Aaahhhhh!!! Spider!!!

I found this outside my kitchen window this morning!! It is very beautiful and very scary at the same time. I made my husband and my neighbor come look at it with me. Both were none too excited when I insisted that they come look at 'something' right away (first thing in the morning :D). However, when they saw what it was their attitudes changed from annoyed to intrigued!!

We took pictures and immediately set about researching her (we also named her Agatha). Here are the pictures......the first one is blurry (sorry).

Oh yeah, its an Argiope Garden Spider. Not poisonous to humans :)

Nature can do some pretty wonderful things!!!!!!

I've seen those on my morning training rides! Their webs are especially pretty with the morning dew on them. Hard to keep up with the paceline when you're looking into the woods for spider webs.

Since I haven't trained much this year at all, and know I won't be able to do the MS tour, I think I'm going to just ride the rails to trails path that we start on (the training ride does 4 miles, then gets off and heads to the roads). And take my camera. But I won't be giving Pardes any competition.

That's a real beauty!


Here are a couple of other TE threads about spiders and bugs, etc:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ight=tarantula
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ight=tarantula

:p :p

Wow... thats a stunning spider...

We had a beautiful one living in our family room for nearly 6 months, she died about two weeks ago - she was huge, but not so colouful as this one.

Does anyone know what type of spider KVixen's one is?

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Originally Posted by RoadRaven

Does anyone know what type of spider KVixen's one is?

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Black and yellow Garden spider:
http://www.pbase.com/rcm1840/image/48116303

Aren't they gorgeous! I had one in my garden last year, I think it was. It had built a very impressive web!

:eek:I had this same kind of spider land on my leg while riding on labor day. :eek: It was huge and I was :osemi-freaked:o because I didn't know what kind of spider it was, and I was climbing and couldn't take my hand off the handle bars for about 30 seconds...to finally brush it off.

While I clearly know in hind sight that it wasn't poisonous (since I'm still alive) it was scary to see it come out of a tree, land on my leg, and see its size:eek:

Oh my gosh--I would have gone cuckoo if that landed on me! :eek: :eek: It's a wonder you didn't wreck trying to get it off you. I remember one nightmare I had that woke up my husband. It was a tarantula size spider that had swung down on a web and landed on my face.

Beautiful? Yes. Creepy? Certainly.
Nature is amazing, and that is one beautiful, creepy spider. What a neat find!

Totally cool spider...but I would not want one to land on me!!! :eek:

A couple of years ago, right around Halloween, one of those built a web right outside my back door. It was so beautiful! But after a week or so, it just disappeared, web and all...:confused:

Growing up we called these "writing spiders" because the design in the webs resemble handwriting.

The old wives tale is that if the spider writes your name in her web, you're going to die.

They're beautiful animals.

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Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl

Black and yellow Garden spider:

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What a boringly disappointing name... you'd think it would have some stunning name like "Garden Incandescence"...

When I was growing up there was a field by our house that was loaded with these spiders, particularly around the milkweed plants (lots o' bugs attracted to those). We found them fascinating at how quickly they'd spin a cocoon around any insect unfortunate enough to land in their web...except for ants. They were equally quick in cutting them loose.

I almost had one of these in my face while horse back riding a while ago. I was out on a trail alone, and was watching something on the side of the trail. I turned just in time to pull my horse out of the spider's path. My heart was racing. I have a severe case of arachnophobia. Although, I am whimsical enough to wonder if the spider went back to the other spiders to tell tales about the one that got away.... :rolleyes:

Nice photos, though, thanks for sharing.

We named her Agatha and really wanted to watch her.....however, when I got up this morning, she was gone :(

We did get to watch her consume one unlucky insect though:D

I have three at the moment. One outside my back door. She's to the side, so I don't walk into her! The others have each spun a web outside each of my bedroom windows. I feel protected! I've named them Hannah, Anna, and Nana.

Tulip... that is awesome
Its so good to read about others who don't want to kill every single spider "just because"
We have lots of webs in our home and share the house with many spiders - the only ones that are not welcome are the "white-tails" with the nasty bite.

For the Hopi, the spider is very special, as the Spider Woman has led them from one world to the next.
We have no such story here in my country, but I do share the special place of women and spiders in Hopi culture with my students

I did a little research, and Hannah, Anna, and Nana are European Garden Spiders, or Araneus diadematus. A bit more rotund and less leggy (as are some of us!) than the Black and Yellow Garden Spider. I've been in my new house only since August 25, so I'm happy to have a welcoming committee (and neighborhood watch).

Awesome!! Beautiful spider - thanks for sharing!! As an artist and naturalist, I LOVE seeing critters!! We get the huge golden silk spiders here in Florida and they build some massive webs in the woods. We also have wolf spiders and they are very large and hairy, but they love to feed on palmetto bugs which are nasty, so I live the wolfies. I had one living in my house for a few months and named him Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. My best friend has arachnophobia and refused to come over until Wolfgang was gone. Alas, my cat killed him in the hallway a few weeks ago so now my best friend will come visit again. The other day DH and I were riding our bikes at our local park when I yelled out “turn around!” A big, beautiful scarlet red dragonfly was lying on the bike path, deader than a doorknob. I collected her for a studio specimen (I like to draw and paint nature and have a variety of insect specimens - and I am absolutely anal about every wing and leg being correct!). That is why my DH keeps ziploc bags in our bike bags! I also remember running into big spider webs when I had horses - I always made sure that I wore a cowgirl hat with a wide brim just in case!

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Originally Posted by wildhawk

The other day DH and I were riding our bikes at our local park when I yelled out “turn around!” A big, beautiful scarlet red dragonfly was lying on the bike path, deader than a doorknob. I collected her for a studio specimen (I like to draw and paint nature and have a variety of insect specimens - and I am absolutely anal about every wing and leg being correct!). That is why my DH keeps ziploc bags in our bike bags!

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Yes I like to collect perfect dead 'specimens' too. Did you see my mounted tarantula skin in one of the threads I linked to above? I have a gorgeous huge green luna moth in a plexiglass box.

Awesome! I had a luna moth several years ago, but another pet cat got it and happily destroyed it one day while I was at work. Currently I have a large polyphemous moth, and hope someday to replace my luna. And I have gotten a lot smarter about keeping them secured and safe - away from my cat! Lunas are definately a treasure! Tarantulas are so interesting - did you have one as a pet at one point? I am glad to know that we have a love of insects in common - most of the gals I know are grossed out by my collection. However, one sweet lady I work with lost her husband a couple of years ago found out that I am a naturalist/artist and she gave me his camera equipment, his microscope (vintage) and a rattlesnake tail that he had mounted in a Ryker display complete with fangs and a small vial of venom - he must have collected that in the 40s. Every now and then she will bring me another one of his specimens for my collection. And most of my biking/hiking friends now know that I “brake” for nature! Can you post a pic of your luna? I would love to see it.

Very cool spider. They still make me do the heebie jeebie dance though. I freak out with spiders, but can still watch in fascination as they spin their webs.

We have a catch and release program in my house. They get their assetts thrown outside with a strict warning to never return again...

Beautiful spider! Too bad she's moved on...I always think they are so fascinating to watch...

We have tons and tons of spiders at our new house. I've never seen so many. There are quite a few around the chicken coop (for obvious reasons) but tons around the house as well.

On Saturday, my H was out picking blackberries. The blackberry bushes are heavy with spider webs right now (not so much at the begining of the season). Since H spent some time in Australia where they were warned that most of the spiders were poisonous, he's really afraid of them now. He's out there, carefully picking the berries, avoiding the webs, and singing out loud "I don't like spiders and snakes" when all of a sudden, he sees a spider on his arm. He screams like a girl, flings the berry bowl into the air, and frantically brushes off the spider. I go out to find him trying to pick up all the berries that are now scattered in the grass. :D If only we'd had it on video...

We had those spiders in droves at our farm. They like to web between things...like posts, fence rails, etc....not so much in corners. They start off quite small (and manageably sized) then over the summer they grow to enormous proportions...I have seen a few the size of my hand.

When we first moved in, the whole farm was very overgrown and unused...the people who owned it previously were old and died and the place sat empty. When we moved, we used the side door to go in and out...close to the garage and just easier. So on the second day I brought my horses, but no cross fencing yet, so they just grazed at large. In the middle of the night, I heard a creaking and looked out the window to see my big Irish horse scratching his butt on the front pillars. He is a big guy and I was afraid he was going to knock the porch down! So I went charging down the stairs and out the FRONT door to whack Curragh on the backside to stop his scratching. I opened the unused front door and went face - first into one of those spiders in all its full sized glory. Much screaming and arm waving followed...I am sure the spider was just as surprised to be awakened by a charging woman only to be flung about my frenzied waving.

I scared Curragh half to death...and stopped his butt scratching in the process.

Also, the babies are carried on Mom's back...I know this because I accidentally got one in the line of fire of the fly spray. About a zillion little dots popped off Mom and ran for their lives. It was amazing...because you can't see them otherwise.

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Originally Posted by wildhawk

Can you post a pic of your luna? I would love to see it.

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Here it is. Sadly, it is missing the tip of one 'tail' and one antenna....but still beautiful.
Attachment 7110

Yes, I used to keep several large tarantulas as pets. They are beautiful and fascinating to watch. They do all kinds of interesting things.

Thanks for posting a pic - she is beautiful!! Nice dragonflies too - I will lay out some of my specimens and shoot a pic for you too - just have to make sure my cat stays out of my studio while I am taking them. He gets into everything! You should see me trying to change guitar strings with him around!!