Black Widow with lunch

Ahzdeeen

Was outside watering plants this evening when i almost stepped right on this large black widow that had spun a web on some potted plants. I decided to grab some of the large house flies we have inside and give her a meal to try and get some shots..I kinda feel guilty...poor flies. But if they stayed in the house the cat would eat them No cropping in any of the shots, and only a small amount of post process work (some sharpen, and expose) Any comments always welcome!

#1

#2

#3

GOLDENORFE

interesting spider, black is always hard to expose right.
like #2 best. any shots from front end?
phil
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldenorfe/

Lord Vetinari

Good ones- odd you should mention the cat- #2 has a cat-like face at the top. Must admit I'm not sure if i#d be happy to find one of these (very unlikely in the UK).
Brian V,

Mnemosyne

All I have to say is you have balls to get that close. I don't even like using my macro to get close to the non poisonous ones.

Ahzdeeen

Thanks for comments everyone! I tried to get her to turn over so I could get some top side shots, but all she was interested in was the flies. And Mnemosyne, to be honest, all the black widows I've come across in my yard (more than I really want to see to be honest), none of them has acted aggressive...they seem to be some of the more passive spiders I have to deal with in the course of doing yard work.

Mnemosyne

I don't care if they're aggressive or not I just hate spiders period. Even those little tiny jumping ones. They all creep me out. All that hair, and 8 eyes that look wherever they please. Creepy.