Smilie-Spidey? Arachnophobes Need Not View.

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MamaSheepdog

MamaSheepdog

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I have an interesting orb-weaving spider living in my BunnyBarn. I have never seen a spider like this before. Her abdomen is larger than a dime, and nearly the size of a nickel. Any ideas what kind of spider she is?

Legs extended in normal position:

IMG_1873.JPG

Camera shy, legs tucked up:

IMG_1876.JPG
 
Tegan":1hiq9jy0 said:
I'm not an expert, but....looks like a cat-faced spider.
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I just googled cat-faced spider, and the description matches. In profile, we thought the abdomen looked like a shell, with pointy projections on the "hips". The points are less noticeable now that the spider is larger.

Thanks! She is pretty creepy looking, but is up and out of the way, so I didn't want to bother her. :)
 
Yeah, harmless and good for insect control. One of the pictures I saw of them could have been a twin for yours, so I'm PRETTY sure that's what you have.
 
i was chased incessantly by my brothers holding them in their hands as a child. To this day spiders on me or in buildings freaks me out. My two sisters are complete archnaphobes....I undertook a study of spiders as a young teen to help me get over my fear of them. I can't stand them in the house, and on me.. well...let's just say I'm not a calm person at that time. But outside I can easily admire them. I've got three or four ones this size in my rabbitry. They do an excellent job of fly control.
 
I don't care for spiders, but I don't hate them anymore than any other insect. They leave sticky surprises in unexpected places. As for fly control, I have not seen a single fly in a web as of yet, my spiders are useless except for crawling out when I least expect them, so they get killed like everything else.
 
Looks a lot like the Garden Orb-weaver spider, they come in slightly different shades/patterns.
cutcaster-photo-100089039-Garden-Orb-weaver-spider-repairing-web.jpg


At least we don't have this spider...
http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/giant-spider-attacks-bird
 
The two must be related at least- they have similar little black dots on their backs. I will try to get a profile shot of my spider tonight when she comes out. She almost has two "horns" sticking up on her abdomen. It isn't smooth and round like a normal spider.
 
Oh, so your spider does have the points. Didn't see any.
Then the cat-faced spider does seem to be a better fit.
 
That link with the Bird-eating spider reminds me of something that happened to Hubs one day. He was remodeling a lady's kitchen, and she happened to be out in the back yard. Suddenly she started screaming for him to come outside, and pointed to the web of a large black and yellow garden spider. A hummingbird was caught in the web, and the spider was going after it! He grabbed a stick and pulled the little Hummer out of the web. After they cleaned the web off they put it in a bush and it soon flew away. Here is a pic of the spider:

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecolo ... rgiope.htm<br /><br />__________ Thu Aug 23, 2012 3:05 pm __________<br /><br />In the first picture, you can kind of see the point- it is where the dark line ends. See how the body is not round? But I will get a better picture tonight. When it was young, it was really dramatically pointy.
 
We have one of those big black and yellow garden spiders in our bean plants. I used to be phobic, but since moving here I have desensitized myself. I quite enjoy seeing spiders now. But, please, NOT ON ME!
:spider:
 
MaggieJ":3i09n7f7 said:
I quite enjoy seeing spiders now. But, please, NOT ON ME!
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I can't stand to have spiders or their webs on me, but as long as they keep their distance I am okay. :) Actually, I like the different wolf spiders, and am not bothered if one of those gets on me for some reason. :?
 
My oldest son had a tarantula, Rosie. Rosie was large, very friendly, also she was pregnant, which we did not know when we got her but soon had hundreds of little tarantulas. One day we came home to find that the dog knocked over the aquarium. Yep, baby tarantulas all over. Rosie was u high waiting to go back to her safe cage but we were finding babies for months and months.

Scariest spider, I think is this one- http://www.camelspiders.net/

While my husband was deployed one of the other women received a box from her husband and when she opened it up, a camel spider cmae out! She had to get the neighbors husband to kill it, they run fast- 10 mph or something and they bite! After that I was very apprehensive opening boxes from over there but my husband pretty much covered them in tape.
 
LauraNJ":1zksbjws said:
My oldest son had a tarantula, Rosie. Rosie was large, very friendly, also she was pregnant, which we did not know when we got her but soon had hundreds of little tarantulas. One day we came home to find that the dog knocked over the aquarium. Yep, baby tarantulas all over. Rosie was u high waiting to go back to her safe cage but we were finding babies for months and months.

Scariest spider, I think is this one- http://www.camelspiders.net/

While my husband was deployed one of the other women received a box from her husband and when she opened it up, a camel spider cmae out! She had to get the neighbors husband to kill it, they run fast- 10 mph or something and they bite! After that I was very apprehensive opening boxes from over there but my husband pretty much covered them in tape.
Click to expand...

As an arachnophobe (pictures don't bother me much but the actual critters scare me to BITS) I.........would have keeled over dead of panic at the mere thought of finding tarantulas all over the house. Even little ones. D:
 
LauraNJ":1csg5u00 said:
Scariest spider, I think is this one- http://www.camelspiders.net/
Click to expand...

We have those here- locally they are known as Vinegaroons... local lore holds that if you are bitten by one, you will taste vinegar for a week. They are very fast, and nocturnal. The first year we moved up here, we would see 20 or 30 running around on the indoor/outdoor carpet in front of our travel trailer. We have never seen such a dense population since, but we still see them occasionally.
 
Interesting, glad it's at your place. Not much on IDing spiders, all I know is if it has a distinctive mark or pattern beware.

The only spider that doesn't bother me are Daddy Long Legs. Love them because they eat other insects.

Karen
 

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