Does Anyone Know What Kind Of Spider This Is? Is It Dangerous?

[key west chick]

She's beautiful! I would love to have her here at my house.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

This is an orb weaver too, in the fall around here their colors get very beautiful! These are wonderful to have around! When I was a girl I lived in a log home with cathedral ceilings, these actually moved in to our house and made their webs up in the beams by the ceiling. They caught all our houseflies, and any moths that got in when the porch door was opened at night. We would find the little bug carcasses in piles on the floor under their webs. My mom just swept them up and said thank you! One night I was sitting on the couch with her, and one of the spiders came down on a long thread and she looked up ans saw it. She told me to hold still....and it landed on my head, walked around a minute and then climbed back up the thread to it's web. She was just saying hi I guess!

 

[gritsar]

We have tons of orb weavers around our yard. Note to Redhen: Summer is not a good time to visit us and go for a stroll in the yard.
We've had many an enjoyable evening walking around admiring their beautiful webs and guesstimating the length of their anchor strands.

 

[Chickie Mamma]

You guys are hilarious

I sat outside with her (other side of the deck) last night to watch her catch the moths and ... WOW! What a show she put on. I felt bad for the moths though, but she is so fast. Web was destroyed this morning, nothing but holes and tears. I am looking foward to see if she makes another tonight. Thanks for everyone's input, and I'll let you all know if she lays eggs in my eyeball

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

When this little dude (one JUST like it, but yellow) was crawling on me, I thought I was a goner. Then I realized there were 7 others next to the goose pen. Including *gasp* a purple one!!!!

 

[Whispering Winds]

I don't like Spiders, but we had a "banana spider" set up housekeeping in our window under the AC about 4 years ago. She was so beautiful, yellow and black and was actually docile. DS and I would catch moths and little bugs and throw them in her web and she would come scurrying out to wrap them in web. DS was fastinated by it, and still talks about her. Once just to see what would happen, I threw a BIG grasshopper in her web, and in less than a minute she had it completely wrapped in silk. Absolutely amazing. She sucked on it for a week!!!! I thought it was a male, because she was there all summer, but come late summer there were two HUGE egg sacks and she died. It was like Charlotte's Web which still makes me cry to this day . . .I gently took the egg sacks and moved them out to the Magnolia bush to see if they would survive. Never did see anymore, but it was so interesting and educational that I smothered my spider fears and really enjoyed it. I did get some pics of her, need to see if I can find them.

Your picture is beautiful! Isn't it amazing how they do their webs. I LOVE the people that spray black construction paper with spray glue I think, and then "catch" a web on it. They make the most beautiful pictures.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Oh Cool!!!!!

I've never seen one of those here! That is an Arrow Micrathena. And it's a She. Only the females have those spines.
Awesome Pic! I'm glad I am glad to see I am not the only one who takes pictures of insects and spiders!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Quote:
sorry...not my photo. I wish it were! The one I had crawling on me was exactly the same body shape, but had yellow. Another one was orange. The purple one was circular.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Quote:
I knew a guy that did it using old shovels he collected, He'd sand them down and paint them matte black, and then used silver spray paint to spray the web, then very very quickly put the shovel through it. They were beautiful. You could hang it from the holes that the bolts used to go through to hold on the handle.

 

[emvickrey]

The brown recluse we have all over the place here don't spin webs like that. They catch crawling bugs so their webs are low to the surface or in folded spaces in boxes and bags such as that. They will live between your sheets that are on a shelf and I found one in a towel once. The females tend to stay close to their "den" area and their bite is worse than their bark. You'll find them hanging out in things that aren't bothered much. Hence the name recluse. Males will wander in search of their food. They will eat dead bugs if thats what they find so if you have dead bugs such as files and moths behind your couch or some place like that I suggest you keep those areas vacuumed. Before we found out the living arrangements of these spiders we had gottem bit way too many times. My daughter was bitten 11 times on her legs. Found out they where hanging out behind the couch she so spent most of her life on

. I was bit 3 times. My youngest grandson was bit twice. Once on each cheek and not on his face. My middle grandson was bitten 3 times just a few weeks ago when he was rummaging around in the shed where he wasn't suppose to be.
The bites are very painful and can need surgery to remove the infected area. They most of the time set up staph in the wound and they are very hard to heal. I had one that covered the entire lower side of my back and I was in bed for 3 days because it was to painful to move. I couldn't wear anything with a waist band for a month and it oozed for another 4 weeks till it finally healed. The doc wanted to cut it but I refused. It would have healed faster but I would also have a hole in my side. I only have a black spot and no hole. My daughter has several dark spots and some of them are indents. DH got bit once and it never got infected. AS soon as it happened I started to work on it and it healed in a week. If you know you've been bitten by one, act fast because the poison spreads fast and the longer you wait the longer and more painful the recovery. People have lost limbs over these little spiders. If you ever see one, you can bet there are more.

I lost 5 silkie chicks and I blame recluse spiders for it.