We have a new pal - a Golden Silk Spider, better known as a banana spider. She is amazing and we watch her with much interest. When we got home I noticed her in a large web hanging on the outside of our screened porch. I am very brave since she is outside and I am inside. She is very good looking and about 3 inches total including her long, striped legs. Her body is dark with yellow spots and she is very busy. The web is about 4 feet around and she constantly rebuilds it. We've had some severe rains and wind and she hides while the web is blown around and then repairs and adds to it. She is quite aware of me and Ziggy and doesn't flinch when we observe her from inside the porch. When we go outside and get too close she runs high up on the web and waits until we leave to come down.
This morning she has a dragon fly in the web and it is decomposing. Yesterday she devoured some kind of small bug and I saw two more insects in the web. Most interesting is a thick zig zag pattern in the center of the web where she hangs out. I read on Wikipedia that her silk is the strongest thread known. Also read that her venom can give quite a reaction, although not fatal to humans. Pretty amazing. Tomorrow the exterminator is coming and I'll have him move her to a tree near our porch. She is very interesting, but the web kinda creeps me out.
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