My new pet! **Creepy pic**
 

Ive got a new pet. She is an Orb Weaver spider, shes creepy but shes not really. She DOES NOT leave her web. Its been a week now. Shes soo big I didnt want to kill her, but now Im intrigued with her. Last night I watched her through the glass (of course) spinning her web. Its sooo cool. silk comes out of her butt and she uses her back 2 legs to put it in place to make the web. sooo cool. She also had something caught in it and we were watching her spin it and bring it to the center of the web. When we scare her she runs up to the little lantern lights I have hanging and hides in one. Yes shes creepy but also intriguing too. I did tell my bf I can handle her only OUTSIDE the house. If she comes in, shes fair game and will be killed... but also if she has an egg sac it will be destroyed. I will light it on fire. I don't want thousands of her children setting up shop in my living room! LOL Otherwise she's cool I showed her to mom and even mom was intrigued, stared at her for like 10 mins. She is really cool!

Well, as long as she stays outside I can see your fascination! Have you studied up on that type of spider and know what you are dealing with? You sound knowledgable. I'm impressed.

It is way beyond creepy...:eek:

I read about Orb Weavers in yesterday's newspaper. Said they do this at the end of summer because they've been growing all summer long. Once she lays her eggs, she will die. The article went on to say that they're harmless, not poisonous.

yeah Ive read up on them today a bit. I don't think she'll be around longer than 2 weeks and Its been a week now. I won't let keep an egg sac. Once she puts up an egg sac I will have to destroy it. I feel bad about that but I won't have thousands of them around my sliding glass door. If I was ballsy enough Id put her in a jar and relocate her but shes too big for my taste! But she is fascinating! Im seriously intrigued enough to not be too afraid of her, as long as (as Ive said) she stays OUTSIDE! LOL I watch her from inside and get goosebumps the entire time. Its like watching a train wreck, you don't want to see it but you can't look away! Im afraid my little Dexter might become her next victim if she keeps growing! LOL (kidding!!)

I find spiders fascinating - but OUTSIDE only. Several years ago we watched one all summer (don't know what kind it was). Every evening about dusk she would spin her web and then every morning just about daylight she would take the web up and hide in a dark corner. It was fascinating watching her pounce on her prey, and wrap it up like a nice little bundle.

I think they are interesting to watch, too. I used to sit on the porch at my other house and watch them weave a web in the evening to catch dinner. "Nature's engineers"

Whew! You are all better people than I. I grew up in the country but spiders still freak me out. I can handle snakes, mice, & rats, but show me a spider (especially those really teeny ones that jump!) and I am GONE!

I love to watch spiders as long as they are outside too, they really are fascinating at a safe distance.

I don't like spider of any kind...not sure why I have such a fear of them

I freak when I spider is in my house but I could see myself being fascinated by one outside. I wonder if that's the kind of spider Charlotte was in Charlotte's Web.....

we have huge banana spiders all over i cant stand them ugh

:eek::eek::eek: But I just had to look. :D That was so...funny when you said "If she comes inside, she's fair game and will be killed". :D

Awww don't kill the babies! Think of Charlotte's Web!!! :( :) Have hubby pick up the sac in a paper towel and take it into a field or some woods or something. :) Can't believe I'm saying this as I hate spiders!

EEEKKK!:eek::eek:

Shes doing her thing tonight, eating something! really I could watch her for a long time! I may have the BF move the babies instead of killing them. I have to tell you all I HATE spiders as much as the rest of you (fear them too!)! Snakes, mice, frogs im fine with, spiders creep me out! I watch her with goosebumps all over! haha I get the heeby jeebies watching her, but Im still fascinated!

At first I thought she was in your house! :eek:

The baby spiders will float away in the wind when they hatch next Spring. I have never seen more than one spider like yours at a time in the garden. You won't have dozens, I promise. They are fascinating to watch grow during the warm weather months. I tried "relocating" one once when I had trimmed the shrubbery it had set up a web in, but I never saw it again. I think once they are disturbed, they move away
from the area. ??

We had tons of various Orb Weavers when we lived in Myrtle Beach. I took care of one that lived outside my kitchen window one summer. She was missing one leg and her name was Natasha. She was a Golden Silk Orb Weaver and about the size of my hand. They are so pretty and not aggressive at all. I had to keep moving the webs because they would build them across the walkway. The webs are used by Pacific Islanders as fishing nets. They are so strong they can catch birds. The silk strands are 5 times stronger than the kevlar used in bulletproof vests, as elastic as nylon, and a piece the size of a pencil could stop the momentum of a fighter jet stopping on an aircraft carrier. Sorry:p, I did alot of research on them when down south. All done now - Spider Class 101 is adjourned:D.

EEEEEK, I'm getting goosebumpd from the pic...
 

I am one of many who are SCARED TO DEATH OF INSECTS!!!! I have this creepy feeling just looking @ pics. I love snakes, allgators, sharks, whatever But NO BUGS!!! Sorry, It's kinda creepy even though she's outside. In PA. we have very large Wolf Spiders that jump when you try to get rid of them. I scream for my husband all the time. I don't even like ants. 25 foot snakes, a piece of cake...ENJOY your spider friend, :aimeeyork Baron's Mom

SPIDERS ARE NOT MY FRIENDS!!!! :eek::eek: i could NOT enlarge the picture... sorry!! :confused::eek: glad you are having fun watching it.. but i am SUCH A BABY!!!! :rolleyes: no thank youuuuu! :eek:

a HUGE ONE WAS IN OUR GUESTROOM LAST NIGHT!!!!! like its legs from one side to another was 3.5 inches.. no joke!!! i woke up my mom and told her theres a HUGE spider.. she said "get it urself" i said WHAT!!.. no its really big.. biggest ive ever seen!!! she sighed and came and said OMG and ran to get my dad :D:D:D and yeah its dead now!

Her web has been mangled the last 2 mornings and she has been gone, but she comes back every night. She hangs out in my hanging lights that looks like little lanterns. Im just afraid that she'll lay her egg sac in there and I'll store them during winter and have thousands of babies in my house. I was actually going to throw them away this year since the sun really ruined them, guess I will for sure now just in case. Ive got some really neat pics of her on my digital camera if I will ever get them off, I will add them to this.

That was my first thought. I was thinking about Charlotte as I read this.:)

I think spiders are pretty cool. Had a weird experience though in the house a while back. I saw a spider on the floor (we're in the country so that happens occasionally) and went to smoosh it real lightly with a kleenex and literally hundreds of little babies - almost so small you couldn't see them - started running away. Freaked me out! I didn't realize that they carry them around like that!

On a scary note.... my daughter is doing a project for school (Jr. High - this is in place of a Science Fair project) called "Poisonous Creepy Crawlers". She chose the black widow and rattlesnake to do her research on. My husband told her that he could bring her a black widow back from the deer lease the next time he's there (he killed 3 of them the other weekend while he was at the deer lease!) and he also has a few rattles and skins from rattlesnakes he's killed in the past. Well, much to my horror, he actually caught a black widow out in his shop behind the house this weekend! I know that we have these things in our area but I've never seen one. Ick! Now it's safely ensconced in a mason jar and quite dead. We also have brown recluses in our area but I haven't seen one.

Have fun watching your "pet spider"! But I don't blame you for planning to destroy the egg sac. I would too!

[quote=TatumsMom;2227980]I think spiders are pretty cool. Had a weird experience though in the house a while back. I saw a spider on the floor (we're in the country so that happens occasionally) and went to smoosh it real lightly with a kleenex and literally hundreds of little babies - almost so small you couldn't see them - started running away. Freaked me out! I didn't realize that they carry them around like that!


That happened to me too! I was in the john at the church when I was around 14. I stepped on it and out runs hundreds of little spiders!

Well okay, while we're on the subject of spiders.......here's a "friend" of ours. Attachment 242392 Kind of eerie how it glows...but that's just from the flash.;)
It's right outside our back patio doors from our railing to the power lines from the house.

I guess he/she wouldn't consider us a friend since we've knocked down the web numerous times. AMAZINGLY, everytime, the web would be back up the very next day!:eek:

Ayayay I'm so scare of spiders:eek::eek:

I'm definately not fond of spiders of any kind! I'm afraid I have to have my husband take her to the woods. :eek: