Big spider!!!

[luvmy2cats]

Ok, this is driving me crazy. Now I'm not sure if my spider is a golden orb weaver or not. You can't tell from the pic but mine has a silvery hue to it. I think it might be a banded orb weaver. Plus I read the web of the golden weaver looks gold and my spiders web doesn't. I wish I knew it's true identity.

Mine looks exactly like the pic in the second link Aussie Dog posted. Is that a golden orb weaver? I am so fasicinated with this spider. I read their eggs hatch in the winter and stay in a cacoon till spring.

 

[quill_luv]

I might be the odd one out, but I love spiders. Okay, maybe dock spiders freak me out because they are so huge, but if I see a spider around here I just leave it alone and let it live, catch flies, do what spiders do. I once watched a spider spin a web, it was just fascinating seeing it seem to calculate precise distance between threads, as if it was a tiny little computer. It took two hours to weave its web, and when it was done it was so gorgeous.

Anyway, please don't kill that spider, it is a living creature and even though it freaks you out it's still very much a part of this world. Personally I find spiders fascinating because they've been around much, MUCH longer than we have, like a billion years.

But that's just me. Done ranting and advocating spider rights.

 

[luvmy2cats]

Originally Posted by Quill_luv

Anyway, please don't kill that spider, it is a living creature and even though it freaks you out it's still very much a part of this world.

I love this spider, I wouldn't kill it. I'm actually becoming obessed with it

 

[miss mew]

Ewww! Spiders freak me out

 

[tara g]

EEK! I am so NOT a spider person, big or small

 

[luvmy2cats]

I don't know if you remember that pic I posted of that big spider outside my house or not. Well, I finally found out that it's a banded garden spider and last night she layed her eggs!!! The cacoon is flat on one side and domed on the other. It's about as big as a large grape!!! The babies will hatch in the winter and feed on each other untill Spring. Then the surviving ones will come out of the cacoon. I can't wait to see them.

 

[rachelh1018]

ehh heehh hehh...

To each their own!

I'm glad you're excited about it though!

 

[stacyd1987]

Oh... that's about as lovely as a praying mantis eating its own young.

 

[weldrwomn]

Congratulations? I didn't realze that spider eggs were so good...

 

[swampwitch]

Wow! That's really cool. Can you post pics?

 

[luvmy2cats]

Originally Posted by SwampWitch

Wow! That's really cool. Can you post pics?

Yeah, I will tommorrow. I forgot to bring my camera to my moms where I'm using the computer tonight.

 

[duchess15]

I'm glad you found something in nature that has peaked your interest! I just don't like spiders or want to be anywhere near them.

 

[dixie_darlin]

 

[carolpetunia]

Originally Posted by Dixie_Darlin

 

[strange_wings]

^ The spider smiley is cute.

Originally Posted by luvmycat1

The babies will hatch in the winter and feed on each other untill Spring. Then the surviving ones will come out of the cacoon.

Talk about a tough childhood.

About a month ago I noticed a weird looking spider sitting on the bricks outside. I thought she was smushed or deformed until I got a closer look. She was covered in babies.

 

[rachelh1018]

Originally Posted by strange_wings

^ The spider smiley is cute.

Talk about a tough childhood.

About a month ago I noticed a weird looking spider sitting on the bricks outside. I thought she was smushed or deformed until I got a closer look. She was covered in babies.

 

[swampwitch]

Does she have a large web? Some garden spiders make beautiful webs!

http://alanbauer.com/images/Critters...with%20dew.jpg

 

[kittkatt]

Originally Posted by rachelh1018

ehh heehh hehh...

To each their own!

I'm glad you're excited about it though!

~KK~

 

[sharky]

WOW ... they can be lovely and enlightening but I just made a appt to get rid of the grass ones as they are too high in numbers

 

[aussie_dog]

hah, you sound like me a few years ago, when I found a Jewel Spider in my back yard. They look scary and they're HUGE (well, they're the biggest I've ever come across, anyway... Technically, they're on the small size in the spider world, lol). But I did research and became absolutely fascinated by the spider, and when she laid eggs, I danced! And then I cried when she died. But the following August/October, when I found another Jewel Spider, in a different spot, I danced again! The descendents of that first spider have come every year, and this year, there were two, maybe three! Two were in the garage (one female, one male; and I want to add, the female had a huge, gorgeous web, but the male at the other end of the garage, had this small, messy one, lol). There was another sighting of a Jewel Spider hanging right out side the kitchen window, which scared the living daylights out of me because I wasn't expecting it, but that was the only time I saw it. It may have been the female that was in the garage, since she disappeared about the same time that Kitchen Window spook showed up, but there's no way to tell. I saw it hanging out there, went out to see if I could get a closer look a few hours later, but she'd disappeared, and I haven't seen her since.

But next year, there'll be another one hovering in the corner just outside our front door, or by our back door, or in a nook in the back gate, or in the garage. Once I learned that Jewel Spiders are harmless (and eat black widows and brown recluse spiders, lol), I fell in love. They're still creepy, but man, they're equally fascinating to watch.