Any amateur arachnologists around here?

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10-08-2007, 05:09 PM
jrj512

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Any amateur arachnologists around here?

When I have a question about spiders, the first place I like to turn is my local Miata forum. ;)

Here are some pics of a cool looking spider that took up residence in my back yard. Any ideas what kind it is?
10-08-2007, 05:39 PM
cam76034

orb weaver
10-08-2007, 08:18 PM
Billy Blaze

That doesn't look like an Orb spider to me, the Orb spider (or the ones I have seen) have a zig zag pattern in the web like a signature.
And they're long spiders from front to back.
But this may be another type of Orb i don't know about.
10-08-2007, 08:35 PM
Radio-Active

http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spider.../Araneidae.htm
10-08-2007, 08:38 PM
sammm

1 Attachment(s)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billy Blaze

That doesn't look like an Orb spider to me, the Orb spider (or the ones I have seen) have a zig zag pattern in the web like a signature.

Like this? Saw this one at our old house a few years back.
10-08-2007, 08:40 PM
jrj512

I'd say that it's probably an orb weaver. Hopefully it will hand around for a while.

Thanks!
10-08-2007, 11:36 PM
MiataMike

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radio-Active

http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spider.../Araneidae.htm

Am I all alone with the hibbee jibbeez that website gave me?
10-09-2007, 06:38 AM
joe.MIATA

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrj512

When I have a question about spiders, the first place I like to turn is my local Miata forum. ;)

Here are some pics of a cool looking spider that took up residence in my back yard. Any ideas what kind it is?

I have hundreds of these spiders where I live. They spin webs in the dusk hours and remove them every morning. They hide out during the daylight hours.

The other 'zig-zag' spider, I have commonly heard reffered to as banana spiders, but I know that is not accurate. These are the only spiders that i generally let live, since I always know where they are- in the center of their web.

Of course, these spiders are beneficial....not like the brown recluses' and scorpions with which i also co-exist.
10-09-2007, 07:25 AM
altiain

Quote:

Originally Posted by MiataMike

Am I all alone with the hibbee jibbeez that website gave me?

No, you're not. I hate spiders.
10-09-2007, 07:39 AM
black roadster

Spiders I don't mind. It's ants that freak me out.
10-09-2007, 07:39 AM
Majik

Quote:

Originally Posted by altiain

No, you're not. I hate spiders.

+1
10-09-2007, 08:46 AM
Nexus Flux

I know that spiders are beneficial but they need to beneficial away from me. I let them make their web in the corners of the garage so they catch skeeters, but if they get too close or inside my house, they're dead.
10-09-2007, 10:54 AM
jrj512

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexus Flux

if they get ... inside my house, they're dead.

That is probably better than MiataMike, Altian, and Majik, who run out of the house screaming. ;)
10-09-2007, 11:54 AM
channelmaniac

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrj512

That is probably better than MiataMike, Altian, and Majik, who run out of the house screaming. ;)

You mean better than :cat:, :cat:, and :cat:?
10-09-2007, 11:55 AM
Billy Blaze

Quote:

Originally Posted by sammm

Like this? Saw this one at our old house a few years back.

Yup that's it
10-09-2007, 02:07 PM
cam76034

We have this long lane covered with trees on all sides that goes for a couple hundred yards. (you've driven it Billy)
A few years ago me and a couple of buddies were walking down this lane late at night to lock the gate on the main road. As we trudged through the darkness, Cory was telling us this story about how he and his dad used to go to rattlesnake roundups and catch them barehanded, blah blah blah real macho stuff.
All of a sudden he screams like a girl "Spiders spiders spiders!!!" and starts slapping himself so hard he slapped his glasses off his face into the darkness. He'd walked into one of those webs these spiders like to build at night. You'd a thought he walked into one of those giant spider webs off an old Tarzan movie.
It was so so so funny, especially taken out of the context of bragging about snake handling and all...
We found his glasses the next morning about twenty feet away from where he slapped himself.

Makes me smile even now.
10-09-2007, 04:16 PM
MX-5EE

Did anyone see that news article about the giant 200-yard long communal spider web at Lake Tawakani State Park?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20514703/

Now that's a web :)

Personally, I love spiders. I won't kill a spider unless it is poisonous and dangerous (black widows, brown recluses, funnel web spiders, thank god we don't have those in Texas!). If it is in my home, I don't kill it but try to relocate it. Anything that eats mosquitoes is my friend. Same rule applies to dragonflies, since they eat them too.
10-09-2007, 04:59 PM
jrj512

Quote:

Originally Posted by MX-5EE

I won't kill a spider unless it is poisonous and dangerous (black widows, brown recluses, funnel web spiders, thank god we don't have those in Texas!). If it is in my home, I don't kill it but try to relocate it. Anything that eats mosquitoes is my friend. Same rule applies to dragonflies, since they eat them too.

+1!

BTW, I think all spiders are poisonous, but arond here, only the Black Widow or Brown Recluse will cause you much trouble if bitten.
10-09-2007, 07:18 PM
cone-cerned

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrj512

BTW, I think all spiders are poisonous, but arond here, only the Black Widow or Brown Recluse will cause you much trouble if bitten.

This is my understanding also.

I kept a Rose Hair Tarantula in my classroom for years. Spiders are our friends.
10-09-2007, 08:37 PM
channelmaniac

They are all poisonous. Luckily very few of them have strong enough jaws to pierce your skin. Those that do cause some serious pain and suffering considering their tiny size.
10-09-2007, 08:42 PM
MX-5EE

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrj512

+1!

BTW, I think all spiders are poisonous, but arond here, only the Black Widow or Brown Recluse will cause you much trouble if bitten.

Very true, I meant those spiders with enough toxicity to harm an average adult human. I am sure more spiders could be considered deadly if the victim of the bite were young, or sick, or allergic.

I love spiders, but black widows are the one variety that give me the creeps! I have seen two my whole life. One when I was about 7 outside a neighbor's house, and the second was in the crack of one of a wooden terracing beam that was stuck in the ground vertically. Both times, they spooked me and I got a chill down my back. I guess the markings really work :)
10-10-2007, 07:17 AM
joe.MIATA

My brown recluse bite (10 yrs ago) tore me up for about a month. A couple days after the bite, i went to the doctor- with the dead spider. 'Oh yea- How do you feel?'....' not good at all.'

I'll take the sting of a scorpion (last month) anyday.

Currently, I find about 1 brown recluse per month where I live. And I have also a single black widow. All are immediately flattened.
10-10-2007, 07:35 AM
Titus

I see black widows pretty frequently... probably 3 or 4 in the 3 years I've been in Texas, and just as often back in CA. Not sure what a brown recluse looks like, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some of them hanging around in my back yard.
10-10-2007, 07:42 AM
Billy Blaze

Quote:

Originally Posted by cam76034

We have this long lane covered with trees on all sides that goes for a couple hundred yards. (you've driven it Billy)
A few years ago me and a couple of buddies were walking down this lane late at night to lock the gate on the main road. As we trudged through the darkness, Cory was telling us this story about how he and his dad used to go to rattlesnake roundups and catch them barehanded, blah blah blah real macho stuff.
All of a sudden he screams like a girl "Spiders spiders spiders!!!" and starts slapping himself so hard he slapped his glasses off his face into the darkness. He'd walked into one of those webs these spiders like to build at night. You'd a thought he walked into one of those giant spider webs off an old Tarzan movie.
It was so so so funny, especially taken out of the context of bragging about snake handling and all...
We found his glasses the next morning about twenty feet away from where he slapped himself.

Makes me smile even now.

that is funny!
I don't care for spiders but dont kill them unless I know they are black or brown widows and or brown recluse.
I would have probably acted like your friend, I cant stand spiders on me, but am pretty passive about snakes...but then again I saw and killed a lot of the in La. as a kid.
10-10-2007, 07:47 AM
MadMonkey

Spiders rock; I don't kill them unless they're dangerous. If they chase me, I just run screaming like a little girl.

;)
10-10-2007, 07:56 AM
channelmaniac

Brown Recluse spiders hide in dark corners, under furniture, and other hidden places INSIDE your house.

You're much more likely to find them when you move things around in your closet than when you are out in the yard.
10-10-2007, 07:58 AM
Radio-Active

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titus

Not sure what a brown recluse looks like, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some of them hanging around in my back yard.

A brown recluse(A.K.A. Fiddle Back) looks like it has a fiddle for the body and walks kinda like a crab. I was bit by one back about 10 years ago and had a dead spot on my skin that kept oosing for about 2 months before starting to heal and flaked off for another 3 months. I thought it was going to leave me with a permanent scar, but it disapeared after a couple of years.

Linkie

http://www.brown-recluse.com/images/br8-mid.jpg