Writing Spider

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Naturalbeauty Virginia Beach, VA Aug 12, 2019

I have a gorgeous black and yellow garden spider (Writing Spider) that I've been watching all season. From the moment she made her web, mating and now with her egg sac. The only dilemma per se is that she has hung her finely crafted creation on the exterior door knob of my utility room. Knowing that she will stick around until first frost and the sac will remain until spring....at some point during the next several months, I will inevitably need to access this door. Can I safely relocate the sac without harming her or her brood?

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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Aug 12, 2019

You should be able to carefully detach the egg sac from its moorings and move it to a safer place. You should avoid placing it on top of a bush, or anywhere that wouldn't provide some sort of winter protection. If you have any tall grass or other dense vegetation that is largely unmanaged (including weeds), that will do just fine. As you likely already know, the eggs will hatch in the autumn and the spiderlings will overwinter within the sac.
Should you decide to move mama as well, use a forked stick to remove the sector of the web that the spider is occupying and the place the stick with spider and web in a location where it will be possible for her to spin a new web. Sometimes, a female will construct three of more egg sacs during her life.

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Naturalbeauty Virginia Beach, VA Aug 12, 2019

Thank you! So far she's only constructed one hefty egg sac (I was fortunate enough to witness this at 1:30am). Shortly after, she she went back up her web and consumed a meal she had saved from the previous day. I will try to find a safe location for them both but will only relocate when absolutely necessary. She is definitely a magnificent creature and has brought me countless hours of enjoyment observing her.

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Spidey_123 Stone Mountain, GA Aug 16, 2019

She has made her web, I guess I’m just waiting for egg sacs!

This message was edited Aug 17, 2019 1:58 AM

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Post #10441507
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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Aug 17, 2019

Did you move her?

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