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These spiders are the ones I see most commonly around my house. The females can be very large, about 3/4" or more (Image 1 and Image 4), with large abdomens. The females build large orb webs, as much as 3 feet in diameter, and sit upside-down in the center of the web, on the side angled downward. As soon as prey disturbs the web, they immediately attack and subdue it by wrapping it in silk. When they are done, all that is left is a blackened, crumpled ball of indigestible insect remains. While my wife, Susan, and I were taking the picture in Image 1, a crane fly bumped into the edge of her web. Almost instantly, she had run the 10 or 12 inches to the edge of her web, and was furiously grabbing for the crane fly with several legs, while she held onto the web with the others. It was kind of scary. The males, who are much smaller, approach the female while she sits in her web. The spider in image 2 tried to mate with that female for at least 20 minutes before giving up. It seems rather dangerous for the male. For a while I thought they were different species, and that they were actually fighting I became quite attached to several of these large spiders. It was my chance witnessing of the mating dance of a pair of these spiders that sparked my new interest in spiders. Therefore, I was sad to find, on October 12, 2000, that one of my "friends" had laid her eggs and built an egg cocoon (Image 3). I realized that spelled the end of her life, like Charlotte in the famous book by E. B. White. However, I realize this also means I have some babies to look forward to in the spring! Another interesting observation: I had always heard that orb weavers eat their old web and build a new web each night. One night my kids and I watched the female spider in image 2 eat her web. This is not a dainty or delicate procedure. She basically shoved the web in her mouth, with lots of small insects still attached, in a matter of a couple minutes. It was pretty startling to watch. On May 31, 2001, my daughters found the ball of adorable baby spiders pictured in Images 6 and 7. They rescued them from our dog. In image 7, they have just scattered because I gently nudged them. I am looking forward to watching them grow this summer... |
