My new pet....

[nkjzmom]

An argiope aurantia...I can sit in my living room and see it right on the side of the porch. This is a website full of pics that helped me identify it....I can't decide if I'm fascinated or terribly frightened. Our's looks most like the 8th one down.

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~plank/plank/pics/spider.html

 

[Gaspode]

Oh my Goodness!!

Being arachnophobic I really shouldn't have looked at that just before bed time now should I?!?!?! I hope these things aren't native to the UK.... I'm sorry, I wouldn't be fascinated I would be sealing myself in the tiniest room in the house and screaming whilst doing it!!!!

Good Luck and Take Care,
Gaspode

 

[TIdoublegaER]

Yuck! At least its OUTSIDE! My newest "pet" is the mouse that has been running amuck in my house. Oh, if DH would only let me get another cat.

 

[sorcerormickey]

Oh my goodness!!!!!!!!

(I am also very scared that one of those pics is from Michigan! YIKES!)

 

[HauntedMansionGeek]

WOW!!

Very cool....a little scary, yeah, but really pretty neat looking!
We've had an over-abundance of hard shelled spiders this year, and we're calling them our "pets" as well!
Heck, some of 'em look like they'd eat a small dog if we'd let them!!

 

[DJGifford]

Oh my GOODNESS, I hate spiders...talk about being arachnophobic...I began screaming one day while my dh was driving down the highway...because there was a itty bitty teensy weensy spider hanging from the front windshield....lol, I thought he was going to kill me when I told him why I was screaming and jumping into the back seat!

 

[Adrianna]

My house feels like arachnophobia sometimes, spiders freaking everywhere!!! They know that if I see them, they're toast, or if my kitty sees them, they're dinner

 

[dianeschlicht]

OOOOO! He's pretty! I love to watch spiders. I can sit and watch them patrol their web for hours! We had a HUGE fat one with a very intricate web out on the kennel fence that I would go out and watch each night. He would catch moths and millers and flies and wrap them up for later consumption. Very interesting!

 

[jamsmom]

I am glad it is your new pet

 

[browneyes]

The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout...

My dd is terrified of spiders. I'm the resident spider squisher here.

 

[delswife]

*Screaming at the top of my lungs*

OHMYGAWDOHMYGAWDOHMYGAWD

I didnt know it was going to be a spider, and freaked out that the photo was so BIG!!!!

 

[magicmouse2]

I dont like spiders There was a 3 inch fat black one in my bedroom the other night. I shouted for DH to come and kill it. It started running away so I started shouting at DH for not getting there fast enough. He then got mad at me for shouting and said he wouldnt kill it. I took my pillow and slept in the girls room in DDs single bed, and shut the bedroom door. Last night I went back in my room and there was no sign of it. I am sure it is hiding in the laundry I didnt get much sleep I kept waking up to check for the spider.

 

[Aprille]

I had one of these outside my home office window a couple of years ago. I named her Charlotte and found her fascinating. She completely reweaved her web every morning. I watched her catch, wrap up and eat June bugs and baby wasps. She hung around for the "season" which was about 3 or 4 months. I was so disappointed to find her gone one morning. She layed a couple of egg sacs and I was hoping they would hatch the next season but they never did.

I took lots of pictures of her. If I can find time later today I'll post a couple.

DJGifford - your story cracked me up. LOL! Sorry you had such a scare but I can understand your DH's position too.

 

[debster812]

OK--I am SO (CAPITAL SO) glad I read this thread before clicking the link.

I'm right behind delswife *SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS* ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I am definitely wigged out by spiders. I have been known to vaccuum them up, and then duct tape the hose opening until DH can get home to dispose of them. (Like the velocity with which they are being sucked into the vaccuum is not enough to kill them, I harbor this irrational fear they will crawl back out. , I KNOW it's irrational, but it's my phobia, thankyouverymuch. )

 

[Snowysmom]

That is one really scary looking spider! Two years ago at AKL we saw a huge spider building it's web on the hand railing of the stairs from the parking lot to the Lodge. For a pet, I think I'll stick with my doggie.

 

[jipsy]

It's a garden spider. It eats bugs.

 

[nkjzmom]

Sorry that I gave so many of you a scare....that's how I feel too. Apparently, she'll lay hundreds of eggs that will hatch and live down in the bushes....I don't like the sound of that at all. I don't want to kill her, wait, really I do, but she's so big it seems cruel to now.

Deb, I'm just like you about spiders in the house. I will either vacuum them or spray them with something until they're dead, then SOMETIMES I can pick them up.

 

[Adrianna]

They actually do sound really interesting to watch, and I don't think I'll EVER see a bug around here, being as it's arachnophobia central. As long as they're OUTSIDE while I'm watching them, that's just fine with me, if I see them in here, TOAST I TELL YA!!!

 

[jipsy]

Last winter we had just crawled in bed and turned out the lights. Immediately, my BF turned them back on because he forgot to lock the front door. As he was getting out of bed, he spied this just above the bed on the wall:

It had literally taken it seconds to appear, because he wasn't there when we went to bed.

My BF hates spiders and it scared the begeezus out of him. LOL

 

[dianeschlicht]

Hey, most spiders are good guys that EAT the bad guys! Kind of like bats. I hope to see LOTS of bats at our new place and even intend to put up bat houses because they eat TONS of mosquitos!