Any amateur arachnologists around here?

[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?

[cam76034]

orb weaver

[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.

[Radio-Active]

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

[sammm]

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.

[jrj512]

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

Thanks!

[MiataMike]

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

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

[joe.MIATA]

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.

[altiain]

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

No, you're not. I hate spiders.

[black roadster]

Spiders I don't mind. It's ants that freak me out.

[Majik]

No, you're not. I hate spiders.

+1

[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.

[jrj512]

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.

[channelmaniac]

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

You mean better than , , and ?

[Billy Blaze]

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

Yup that's it

[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.

[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.

[jrj512]

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.

[cone-cerned]

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.

[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.