Spider surprise!
I went out the back door to shake a towel that I’d gotten some debris on… and saw this amazing beautiful argiope spider. She just showed up here… how, I have no idea – she must have just hiked it in.
She’s HUGE. Two and a half inches top to bottom, two inches side to side. For a sense of scale, the thing she’s caught in her giant web is a WASP. Not a great big wasp, but still, it’s not a little bug.
EEEEEK! that’s a freaking HUGE spider!!!!!!!!! my arachnaphobia just kicked in high gear!
I never thought I would say this but WOW that is a beautiful spider
ah. morbid curiousity here, i had to look at the other pics because you always have such fascinating pics, but 2.5″s ACK! *shudder*flee*
Yah… I love the silver and gold markings. It’s in low light in the evening, so it doesn’t catch the sun – but when it does, it’s almost metallic.
She’s a beauty. I love spiders. I prefer for them not to give me kisses while I sleep at night, but I’m quite content to have them around otherwise. Before I moved there was a little one who lived in my computer desk…we had many long conversations.
Yay!! What a pretty girl. Thank you for posting these. Spiders are often so badly maligned, when they’re so pretty and they perform such a valuable function in nature. 🙂
*shiver*
Spiders and centipede freak me out.
i dont like spiders but i <3 orb weavers... i like feeding them bugs and watching them wrap them up :)
-=wawa=-
*is very jealous*
I didn’t have the digital when there was one in the backyard last year, and by the time I remembered to buy film, the birds had gotten her.
What a gorgeous girl!
nature is so beautiful…
See, that is why I love your journal. That thing would have sent me screaming, not for the camera 🙂 Really, really cool pics!
Ooh, what a pretty spidey! I like orbweavers.
Sunfell
me too! The webs are always such a delight to look at. We’ve had several large araneids, including one who makes his web across the back door of the house each night, causing us to duck under it to get to the grill… his most amusing exploit was catching a firefly, which continued to blink in its shrink-wrapping, attracting other fireflies to come and look! This is the first time in about five years that I’ve had one of the massive Argiopes; I hope she lays a huge sack of eggs for us.
Hello, I’ve come upon your journal a few days ago and added you (thanks for adding me back). I’m highly interested in spiders; especially of this kind. Naturally I’m curious, is she still there ? has she woven an egg sack yet ?
Howdy! Welcome to my friends list!
Yes; she got HUGE, and then made a very big egg sack. I’ve fed her some of the spent moths, and they seem to be very nourishing – she’s huge again. I’m expecting another egg sack soon, because she looks like she’ll burst otherwise. I’ve heard they can make up to three.
She’s such a beautiful thing.