The not so itsy bitsy spider.

Dag, some of those names would be good for Farmer's cat!

... my avatar is starting to look like a spider to me, too. I'm gonna change it.

sorry, piffka....

I haven't read every single entry. Just wanted to say, brown recluses are in Houston - I knew a woman who was bitten by one.

It's okay... I change avatars all the time.

So much spider knowledge!

Thank you all for your help.

I'm thinking it was not a hobo because it did have striped legs and clearly there are other non-orb building spiders in the area.

I'm not sure if it was big enough to be a gigantic (more saucer sized than dinner plate sized) but it was very much bigger than the typical house and garden spider we see around here.

That was an interesting article, Piffka, thanks for the link.

My neighbor warned me early in the summer to expect a terrible spider season. We didn't have a freeze last year which, I guess, sets up perfect conditons for them to florish.

If today is any indication - it must be near 80 degrees - we might not have a freeze this year either. Perhaps I will plan to spend late fall elsewhere next year.

I can't even imagine getting close enough to look at a spider's eye configuration, dagmarka! Oh no no no no no no no.

I wonder if spiders come bigger and smaller than any other variety of living thing.

I know I have seen one gigantic house spider though. My vision is something like 20/200. Terrible. Even with glasses I can't see distance very well. One day I was sitting on the sofa and saw something skitter down the hall. I told Mr. B and he didn't believe me - thinking I could never have seen something so small from so far away. Then the cat got into the act, started knocking the spider around a bit like she would a mouse.

THEN Mr. B believed me!

I completely believe that bit about never being more than three feet from a spider. That's why I've been known to drink.

aye, aye. i am most creaped out by daddy longleg spiders, though they're not so big and are perfectly harmless. those legs though..brrrr. i was once looking sideways and i saw some slow shimmer on my shoulder - one stick, two sticks, first i thought it's my hair in the wind, but no... spider legs... aaaaaaaaaah. i was jumping around for good five minutes, shaking imaginary spiders off.

If you have a garden, it is fascinating to go out at night with a powerful torch (flashlight to many of you) and angle it across the lawn, as close to the ground as you can get, and then into thick parts of the garden.


It is amazing how many spider etc eyes shine back at you!

errrr. i'll wait to hear about it from others...

Me too!

I am NOT going out in the garden at night searching for spiders.

Meanwhile -- today we work working in the yard when Mo started dismanteling the retaining wall and found one of what I think is a hobo spider. I ran in to get my camera but the spider had gone. It did however leave its nest of eggs behind. Now I'm trying to figure out if I can identify the spider from the nest.

Here's the nest, reproduced a bit larger than life size (Warning: this might not be for the squeamish)