The not-so-itsy-bitsy spider in my garden
I can't really explain why she's smiling so big -- I think we were both a little delirious over this spider -- this spider and the million billion trillion little ones that must be in that humongous egg sac. OMG! O!M!G! Eeeeewwwwwww.
We both took a bunch of pictures. ; ) At one point, I was squatting right behind her and a leaf from a too-tall plant (okay, a weed) brushed the inside of my thigh and I jumped and she jumped and we were laughing and yelling and shaking in our Birkies and she was very glad that she didn't fall INTO the spider.
I don't know if this is a brown recluse or not -- we seem to be a little north of its normal area and, from what I've read (yeah, you really want to be googling "recluse spider" and looking at all THOSE pictures before bed...), it's very often confused with other spiders. That just didn't seem to be the kind of information to put me at ease, you know... that there are THAT many spiders BIG enough and UGLY enough and SCARY enough to be easily mistaken for each other.
This is on one of my gigantic Blue Angel hostas that flank the front walkway. Yeah, the mailman and everyone walk right down this walk everyday. I'm not sure what, if anything, to do. I don't want all those baby spiders around my house -- or IN my house -- sure, they're cute when they're little, but look at what happens when they GROW UP!!
Come into my web, little girl....
Posted by: Cara | 17 June 2006 at 09:07 AM
Vicki, the baby got bit last year by a spider and we thought it was a recluse and did a lot of googling. You can't count on it NOT being one based on your zone. These days, so many things get moved around from place to place that they end up in places they arent usually seen. However, with it nesting outside, its probably not one. Those little buggers like cardboard boxes and clothing/fiber to hide in.
Posted by: Carla | 17 June 2006 at 10:24 AM
Maybe one of them will grow up to save a pig - "SOME PIG".
Posted by: deb | 17 June 2006 at 10:24 AM
I love the hosta..the smiling face....you can definitely keep the spider! We have fat, juicy spiders, daddy long legs and all kinds of spideys in our old farm house ALL year round...believe me, I am not checking any spider compendium to know what's crawling around my house! Enjoy your spider!
Posted by: Cynthia | 17 June 2006 at 12:19 PM
My first instinct... smash the sucker. But they are good at controling other insects. Do the pros outweigh the cons. Nope I'll stick with smash the sucker.
Posted by: Karen | 17 June 2006 at 01:06 PM
Ugh. I'd smush it, too. Me hates spiders (especially the BIG ones with babies on the way)!
Posted by: Lori | 17 June 2006 at 02:25 PM
Uhh... I guess bad karma if you kill all those little baby spiders, but I sure wouldn't want them in close proximity to MY house, either!
Can you wait until she plants the egg sack, then cut off the spider-y portion of the leaf, and move it somewhere far away? Empty lot down the street, local park, something like that?
If anyone comments on how your hosta is missing a big chunk of the leaf, just tell them it had an egg sack full of gross scary baby spiders. I'm betting they'll understand.
Posted by: Erika | 17 June 2006 at 03:33 PM
Uhmmmm, no advice here. I don't know what kind that one is, but I am not so much of a spider bleeding heart. Leave it at that. I know some people get all protective and possessive and militant about not killing a spider. I'm a country girl. If it happens to be in the way of my pitchfork or in my path where I like to walk, like right in front of my front door or something....oh, well. I mean I wouldn't go out of my way to smush one and I'm not afraid of them, per se...I just have a country girl's view of life, I guess. I'm not going to weep over a spider that I happen to step on. There are plenty more where that one came from. :) And last year I had a nest of spiders hatch in my little home office and they were so tiny as to be almost invisible, but something kept biting me, repeatedly over a few days while sitting at my computer. I finally realized it was baby spiders. I was NOT a happy camper!
Posted by: Norma | 17 June 2006 at 04:15 PM
Vicki: It must be spider-week. I posted about spiders this week, too! I love to see Mother Nature at work. Those spiders really are the original fiber artists, don't you think? Have a great weekend.
Posted by: Jennifer | 18 June 2006 at 06:03 AM
My first reaction is yuck!!!!
Posted by: Kathy | 18 June 2006 at 06:06 AM
I second Erika's suggestion... maybe plop the spider maternity ward leaf into a plastic box with a lid and take it elsewhere more spider friendly... like the woods, a forest, anywhere outside a 25 mile radius of your house. Just make sure it will be a plastic box you can afford to lose, just in case you get the mad willies during your catch and release effort and drop the box and run.
Still in these cases I always go with what my hubby says, "I don't care if they are Nobel Prize Winners, there IS such a thing as a spider too big to let live".
Good Luck
Posted by: Stephieface | 18 June 2006 at 08:48 AM
Vicki, I don't believe it's a recluse, it is kinda hairy - which recluses aren't. Also recluses are very small and have long legs. They prefer to live indoors in quiet protected places like closets and garages and such. About a half inch including the legs, that's pretty small. My mom got bit once and didn't realize what was wrong for weeks. She still has the scars, I was really irritated with her for ignoring her wound till it was scary big. Here is a site with a decent photo:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/junior_naturalists/arachnids.phtml
Besides the recluse, the black widow is the only other spider that is dangerous and neither is really aggressive.
Posted by: Julia | 18 June 2006 at 09:05 AM
Whenever I find a spider my first reaction is to yell for the husband or the son to deal with it.....after that I've no idea what happens, I'm usually safely behind a door or up on a chair.
Very mature - I know.
Posted by: cursingmama | 19 June 2006 at 09:12 AM
The little spiders will disperse on their own, no need to worry about an infestation.
Posted by: shelly | 19 June 2006 at 10:22 AM
Great pictures, Vicki! I like the idea of transporting the spider (or at least the sac) to another location. Not that I'm a spider lover, but... it isn't the baby spiders' fault their mama is putting them close to your home. :)
Miss you,
Jen (and X and O, too!)
Posted by: Jen | 19 June 2006 at 11:54 AM
Um, Vicki, that spider looks like a wolf spider to me, and they carry their babies on their backs. Not just the eggs, but the spiderlings as well.
We used to have them at the summer cabin and I was plain terrified of them. That's a spider that is just too big.
You were very brave to get close enough for a picture.
Posted by: Mary in Boston | 19 June 2006 at 09:37 PM
In case you want to do more research
http://www.ento.okstate.edu/ddd/insects/wolfspider.htm
When you google wolf spider, lots of pictures show up. It's rather unnerving.
Posted by: Mary in Boston | 19 June 2006 at 09:39 PM
EWWWWWW...where do you live exactly? ... because I don't think I will be visiting any time soon. Squish it! Sadly, I am an environmentalist with a bad case of arachnophobia.
Posted by: Kim in Toronto | 12 July 2006 at 01:03 AM