Spider Dance....

[wayfarer]

This story is about a year old now, but still worth a laugh.
We're a cat family.

You've heard of the spider dance, right?
It's a condition of human nature to do a little, but panicky jig one nano-second after walking into a spider web. That moment of sheer terror as you realise it must be on you and ready to strike. You wave your arms about, hop from foot to foot, look left, look right, look over your back, brush your hair wildly with both hands and stare manically at anyone who can tell you exactly where it is.

It seems to me that no matter who you are, or where you're from, we all do the exact same dance.

I didn't know cats did it too.

A few days ago we had a huntsman spider visit us. The novelty has worn off as they aren't uncommon in our bushland home . We have adequate fly screens so there's not much for the wayward spider to eat. If I don't pack them up and walk them outside they will disappear or die a hungry death on their own accord.

The family is dead against me killing them for convenience sake.

I walked into our bedroom to find three cats lined up against the wall waiting for the spider to come down and play. Obligingly, I used a small paintbrush to push it off the wall.

It landed on Mycroft.

He did a spider dance.

It only lasted about 10 seconds but to him it must have been an eternity. He ran backward a little, forward a little, shook his head madly, shook his tail and paws, spun around and generally panicked.

He backed away from it when it fell on the ground.

Mycoft in sleeping mode

Anyway, a few moments later I returned to the room to see all three cats staring at the wardrobe.

SWMBO's side of the wardrobe.

I debated whether to tell her. What sort of trouble will I be in now?

Later I told her the story and she freaked. It's all my fault, naturally.
Now she needs to shake her clothes when she pulls them from the wardrobe. But she'll never really know if there's a spider hiding.

I await another spider dance, this time from SWMBO.

Short version:
Spider fell on cat, cat ???? itself, spider ran off into wife's wardrobe, wife is next to do the dance.

[Dirty Doogie]

The spider dance is also known here as the Cockroach twist. Big flying roaches live everywhere outside and at night they fly around . Cockroach Twist has same movements except ends with a twisting motion of the foot and hips as you try and step on the insect.

[NCArcher]

I also have cats and have seen the spider dance many times. They think the huntsmans are great fun to play with until they hitch a ride.
You may be interested to know that huntsmen do their own version of the spider dance. (human dance maybe )

Several years ago i was running some cable in a garage. Timber frame and i was clipping the cable and running my thumb along the cable to lay it straight and then hammering in another clip. As i straightened the cable past a join in the beam I must have hit a trip wire(web) because an enormous huntsman leapt out of the gap onto my hand. While i nearly had a heart attach I think the spider got a bigger shock. He was expecting a juicy little insect and he got a giant, screaming lunatic that was about one million times bigger than he was.
I swear he got a shocked look on his face, gave a little spidery "uh-oh" and then launched himself back into his hiding place. After i picked myself up off the ground (I forgot to mention i was on top of a ladder) and stopped laughing the spider and i came to an agreement. I wouldn't go anywhere near his spider hole and he wouldn't jump on me any more.

[tea lady]

Only because it was someone else!!!

Will probably be me one day as my workshop is full of them. One hasn't landed on me.....yet!!!

[wayfarer]

I also have cats and have seen the spider dance many times. They think the huntsmans are great fun to play with until they hitch a ride.
You may be interested to know that huntsmen do their own version of the spider dance. (human dance maybe )

Several years ago i was running some cable in a garage. Timber frame and i was clipping the cable and running my thumb along the cable to lay it straight and then hammering in another clip. As i straightened the cable past a join in the beam I must have hit a trip wire(web) because an enormous huntsman leapt out of the gap onto my hand. While i nearly had a heart attach I think the spider got a bigger shock. He was expecting a juicy little insect and he got a giant, screaming lunatic that was about one million times bigger than he was.
I swear he got a shocked look on his face, gave a little spidery "uh-oh" and then launched himself back into his hiding place. After i picked myself up off the ground (I forgot to mention i was on top of a ladder) and stopped laughing the spider and i came to an agreement. I wouldn't go anywhere near his spider hole and he wouldn't jump on me any more.

ROFL