Check out this Jewel!

We have been having a banner year for Spiders .
When big huge (for alberta) one's started showing up in my yard I was facinated. I have about 4 in different corners , this one is on my daughters club house so she's not using it at the moment.
The tv has said they won't kill you and these will bite but only if really bothered so I'm leaving them for now.
The neat thing is they are big enough to watch as they wrap up the bugs they catch.
this one has a body as big as a quarter with the legs sticking out from there.

Cool critter shot annabell! What's the name of this spider?

LOLOLOLOL Ann I just finished (yesterday) posting a picture of the Jewel Spider in one of trois' threads.



This message was edited Aug 30, 2006 12:17 PM

Erynne
Pam is right she is a Jewell spider. Each one is a different color but they all have the distinctive horns on their backs. This photo has her facing down so the horns look like eyes and eyebrows.
I think she is neat.
Ann

I actually made up thread on them yesterday in my journal Ann: http://davesgarden.com/journal/d/t/Lilypon/4220/

A female's abdomen can get up to three inches across (when she is pregnant) ;S My parents used to have a few monsters in their yard over the years (fav spot was under the carport). The pregnant females would actually made thumping noises when they crawled under the corrugated plastic sheets. Their bite will only make you swell and itch ....... I stopped going under there when they got big.

My dentist neighbour said one got into his basement bathroom (pretty rare since they normally don't come inside) and he was grateful he was on the toilet cause she gave him quite the scare. ;)

I see it now! Looks like a little face! You're so much braver than I am because if I knew I had something that bites out in the shed, I would never go in there,lol. Did you get a photo of them catching prey? That would be neat to see close up.

Erynne

Excellent photo Ann. Boy, he/she is a big one if it's the size of a quarter. Spiders are such fun to watch.

Thanks Pam I will have a boo.

Erynne I will need to sit and wait for that but they seem shy and usually curl up when I stuff the camera at them. She seems busiest at night, I will have a go one evening and see if I can get the photo without blinding her with the flash, LOL She is fun to watch and I will see if I can get the food chain at work.
Thanks Broots
Ann

Hey Guys
In reading Pam's info I now realize that I had Jewel spider babys on my house earlier in the spring and didn't know what I had. I took this photo and it's a bit blury but there was millions !( almost)
Ann

Wonderful pic Ann!!!!

They truly are an amazing spider. I think I was 8 when my parents first noticed one and my mother caught it and took it to the Parks and Rec folks to have it ID'ed. For years that spider gave me the willies and I was so happy when we moved to the Battlefords and it was unknown to people there. However two years before we moved I saw a large female in my yard and the next spring the babies were covering our Blue Spruce trees waiting for a gust of wind to come along. The next year we saw them at every gas station we stopped at on the move down. It seems they too have quite a population spurt at times.

This year the ones I've noticed are under the lights on our garage and outside the upstairs bathroom window. Both locations are often lit and they live by the saying "build it and they will come."

I've come to really respect them since I notice when a few of them are in residence the population of nasty bugs drops dramatically.

Wow! I just found one in my garden. I was wondering what kind it was to have such a fat bum...lol. I guess your spidey likes to pose not mine. Here is a picture of mine.
:) Donna

Pam
With a spider that big they must eat tons! I'd say they are a plus in the garden.
Great shot Donna!
I have had a facinating time watching mine so maybe she isn't too shy anymore.
Can you see the "cat face' on yours?
Ann