Florida Spiders

Resurrecting some old pics:

Black and yellow argiope

Brown widow

Crab-like orb weaver

Golden silk spider

Giant crab spider aka Huntsman spider

This one is often mistaken for a wolf spider.

This one was identified as some type of orb-web spider, but I could be wrong.

As far as I could tell, this is a ray spider of some sort:

Is the Huntsman a "good guy"? We get some really big ones here. The dogs love to chase them.

Thank you for the beautiful pics! Do you know if argiope survives in New Hampshire? That one looks a lot like the one I had here.

Ginger, the huntsman spiders are relatively harmless and like to eat other insects. (Lord knows they have plenty of food available around my house!)

Rudbeckia, the argiope species live as far north as southern Canada so it's a good bet that you have them in N.H. These are commonly known as Golden Orb spiders. There is also a black and silver argiope, but I've not come across one yet.

Amaryllisgal...if that was my spider, I definitely want more! Is there anything special I can do to get more to come into my beds?

Wonderful pictures! I knew you had some really good ones!

(shudder) I just don't like spiders. There is one here in FL I have dubbed the "glowing butt spider"--he/she has an irridescent spot on/in the abdomen that looks like it glows when the sun hits it. I have seen green, yellow, and orange butted ones. They are pretty small--maybe 1/4 inch across. I have no clue what kind they are. I try to keep my distance when it comes to spiders. They creep me out. They can live outside, but if they come inside they are done for. I've been known to pin them to the ceiling with a broom and spray them with Easy Off oven cleaner! (I think it was a wolf spider--huge thing, grey with lots of hair, about 3 inches across). I don't do spiders in the house!!!!

LOL, ButterflyGardnr! I can identify with the broom! I've been known to use hair spray, furniture polish and any other aerosol within reach! I truly felt the same way as you before I did this report for a class last fall but after spending a few months collecting photos and doing a lot of reading about them, I came to admire the little fellers. Now the only ones I kill are the ones I know are venomous.

This is how obsessed I became with adding spiders to my collection: One night I walked out the back door and was hit on the head by a LARGE spider that had been crawling along the top of the door. It promptly jumped down onto the deck and took off running. Would you believe my first thought was "Oh man, how am I gonna catch this thing?" A couple of months previously I would have screamed bloody murder and done some hysterical dancing!

(edited for bad spelling!)


This message was edited Tuesday, Feb 11th 11:55 AM

I would be doing the heeby jeeby dance in that situation, AG. I try to stay out of their way. My philosophy is if they don't bug me, I won't bug them. I know they are good bugs, but still...