[TxCloverAngel]

click on pics for larger view.



We have what we call banana spiders all over the place, but this is different. She has a much rounder body, not the normal slender colorful body of the banana spider. and she is bigger... WAY bigger.

She is beautiful! But she looks quite scary too. And is located right above our back door....
How do I find out about her?



I think she is beautiful, like I said.... But trust me..... If she was to wander off of her pretty little web and crawl into the house..... SCHMOOSH! lol

 

[Bearfootfarm]

Thats a "Garden spider" Harmless unless youre a bug
http://sonic.net/~mk/work/spider.html

 

[CSA again]

We always called then Writting Spiders because of the pattern in the center or ther web. They are great for eatting other bad bugs... I keep some in my small green house to controll the bad guys

 

[bob clark]

I know everything i need to about spiders,kill it before it kills you :hobbyhors

 

[floramum]

agreed. the only good one is a dead one. or better yet, none at all.

 

[leecofarm]

you can send me that spider. they are great. they capture big bugs. judging how many times ive come in contact with them, they wont hurt you. instead of killing it carefully capture it on a broom and locate it away from your house.

 

[KayJay]

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/spiders4.html

Scroll down till you find the golden orb weaver. Looks like that's what you've got there.

 

[COSunflower]

I've always just called them garden spiders. I get them in my raspberry bushes but I don't pay much attention to them as they are good bug eaters. I've never had one jump on me or bite me...and I wade right into the bushes when picking.

 

[Ravenlost]

That looks like the garden spider we had over our back door a couple years ago. She got really big, then laid two egg sacks! At first I was hesitant about going in and out the back door, but got used to her after a while. She never tried to come inside or drop down on anyone's head.

I even told the exterminator not to spray her (we have since cancelled our extermination contract).

VERY good spider to have as they catch lots of bugs.

 

[TxCloverAngel]

ok then.... she stays.... as long as she stays outside! lol thanks y'all

 

[JBourne76]

I don't know what kind of spider she is, but she sure is pretty!

BTW, all banana spiders around our house are named Elizabeth.

 

[jen74145]

I posted pics of the same spider a few months ago; they are orb weavers. That's a female, too... my girls have been helpfully ridding my garden of grasshoppers for awhile now, the little nasty hoppers had stripped most of it bare; not anymore.

You might notice a smaller web near her, with a much smaller spider in it; that would be the male. She'll make a papery-looking, marble sized egg sack or two soon and hatch more spiders for you for next year!

I really like them, they preserve my garden and are so pretty, too; I've got a post in my garden with three big ol' gals in their webs coming from all sides of it. Seems every time I pass it one of them is busy wrapping up something that minutes before had been chowing down on my plants, such industrious little helpers.

 

[Farmer Dave]

This spider makes webs across the paths in my woods and I constantly run into them when taking a walk. Now I carry a stick with me and keep it moving in circles in front of me as I walk the path. I'm glad nobody can see me back there waving the stick like a mad man.

 

[TxCloverAngel]

This spider makes webs across the paths in my woods and I constantly run into them when taking a walk. Now I carry a stick with me and keep it moving in circles in front of me as I walk the path. I'm glad nobody can see me back there waving the stick like a mad man.

**giggle** now if your talking to yourself while doing this... you may be doing a great job of keeping trespassers away.... Nobody ever wants to mess w/ the "Crazy Man" who walks the woods lol

 

[BlueHeronFarm]

We have TONS of those. They give me the heebie-jeebies when they get really big, but they have never left their webs, so I try to ignore. [[shudder]] YOu can also throw crickets or grasshoppers to them - creepy, but fun to watch.

 

[Farmer Dave]

**giggle** now if your talking to yourself while doing this... you may be doing a great job of keeping trespassers away.... Nobody ever wants to mess w/ the "Crazy Man" who walks the woods lol

Snakes I like but spiders send a creepy chill up my spine. When I walk into a web face first I freak out and start smacking my head and brushing off the webs and all the time yelling EWWWWWWWW YUCK among others.

Yep, there goes that crazy man who walks the woods again.

 

[Phantomfyre]

They're harmless, and really shy - if you disturb the web, they scurry off or drop to try to hide. I had a big one hanging out by my front door last summer, and had a crew here doing some work, and one guy was just freaked out by my not-so-little friend. I asked him what his name was, and then named the spider after him.

Black and yellow garden spider, Argiope aurantia.
http://ghs.gresham.k12.or.us/science/ps/nature/animal/arthro/spider/b&y.htm

 

[horsefarmer]

Name her Charlotte and get her a pig and a rat for friends.

 

[chris30523]

Snakes I like but spiders send a creepy chill up my spine. When I walk into a web face first I freak out and start smacking my head and brushing off the webs and all the time yelling EWWWWWWWW YUCK among others.

Yep, there goes that crazy man who walks the woods again.

Not the only crazy person here. I do the same I just wave the stick up and down.I really look crazy if i walk through a web.Screaming smacking and waving hysterically. We call them web sticks.The only better remedy is a taller person walking in front of you.

 

[Phantomfyre]

Aw, come on now, Chris and Dave. Why ya gotta destroy a bunch of perfectly good webs? Watch where you're going and walk around the webs.

The BEST fun is walking into the webs of those night spiders that weave a new web every evening and undo the whole thing every morning and repeat that every day, so you don't know where the webs will be when you're walking around after dark. I had one of them last summer that I SWEAR was just messin' with me - I must've walked into his/her web a dozen times last summer, just near the entrance to the barn. Same spider, I KNOW it!

I do feel bad when I walk into a web or have to destroy one for whatever reason. Have you ever watched a spider weave a web? Pretty amazing stuff, and a lot of work!!!