Backpacking Philippines: Spider Wrestling/Spider Fighting Should Be Banned

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Flight chronicles of the backpacker Tutubi, with travelogues, pictures/photos/videos, travel guides, independent and honest reviews, affordable, recommended resorts and hotels (including inns, guesthouses, pension houses, lodges, hostels, condotels, bed and breakfast and other cheap accommodations), commuting guides, routes (sometimes street maps and GPS coordinates/waypoints) and driving directions to answer "how to get there" questions, information and tips on tourism, budget travel and living in Philippines, Exotic Asia and beyond!

Backpacking, independent travel, and flashpacking are cheaper than the "cheapest package tours" and promotional offers around but you can also use travel information for family vacations, even romantic honeymoon destinations.

More than the usual tourist spots and "places to see," this blog advocates heritage conservation, environmental protection, and history awareness for Filipinos, foreigners, and ex-pats wishing to explore Paradise Philippines and Exotic Asia!

Spider Wrestling/Spider Fighting Should Be Banned

Playing with spiders is a popular past time and hobby of many kids particularly in the provinces where many species of "toy" arachnids can be caught in homes, fields and mountains. Some people even make a living selling fighting exotic spiders to children near churches and public squares and making spider fighting a part of Philippine culture similar to the grown-up's addiction to sabong (cockfighting).

Tutubi, in his childhood at one time, got hooked on it but mostly with spiders caught at home, used a stick from a walis tingting (broom made from sticks of coconut leaves), pitted two spiders on a death match.

He espied a spiderman doing the same thing somewhere, and using using his Canon 50mm lens, took pictures of the eight-legged creature on stick with the other spider already dead and "mummified" with spiderweb.

meet Spiderman, locally known as gagamboy, playing with common Philippine spiders

spider wrestling over: gagamboy's printed shirt provided the colorful backdrop to the spider picture added with a nice bokeh courtesy of the canon prime lens

As close as Tutubi can get to the spider limited by the lens' minimum focusing distance and away from the danger the spider poses to the dragonfly

Note: Tutubi does not advocate nor promote catching spiders particularly the rare species, knowing the importance of spiders to ecology as well as the danger of the depletion of spider population in the Philippines can lead to to an increase in number of mosquitoes and other natural preys of spiders. Philippine spiders are mostly small, non-dangerous ones unlike the popular and venomous tarantulas and poisonous black widows usually seen in horror movies. Tarantulas can be bought in several exotic pet shops in Metro Manila.

Labels: Fauna, Flora and Fauna, Philippine Games

posted by GingGoy @ 10:50 PM,

19 Comments:

At Dec 4, 2007, 5:56:00 AM, Photo Cache said...: My brother and I would bike to the barrio and catch spiders in the fields (mostly sugarcane). I was a girl who enjoyed spider fighting. Don't judge, twas the culture and it was fun too.
At Dec 4, 2007, 11:53:00 AM, Anonymous said...: I watched about spider fighting in National Geographic channel and I'm really impressed with how those little 8-legged creatures can fight.

(:
At Dec 4, 2007, 4:59:00 PM, Mari said...: I used to watch boys fight spiders, when I was a kid back home. That was fun for them when the winning spider wraps the loser with its web.

You are right about the impact of spiders on our ecology, though.
At Dec 4, 2007, 5:30:00 PM, Unknown said...: Ayus to T2 ah, ganda ng DOF pati the thing about spiders hehe. Like the first pic. Ang tutubi ba na tr-trap sa spider's web din :P
At Dec 5, 2007, 5:55:00 AM, Anonymous said...: hi there..nice blog hah.. i wonder if we could link ex-change...here's my blog info;
Title:Travels and Tours
Url: http://travelsandtours.dingexx.com/

Just visit my blog and leave ur blog info there..thnx advance..
At Dec 5, 2007, 8:37:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Used to play these spiders when I was a kid. We always thought that those we catch from the trees were stronger and fiery fighters and the ones in the house ceilings were weaklings !
At Dec 5, 2007, 11:12:00 PM, pusa said...: i used to watch my brother and his playmates pit their spiders, i wasnt allowed to owe fighting spiders bec i'm a girl! duh

nice photos =)
At Dec 6, 2007, 10:58:00 AM, Anonymous said...: photo cache, it was really fun. ganun dain ako dati huli gagamba

kyels, maybe you're watching large dangerous spiders of which not much here in the philippines

mari, fun to play and watch but once you realize the impact, it's different. but the boys don't understand it

ferdz, oo. ilang beses na ako nahuhuli ng sapot at agiw lalo na pag halloween hehe

bw, yes, those on trees were always fiercer than those in houses
At Dec 6, 2007, 11:46:00 AM, Anonymous said...: pusa, stereotyping it as a male-only game, heh?
At Dec 6, 2007, 6:22:00 PM, Sidney said...: Great set!
I tried to photograph this game in the past but I did a very bad job !
Well done!
At Dec 7, 2007, 9:56:00 AM, pusa said...: tutubi sinabi mo pah!

btw sa makati ka rin ba work? near paseo? kc u know na sa paseo un underpass photo ko un pinay scandal ;) baka nagkikita na tayo eh nag-isnaban pa tayo LOL
At Dec 7, 2007, 10:08:00 AM, Anonymous said...: sidney, try again next time. maybe i should again catch spiders to play with then model for you

pusa,
mailap ang tutubi.
lagi lang nasa tabi-tabi.
pero baka minsan nga tutubi flew by
but you didn't notice that he passed by
At Dec 7, 2007, 11:35:00 AM, pusa said...: hahaha andaya! lugi ko nakabalandra pics ko sa blog ko
At Dec 7, 2007, 11:49:00 AM, Anonymous said...: pusa, iba talaga pag anonymous ka. marami bloggers sa makati baka di mo lang nakikita
At Dec 8, 2007, 6:27:00 AM, pieterbie said...: those prime 50mm lenses are so good. I have a 1.8.
At Dec 8, 2007, 3:29:00 PM, Anonymous said...: at last, wriggled some tagalog rhymes from tutubi :-)

nini
At Dec 9, 2007, 9:08:00 PM, GingGoy said...: pieterbie,that's the same lens iused here the nifty fifty. i only have tw,l btw,the kit lens and the 50mm 1.8

nini, i didn't notice i wrote those lines hehe gotme there
At Aug 14, 2010, 7:59:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I thnk any form of so called sport that envolves humans using other species is just pure ignorance & allways shows our barbaric past is not that far away....learn to observe & it is good to judge & ultimately put an end to all cruelty to all species. those of us who care are growing because we really do want to be a better species & more loving & more understanding & less religious for that is the excuse many use.
At Aug 16, 2010, 10:39:00 AM, GingGoy said...: anonymous, right you are. I admit i used to do this when i was a child. Now I pity those spiders. they should have been left in the wild to hunt their prey, including dangerous insects.

Spider Wrestling/Spider Fighting Should Be Banned

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