She and I have come to an understanding...

[SunnyD]

She stays outside, I don't smash her ass into oblivion. And not in the good way.

Methinks she didn't take too kindly to the little dude (or dudette?) that decided to drop by today.

I've been watching her hang out in this spot and grow for the last month or two. It's pretty impressive, she's already about twice as big as she was last month.

 

[Kadarin]

I would so smash that!

 

[thelanx]

I would so smash that!

And leave ATOT hanging...

Also I think that might be a molting, not another spider.

 

[yh125d]

Screw that


People always say "but spiders eat the other insects!"

I don't care. I'll pay the bill to get my house sprayed thankyouverymuch.

 

[MrPickins]

And leave ATOT hanging...

Also I think that might be a molting, not another spider.

You're probably right.

It's almost certainly not a male, they're much smaller:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver#Appearance_and_distribution

I don't mind them when it's one or two. What really sucks is being forced to cross a field of dead sunflower stalks with thousands of them getting fat on grasshoppers. I'm not sure how many i brushed off me, but at least one made it down my shirt.

Only occasionally do I miss being a land surveyor.

 

[ohtwell]

I am with you. I don't kill spiders when they are outside. Once you cross the threshold into my home, all bets are off.


: ) Amanda

 

[jagec]

+1, would smash.

Pointy knees though.

 

[MrDudeMan]

The 'other spider' looks more like a molt in this picture than another spider. I can't tell if the bottom part is a leaf or part of a carapace. The color bands are also significantly different, but I've seen that sort of thing on several of my pet spiders after molts. Sometimes it looks like another spider got in the cage, molted, and then left.

<-- Spider enthusiast... if there is such a thing

 

[zinfamous]

Also I think that might be a molting, not another spider.

good call

 

[Anubis]

nuke it from orbit

 

[Gillbot]

FIRE

 

[Chaotic42]

Remember, its only goal in life is to create as many equal or superior copies of itself as possible.

You have been warned...

 

[Aikouka]

I am with you. I don't kill spiders when they are outside. Once you cross the threshold into my home, all bets are off.


: ) Amanda

But they keep making webs in front of my door! It's rather annoying to walk out right into a flippin' web! :|

 

[SunnyD]

And leave ATOT hanging...

Also I think that might be a molting, not another spider.

That explains a lot. It did look more like a desiccated spider than a molt though, but I decided not to tempt the 3 to 4 inches of fate with my face for a better look.

 

[Markbnj]

But they keep making webs in front of my door! It's rather annoying to walk out right into a flippin' web! :|

Around here we have little ones that drop long strands and drift from tree to tree. They drape these long lines across the deck, across the sidewalk, across the driveway. You learn to walk waving one arm in front of you. Perils of having trees all around I guess.

 

[ohtwell]

But they keep making webs in front of my door! It's rather annoying to walk out right into a flippin' web! :|

Interesting that you point out their propensity to make webs right at head level, because I almost walked into one on my way to take out the trash. Considered sweeping it to the ground, but the idea of killing a spider whose probably helping kill any pesky bugs stopped me.


: ) Amanda

 

[JTsyo]

Better be extra careful with them. Apparently they have started to mate with ladybugs.

 

[blackdogdeek]

They drape these long lines across the deck, across the sidewalk, across the driveway. You learn to walk waving one arm in front of you.

This is how I walk back and forth from the grill to the kitchen.

 

[SunnyD]

Only bumping the to say I hope the cable guy isn't afraid of spiders. He's showing up tonight to get me all hooked up, and, well, the girl here... her home sits right over top of my phone interface box outside, which just so happens to share a conduit with the cable line.

 

[nixium]

Interesting that you point out their propensity to make webs right at head level, because I almost walked into one on my way to take out the trash. Considered sweeping it to the ground, but the idea of killing a spider whose probably helping kill any pesky bugs stopped me.


: ) Amanda

Yes, this is why I have a no spider killing policy except for the dangerous ones.

It's very hard to adhere to when they fall on you from nowhere or you walk into a web. But that's what separates us humans from animals - the ability to not lash out wildly in a panic induced swath of destruction. Well at most times

Now wasps on the other hand.. no mercy, no quarter asked or given. It's a blood feud tracing back into my early childhood and there's no resolution, no hope for peace.

 

[boochi]

I had one of those big yellow and black mofo's around the house last year. I sprayed his ass, he dropped to the ground and a big ass lizard run out from under a bush and started eating the spider with me standing right there.

 

[Golgatha]

Yes, this is why I have a no spider killing policy except for the dangerous ones.

It's very hard to adhere to when they fall on you from nowhere or you walk into a web. But that's what separates us humans from animals - the ability to not lash out wildly in a panic induced swath of destruction. Well at most times

Now wasps on the other hand.. no mercy, no quarter asked or given. It's a blood feud tracing back into my early childhood and there's no resolution, no hope for peace.

I was stung by a wasp as a kid and my 6 year old got stung this past weekend by one. I have learned over the years to look for the nests under my raised deck (it's 2 stories up in the air with stairs leading up to it), so I regularly knock those down. The wasps had taken refuge underneath my deck steps below my field of vision. I probably wouldn't have ever known they were there, but when you mess with my little one, dad goes into seek and destroy mode.

I stalked the adults with assassin like stealth to see where they were going. Once the nest was found I escalated to unremorseful, total, full on chemical warfare. The corpses of the larvae, adolescents, and adults piled up on the lower step. I left them there for a day so any stragglers would come to the chemically soaked nest. It would also serve as a reminder to the airborne survivors as to who the king the 1/3 acre suburban castle was and why you should never, ever mess with the princes. I crushed my enemies, saw them driven before me, and heard the wailing lamentations of the survivors. It was a good day for this suburban warrior.

 

[Auric]

I had one of those big yellow and black mofo's around the house last year. I sprayed his ass, he dropped to the ground and a big ass lizard run out from under a bush and started eating the spider with me standing right there.

So you poisoned a lizard? You monster.

 

[rudeguy]

why all the spider hate?

I'd rather have one of those guys hanging out than a bunch of flying insects. Plus they are cool looking.

I wish they would find something better than a web though. Maybe make a house out of something cool like spaghetti?

 

[werepossum]

I was stung by a wasp as a kid and my 6 year old got stung this past weekend by one. I have learned over the years to look for the nests under my raised deck (it's 2 stories up in the air with stairs leading up to it), so I regularly knock those down. The wasps had taken refuge underneath my deck steps below my field of vision. I probably wouldn't have ever known they were there, but when you mess with my little one, dad goes into seek and destroy mode.

I stalked the adults with assassin like stealth to see where they were going. Once the nest was found I escalated to unremorseful, total, full on chemical warfare. The corpses of the larvae, adolescents, and adults piled up on the lower step. I left them there for a day so any stragglers would come to the chemically soaked nest. It would also serve as a reminder to the airborne survivors as to who the king the 1/3 acre suburban castle was and why you should never, ever mess with the princes. I crushed my enemies, saw them driven before me, and heard the wailing lamentations of the survivors. It was a good day for this suburban warrior.

We just had a brief war on yellow jackets that nested in the ground right next to our front walk. I poisoned them, then that night something came along along and dug out the nest. Left about a 3 gallon hole in our yard and probably four square feet of chewed up paper nest. I'm not sure whether to be more concerned that yellow jackets can build that much nest in a week or that something haunts my yard that eats yellow jackets coated in hornet spray and can dig that kind of hole overnight.

why all the spider hate?

I'd rather have one of those guys hanging out than a bunch of flying insects. Plus they are cool looking.

I wish they would find something better than a web though. Maybe make a house out of something cool like spaghetti?

We have several that periodically build webs across our front porch steps and roof. While I admire their ambition, I'm otherwise not down with their program. But instead of spraying them I just tear down their webs and drop them into the grass. After that it's between them and the lizards. Personally I'm rooting for the lizards, but the spiders get a fighting chance. But if they get in the house it's war to the knife as my wife is allergic.

When my aunt lived in southern Florida amid the palmetto scrub she kept her doors open and huge hunting spiders patrolled her house. I'm not at all arachnophobic, but when a spider jumps from a table and you can hear it land, that's too damned much spider to have in the house even for the joy of never seeing an insect. And when you can look around the house and see half a dozen or more such spiders at any given time, that's not living, it's a SciFi channel movie of the week.