Our new visitor

That's pretty cool. We call them banana spiders in IL too. They use to be very common around here south if Chicago but I haven't seen one in years.

The babies will be less and less every day. They won't stick around long. They are not aggressive at all and just think of all the flies and other bugs they will eat. Tell your mom to give it a week or 2 and they should all be gone.

I'm so very jealous!

I had one of these as a "pet" when I was young. She built a giant web outside my bedroom window in the flowerbed, and I used to catch baby crickets every evening and feed them to her. It was so cool to watch her wrap them up!

When my mom called an exterminator for our silverfish problem, I cried because I just knew he'd kill her. He came while I was at school, and I couldn't bear to go home and see her gone. But when I finally couldn't put it off any longer, I came walking slowly up the driveway, and as I lifted my eyes to where her empty web would be, she was there!

Apparently my mother showed her to the exterminator and told him to make sure he didn't hurt her, so he was careful to spray around her, but not too close.

The next morning she was gone and so was her web, and I fell apart all over again. Two days later, she had a new web in a different place. I caught crickets for her for 2 hours. She stayed with me for another month, then my idiot brother hit her web when he mowed the lawn and she left for good.

I used to see them a lot, but I haven't seen one for several years now. I miss them dearly. Maybe you could catch a few of the little ones and slip them into a film canister and mail them to me ? I'd love to have some again.

Gale

I would if I knew how to go about catching them in a film container and then again, how to ship spiders. :confused:

LOL


Actually, I've seen people with T's do it. Apparently, you use something small and thin like a piece of paper or a feather or something to coax them to crawl onto said object and then you gently tap them off into chosen container.

Shipping would be tougher though, with this heat I doubt they'd make it. But I can still dream. I miss seeing those beautiful creatures so much.

Maybe next year I'll plan a trip to your neck of the woods and see if I can round up one or two to bring back home. If you should happen to find yourself with any more pictures of her, I'm more than happy to see them.

Gale