spider for paulnj

[Mike Platts]

paul,

Do you know what this is? My neighbor says it's poisonous.

thanks,

mike

[Iguanamom]

I'm not Paul, but I can tell you she isn't poisonous to humans. This is a common garden spider which is a type orb web weaver. Leave her be and she will catch all kinds of nasties for you. If you see the very tiny male approach her, keep watching; the delicate dance he has to do for some lovin' is unreal. I just watched a different species of orb weaver do exactly this dance the other night but he wasn't fast enough with his getaway and ended up a post-coital snack for the lady. Other than spider sex, these girls are amazing to watch when they're web building (usually around sunset). They are so precise and delicate.

I love spiders.

[Peter_AUS]

It is an Orb Weaver and although usually not harmful some have been known to make humans sick. Leave it be, they help to keep the smaller population of nats, mosquitoes etc down and generally keep to themselves.

Impressive specimen by the way.

[Todd Patten]

Cool! My neighbor has one of these in her bushes! i pretty much ignored it, but knowing what I know now, I'm going over thier house tomorrow evening to watch for the work!

[mjs1973]

I haven't seen one of these since I was a kid! Nice pic Mike!

Michael

[paulnj]

Iguanamom NAILED IT ;) those thing can get quite BIG too ;)