cats, 2 people, once somebody herded ONE out the other rushed back in ad infinitum). I am a big wimp when it comes to insects, as a kid the only really traumatizing incident I remember is I took an entire summer to get the courage to hold a daddy long-leg spider and when I finally did a leg snapped off and I was holding a wriggling leg and nothing else..I'm pretty sure I cried and screamed and felt disgusted (I was 4 or 5..) and ever since I get chills thinking of their little multitudes of segmented legs and bodies touching me.. but I know they won't HURT me, it's just an old habit I'm SLOWLY trying to get over. Slowly as in "ok I'll pick it up with this short stick but if it gets too close to my fingers I'm finding the first safe place to drop it and running."

Great pics. We have a guy on here that raises luna moths. I think he sells them too.

I saw his photo thread, I am SO JEALOUS! Over the summer I looked into buying caterpillars and was tempted to raise a few but decided I didn't know enough about them and didn't want to raise them at the wrong time and release them like right before winter or something when they'd just all die. Maybe next spring or summer I'll actually go for it when I figure out their mating and life patterns a little more in depth--I would love to release some in the yard and broaden the population.

 

[Matticus]

I thought my wife would never touch one of my bugs, but she finally got up the courage to pet our ailing mantis for the first time last night. Just give yourself some time and work at it, and eventually you'll be able to touch them.