An inside peek at L.A.’s creepy-crawliest attraction…
Forget about “Walking with the Dinosaurs.” This weekend, it’s all about “Creeping with the Spiders.” The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County opens its annual Spider Pavilion this Sunday at 10am. However, if you are a member of the museum, you are invited to get a sneak peek this Friday and Saturday, 10am -5pm. That’s right, see the gigantic spiders and their gorgeous webs before everybody else unwittingly walks right through them. Eeeek!
This very afternoon I was privileged enough to take a walk through the Spider Pavilion with Spider Curator Brent “The Bug Guy” Karner. Brent is personally responsible for bringing hundreds of spiders into the Pavilion. As associate manager of entymology at the museum, he hand-picks the spiders and releases them one week before the Pavilion opens to the public.
“The creepiest time to be in the Pavilion,” Brent admits, “is right when all the spiders are released.” Brent says that’s when they are most active, crawling around trying to find space to set up their webs and setting draglines. With so many spiders jumping around and flying through the air on strands of silk, even a “Bug Guy” gets freaked out.
The Pavilion itself is a large greenhouse, filled with small trees and shrubs, perfect for spiders to call home. The first thing I noticed were GIANT orange and black spiders sitting in the middle of their webs, INCHES from my face. Gulp. “Watch out for that one behind you,” a nice young lady exclaimed. Sure enough, I was just about a centimeter from a four-inch long spider resting in its exquisite web.
All of the spiders are hard to see at first, but if you look closely, you can see dozens of giant spiderwebs spanning six-feet or more in diameter. Every web is a work of art, shimmering in the sun. But be careful! It is easy to walk through a web, especially when hundreds of spiders are competing for space. Move slowly and cautiously, and if you’re lucky… you just might see a spider catch an unsuspecting meal. Not for the squeamish!
Brent explained there are 3 major groups of spiders in the Pavilion this year: the common orb weavers, the jewel spiders and the golden orb weavers, pictured above, that scared the bejeezus out of me. I have never seen anything like the golden orb weaver, it almost didn’t even look real. It looked like… a big piece of candy with legs. Trick or treat?
CREEPY BONUS! The Spider Pavilion will be open until 9pm for “Flashlight Tours” on October 24, 25, 30 and November 1st. Flashlights included. The Spider Pavilion opens Sunday September 21st at 10am. 3.00 for adults, 1.00 for children. Members free.
Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Boulevard, LA 90027