last year these spiders were every where I turned...they are huge and scary. this guy here is a little smaller then the palm of my hand (although it would never be there). is it poisonous?... or should I just let them be?
[img]https://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t285/nabes1/spider1.jpg[/img]
I changed the design of my garden this year to include paths so I could avoid them more...they build the webs in one night and they are massive stretching from one plant to another, like some scary horror flick...I have seen the first one this year just a few days ago...I just hope the paths help....
Obviously I don't live in your country so I have never seen one of these but having searched around several websites I think you are safe. It is a Garden spider. Harmless. Check this site for pictures.
The ones you see are the females. The males are much smaller and not so colourful.
This is what wikipedia has to say about them;
[These spiders are spectacular and may be quite alarming if one is not familiar with them, but they are not dangerous. Like most garden spiders they eat insects, and they are capable of consuming prey up to 200% of their size. They might bite if grabbed, but other than for defence they have no interest in biting humans. Their venom is not regarded as a serious medical problem for humans.]
Last edited by Jess on Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hey Jess, I think you are right - not a banana spider!
Grey If you check the second site you gave it does say that two completely different spiders are called Banana spiders. The one pictured here is native to America and the poisonous one is a completely different species that looks nothing like it and is called Phoneutria.
common banana spider I have them all over my place good for eating grasshoppers.
So I leave em. I live in Georgia.
No in North America these are not poisonous but they can still bite and I wouldn't want to be bit by any spider as they can be pretty nasty and get infected and cause problems.
I try to leave a wide birth and let them be I consider them a good thing all types of spiders.
thanks you guys, really interesting...totally creepy. cant say I feel completely at ease in the garden with them, but all the help I can get with the bad bugs the better. I'll just give them space and hope I don't bump into one.
this year there werent nearly as many of these spiders...I have seen a few... this guy is about two inches long....
[img][img]https://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t285/nabes1/018.jpg[/img][/img]
I have just started seeing these spiders in my garden and I am Sooooo creeped out. I saw one yesterday and let out a scream so loud, that the spider was even scared - he jumped! Kinda funny. But I am still creeped out. I think I will feel better if someone does indeed tell me he wont bite me and he wont bite my dog. It would be harder for him to bite me because I go 100 miles an hour when I see one, but my dog sticks his nose right in the web. Will he bite my dog and make him sick?
I have been bitten by a brown recluse in California, so that is why I am soooooo scared of spiders, I would LOVE to get over it, any suggestions besides letting one crawl on me. (I have goosebumps just by the thought!!!)
Thanks and I hope someone can calm my fears about my dog. Dina :)
I have been lucky so far, and havent been bitten. but I share your fear of these creepy guys. I read about them because of my fear and found that they will bite, but its only as bad as a bee sting. they just hang about in their webs and pretty much don't move....so as long as I know its there and don't get a shock then I'm fine with them....
I've never heard of a bite from one, and they're all around here, as well - but I am no expert, either. They seem to always hang in middle of a really wide/large web, and it's about as likely to not see that size web as to walk into a head-high small branch, IMO. I've always seen them with kind of a zig-zag in middle of web when its not been damaged. I even saw one just yesterday at a nearby park about 35-40 up in a large sycamore tree's upper bare branches (but usually they're not far off ground, IME). My 8y-old dgtr was *amazed* and wouldn't ride her bike anywhere near that tree afterwards, LOL!
I always am a LOT more concerned with the recluses and b-widows that lurk in the dark corners where you're much more likely to not see them. And those come *inside* without any invitation whatsoever! I couldn't imagine one of the above to 'make house' in a lived-in home, but I guess its possible (?).
your right the webs are large, and hard to miss in the daylight ...
they havent come inside the house, but one morning I opened the back door to find a large web across the door way nice big spider, face to face....like a creepy movie my husband was amazed
LillGardnr,
if you noticed a web across your back door, then you should probably check for "drafts" in the house.
I live in Taylor, TX, which is just outside of austin, but we have loads of these Argiope spiders. I have a bunch of information about these critters, and would be happy to share my experience.
I have actually been bitten by one before, when I first came accros one. I was mowing the lawn on a riding mower, and it was webbed between two trees, by the time I noticed the web, I was too late, and I reached up to block it from getting on my face and in my hair and I guess I sort of grabbed it. Well, she bit me... I'm a bit of a wuss so it hurt while she was bitting, but, the pain didn't last any longer than if I had gotten a splinter and pulled it out. The redness was localized. I went to the doctor right away, out of fear that I was poisoned, but he told me not to worry because whatever venom they have does nothing to humans besides that localized redness.
It did stay red for a few days, and raised a bit (almost like a big mosquito bite).
They seem to like areas that catch a breeze, I am not sure why this is, but, there are several places in my yard that they could stretch their webs easily, but they choose the spots where the breeze is maximized.
w
The reason that they hang out in the middle of the web is because they put their eggs over to the side a bit and stay in the middle to make sure they can watch their eggs and look around to make sure everything is safe all at the same time.
I used to throw crickets and grasshoppers on their webs to feed them for fun, however, they are becoming more of a nusance to me of late.
I almost can't walk anywhere in my yard without coming across them and they are starting to get anoying.
If you park your car in the driveway, don't leave your windows cracked, because they will web there as well, and sometimes the entire inside of your car. This has happened to me on several unpleasant occasions.
I don't want to kill them, but there are times when I do use a stick to destroy the webs so that I can actually accomplish my daily activities. She will take her babies with her, and she will rebuild somewhere else.
They only last a season, until the first frost. I have seen sites that say "the first HARD frost", but, in my experience, they don't really even last a mild frost, or at least, not the ones that we have.
They certainly are pretty, and their webs are interesting to look at. When they catch the sun just right you can see a couple of different colors in the web, which is also amazing to look at.
Anyway, just thought I'd share my experience with this critter.
Sage
you are very brave sage. I think I would have killed her if she was in my car.... as long as they keep thier space, they keep their lives .... and they are quite helpful with the hungry grasshoppers
Argghh! Pictures of spiders!!!! Just the pictures creep me out. I leave them alone in my yard - but only because I'm too afraid of them to do anything!
on a side note spider bites are nothing to sneeze at.
Anytime you get a spider bite go to the doctors office. They can give you antibiotics.
A bite from any animal is serious as they carry bacteria and things we do not. You don't want anything getting infected.
I had a friend of mine who got bit and didnt know it. He was running 104 temp and had diarrhea. He went to the doctor and he said its just abug going around drink fluids take a asprin let it run its course and you will be fine in a couple of days. after day three he went to another doctor. By this time his joints were hurting like he had serious arthritis. The docotr basically gave him a strip search and found a small puncture hole on his right thigh with a small red mark around it. (A spider bite) he gave him antibiotics and said if that didnt help by tomorrow come back in and we will hook you up to an IV and do more serious things to you.
I was in Search and Rescue and I taught EMT's and Paramedics and Firefighters. Its the little things that can get us. My friend told me he felt like he was dieing he was 57 and said it was amazing that something so small could take him off his feet like that and make him feel so bad.
So again boys and girls. take any kind of bite seriously.
Thanks Mike
I forgot about bacteria and such, I normaly, with scrapes, bites, and such, clean it real good with some paroxide or something. But, my roommate once got Staph (is that how you spell it?) infection, just from scraping his knee running through a cotton field.
and Staph is definately nothing to sneeze at, left untreated, you could die from it, and left untreated for a long time, antibiotics will no longer work, and they will have to cut out the infected area.
I don't go to the doc for every cut or scrape that I get, but I always watch to see if anything abnormal is going on.
I agree with Mike though, especially if your totally unsure... go to the doc.
Sage
or should I just let them be?
as long as they keep thier space, they keep their lives 