Help Me Identify This Spider
By EvilResident on Aug 30, 2010 in Creepy Stuff, Help Wanted
This spider moved into the overhang outside my kitchen window. I first noticed it this morning, and it’s still there tonight. It’s really hard to get a decent picture, but I did the best I could. Anybody have any idea as to what kind of spider this is, or if they’re usually around here? It’s about as big as the end of my thumb (from the knuckle to the tip). It’s huge. HUUUUUUUUGE. Right now it’s fascinating to watch, but I think I’d have to move if it ever got in.
Seriously those are the best pictures you can manage? The Zapruder film of spiderdom?
Try here: http://www.cirrusimage.com/spider.htm
Orbweaver?
Hard to tell, but it looks like a barn spider. If so, we get them here, too. They’re pretty cool. They build a new web every night and eat the old one during the day, then do it all over again and again and again. Their webs are beautiful, very strong and quite sticky. About a month ago I watched one make its web. They’re amazing critters. If you want to get rid of it, don’t kill it. They’re too valuable as pest controllers, not to mention they’re just plain cool. These guys seriously hate being pestered and will move on within a couple days of being screwed with. Just gently tap or blow on the web a bunch of times and/or pull off a strand or two of its web. Trust me, you’ll feel like a jerk (because you are), but it works. That’s how I get them to move away from our most commonly traversed areas every year out here in the middle of nowhere. Hope this helps!
I don’t really want to get rid of it. It’s neat to watch, and I think you’re right, because that’s what it does with its web.
Yes, these ARE the best pictures I could get at the time. The window is a story up from the ground (so I can’t take it from outside), and I had to use the flash, which made an extremely washed out picture because of the window, which I then had to severely alter to actually see the spider. The one I managed to get during the day I snapped with my iphone (had to zoom) in the like, ten seconds it came down from the overhang. Sorry.
Wolf spider? They get gigantasaurous.
If you really dig spiders (I do) take a stroll down the skywalk over the highway to the DECC sometime. The windows are full of em (on the outside, a safe viewing venue). Big ‘uns, too!
I second the guess of an orb weaver spider. We get them on our garage every year and marvel in watching them. Of course, they kind of make us a little oogy as well -- they are huge!
We have one, too! I noticed it Sunday. It built a huge web connecting the side of our house to a hanging plant on the porch. It’s just a monster spider. I went outside to get another look at it just now, and it isn’t there. That really gives me the willies.
I love this thread — no pun intended. Now I’m looking everywhere.
I cannot recommend this website enough:
http://www.whatsthatbug.com
Warning: this has lots of pictures of bugs -- closeups, detail shots, etc. If you are at all squeamish about bugs, DO NOT GO TO THIS WEBSITE!
Another good place to see large spiders is on the outside of the windows at the old Top of the Harbor (now JJ Astor’s) restaurant at the Radisson.
Speaking of bugs, has everybody noticed the massive increase in mosquito and dragonfly activity in the past couple days?
Go spiders! Go dragonflies! Eat! Eaaaat!
Funny you mention the dragonflies … just a few minutes ago before it got dark I was noticing the sky was just buzzing with huge dragonflies. Isn’t it late for them to be around en mass?
Dragonfly Migration
The reason there are so many bugs this summer is because of the wet weather. My house and barn is FULL of those HUGE spiders, way more so than recent years. The wetter weather means more mosquitoes, hence the increase in dragonflies and other insects. A County Extension dude told me that the spiders thrive in this weather and grow in size accordingly. At least the wet weather reduces the grasshopper population.
It’s also about timing. The mosquito population in my neighborhood has been way down this summer due to “when” we got the rain. It was dry during the critical hatch period, so we’ve had a lot fewer this year.
The Big E: I really liked that link to info on dragonfly migrations. I had no idea about most of this stuff. Very cool, thanks.