Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Garden Spider- Golden Orb Weaver
I get along fairly well with most insects and arachnids. I dislike and usually destroy harmful creatures that invade the living space of my family, such as flies, ticks, fleas, scorpions, poisonous spiders and snakes. Others, I adopt a live and let live policy.
I like many spiders and have even cohabited with a few. Two predacious spiders - a fuzzy black one with green mouth parts and a slender, smooth beige spider with brownish stripes. These two did not spin annoying webs that had to be swept down. Rather, they stalked their prey and rid my house of any undesirable insect that managed to get in . My daughters went into shrieking frenzies when they spotted one but I forbade them to kill the beneficial creatures.
When working in my gardens I often encountered yard spiders, usually wolf spiders, fairly large blackish-brown arachnids. Sometimes the mother spiders would bear hundreds of spiderlings on her back. I'd shoo her away with my trowel. If she left me alone, I left her alone. They are beneficial creatures and help rid the gardens of damaging insects.
My tolerance of spiders did not extend to a particular, colorful large Garden Spider that built large webs marked by a zig-zag heavier white pattern that resembled sewing stitches. For some reason I cannot fathom, I hated that kind of spider and slaughtered every one I found. They were benign and beneficial spiders but I bore an unreasonable fear and disgust for them. A grandson was bitten by one and said the bite was painful, but the bite caused no damage to him.
The largest spider of this type that I ever saw appeared to be about 4" long; I did not know they grew that big.
The dreaded "Sewing Spider" or Garden Spider. I hate them. Brrr! They give me the shivers.
[Golden Orb Weaver spider females are large spiders that can often be seen sitting on their webs woven between the ends of trees in the woods. They typically have a thick twining of silkzig-zagging through the center vertically where they wait for prey, legs arranged in a way that sometimes resembles an “X”. The female’s body is a pattern of black and yellow or gold and she appears to be wearing long black gloves on her toothpick-like jointed legs. She is typically positioned head down and if disturbed she may bounce strongly on her web. The males are significantly smaller and may sometimes be seen on the periphery of her web, waiting for an appropriate moment when he is accepted for mating, and not considered good eating.]
I like many spiders and have even cohabited with a few. Two predacious spiders - a fuzzy black one with green mouth parts and a slender, smooth beige spider with brownish stripes. These two did not spin annoying webs that had to be swept down. Rather, they stalked their prey and rid my house of any undesirable insect that managed to get in . My daughters went into shrieking frenzies when they spotted one but I forbade them to kill the beneficial creatures.
When working in my gardens I often encountered yard spiders, usually wolf spiders, fairly large blackish-brown arachnids. Sometimes the mother spiders would bear hundreds of spiderlings on her back. I'd shoo her away with my trowel. If she left me alone, I left her alone. They are beneficial creatures and help rid the gardens of damaging insects.
My tolerance of spiders did not extend to a particular, colorful large Garden Spider that built large webs marked by a zig-zag heavier white pattern that resembled sewing stitches. For some reason I cannot fathom, I hated that kind of spider and slaughtered every one I found. They were benign and beneficial spiders but I bore an unreasonable fear and disgust for them. A grandson was bitten by one and said the bite was painful, but the bite caused no damage to him.
The largest spider of this type that I ever saw appeared to be about 4" long; I did not know they grew that big.
The dreaded "Sewing Spider" or Garden Spider. I hate them. Brrr! They give me the shivers.[Golden Orb Weaver spider females are large spiders that can often be seen sitting on their webs woven between the ends of trees in the woods. They typically have a thick twining of silkzig-zagging through the center vertically where they wait for prey, legs arranged in a way that sometimes resembles an “X”. The female’s body is a pattern of black and yellow or gold and she appears to be wearing long black gloves on her toothpick-like jointed legs. She is typically positioned head down and if disturbed she may bounce strongly on her web. The males are significantly smaller and may sometimes be seen on the periphery of her web, waiting for an appropriate moment when he is accepted for mating, and not considered good eating.]
Labels: spider-hated-golden orb weaver
