SPIDERS! AACCKK!!

[FamilyOfChickens]

I REALLY don't like spiders. (Which is weird, as we have a tarantula.) I take a rake into the woods with me and wave it in front of me as I walk down the path, because the darn spiders keep building their webs across the path!

 

[bayouchica]

Oh gosh we got them bad around here, too. I'm always running into them especially at night checking on the chickens.

This is one of the coolest spiders, an orb weaver. They love the muscudine vines.

 

[chicks rule]

Cool pic, that is what I call a Garden Spider. I would catch grasshoppers and toss in the web so my kids could watch them spin their web around it's prey, and now I have shown the grandkids too, they love watching them. I must say it is about the only spider that I do like and can tolerate, Try riding a 4-wheeler or a horse though the woods, where the webs are at about face level, that is not a pretty site, ewwww

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
We called these writer spiders, and my kids and I fed them crickets & grasshoppers, too. They are so big you can watch the spinnerets. And they know you bring food and start to get to know you. Also, these always lived in the garden and not on the porch. Plus you can see their webs due to the writing.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I hate them. I'm allergic to them.

But some of them are just soooooooooo beautiful. and to think that they build these huge, intricate webs while we sleep. They are amazing to see first thing in the am with the dew still on them. They look like jewel necklaces sparkling in the early morning sun.

If they are in my flower beds or veggie gardens, I leave them alone. If they are where I'm walking, I knock them aside. Sometimes it takes several times before the spider gets the hint and moves over off the path. Had this wolf spider build a 4x6 web over the back steps. Took nearly a week for him to figure out it was going to get trashed every day unless he moved it. That was one OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGLY Spider!!

 

[Bubba]

Its truely sad how little people know of the natural world. Spiders are essential to us.

Bubba

 

[silkiechicken]

I like my spiders, they eat bugs that bite. I must not be a very jumpy person about bugs or nasty stuff because I run into webs daily when doing my rounds. I usually try to not damage their webs if they are out of the way because I see them eating flies in them a lot. Luckly, the only poisonous spider in this area are hobo spiders... and that is very rare. Usually find house spiders around here. When I was little I would grab those orange termites and drop them in the webs.

One of the coolest things to see baby spiders leaving the "nest" so to say. Like in late evening or early morning, the wind will blow lightly and hundreds if not thousands of babies will stream out of the tree or bush where they hatched. It's like a waterfall!

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Quote:
Yeah too cool! Some of them have little parachutes that they ride the breeze on. Just like in the movie Charlotte's Web!

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
I don't kill any spiders. So far. I know they do a valuable service. But I do wonder if my dozen Black Widows could hurt my 7 little chickens. Because these BW ladies are obviously reproducing and will eventually be noticed by my peeps. Can chickens die from eating black widows? Can they die if a Black Widow bites them?
And a hatching of black widows just looks like a swarm of deformed ants. I didn't see any of those babes go floating off like cute little Charlottes

 

[Gracefulspice]

I get the willys when it comes to spiders. I don't mind bugs, but spiders

I do leave them alone if they are outside. However if they are in my house they are fair game. We have those garden spiders too. As pictured above. I just noticed one strung along my Scotch Broom bushes. It had either a baby or a male with it.

The thing was very tiny. She was in the same place last year and the year before. We look forward to her visit. It is funny tho when I ride pass with the lawn mower. Grass clippings go into the web all at once and she jump all over the place thinking they are bugs.