After just a few weeks of not using our pool, the enclosure has turned into a spider haven. On Sunday, we (OK, Mr. Cube) caught 33 crab-like spiny orb weaver spiders (Gasteracantha cancriformis) and several egg sacks.
If you click on the above picture, you will get a better look at the thick mass of spiders.
Yikes.
This is what the little devils look like up close...
[The BLOG note: Disclaimer: all spiders were hurt in the making of this post.]
Yikes! Hope I never come across one of those spiders.
ReplyDeletesr-crab spiders are harmless and they haven't bitten any of us. We think they are kind of neat...though 33 plus egg sacks is pushing the welcome!
ReplyDeletetmw
they're beautiful~!
ReplyDeleteare they able to kill ratsnakes?
shover: I don't mind an occasional spider, but these things are thriving just too well in our pool enclosure.
ReplyDeletetmw: There you go. There's just too many of them. I hate running into their huge webs.
nanc: They are beautful... from afar ;-)
ReplyDeleteBTW the brave little snake that kept lunging at my hand coexisted
peacefully with the spiders in the pool enclosure.
I'm not sure that I've ever encountered a crab spider.
ReplyDeleteCan't say that I share Nanc's enthusiasm for these critters. Maybe I have mild arachniphobia. I've never liked spiders--except for daddy longlegs.
Spiders kill many harmful insects. They are our friends. Well, as long as they are in other people's yard/pools.
ReplyDeleteaow: Funny that you would mention daddy longlegs today of all days. My daughter was about to splat one & I stopped her.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'd feel differently if there were 33 daddy longlegs in my house.
jan: That they kill insects is my favorite fun fact about spiders. It's just that I don't want them outnumbering humans by a factor of 10 (or thereabouts).
Those spiders are BEYOND hideous and BEYOND horrid and BEYOND horrendous.
ReplyDeleteThey are what the word HITONIOUS was meant for.
I hope I don't have nightmares about those.
I see a lot of them around here. They are most interesting creatures. I really like your closeup shot. It is interesting how they are so small and have such an interesting appearance.
ReplyDeleteI haaaaaaate spiders.
ReplyDelete*shudder*
jill: I find it interesting that they find their way into our pool enclosure, and, thus keep their highly colored bodies away from birds. Smart little buggers.
ReplyDeletej.d. & brooke: I know they're harmless, but just looking at the writhing mass of spiders in that container was a bit disconcerting.
The photo just doesn't do it justice.
I think those spiders are pretty cool looking. Then again, I didn't find them in my pool. Had that been the case, I'm sure I'd have a different opinion.
ReplyDeleteHope you and the whole Cube clan had a good Thanksgiving.
To this day I cannot watch Aracnophobia or Eight Legged Freaks. Spiders freaking wig me out big time.
ReplyDeleteWe have an nice invasion of wolf spiders in our home every fall. We let them live for the most part, but we thin the heard every so often.
I found some myself, in our pool cage.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/calebk/2926289788/
I think those are beautiful spiders. The ones we have here in Michigan are OK, but nothing as colorful and interestingly-shaped as *that*.
ReplyDeleteCaleb K.: I guess it's a good survival technique for the spiny orbs. No birds can eat them inside a pool enclosure.
ReplyDeleteTim E.: Thanks for sharing the Michigan spiders. Yes, the fauna of Florida is quite colorful. You'd have a field day down here.
ReplyDeleteThe spiny orbs - we call them crab spiders, for short - also make intricate webs which catch the morning light beautifully.
I have no problem with a few of them... it is the sheer number of them that makes us uneasy.
Awesome spiders. I thought they were rare until one of the readers over at Insect POD linked to this.
ReplyDeleteNice pictures. 33 is a little much, though I would probably take a couple as a pet, even though I'm very arachnophobic.
I want to know how to get rid of the Crab Spiders. Their almost opaque-- they get so thick- webs are a real problem in my pool cage. How do I get rid of them. There are just twoooooooooo many of them.
ReplyDeletethanks
Anonymous: We hit the spiders with bug spray and destroy the egg sags whenever we see them. It has helped in recent years.
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Those would scare me to pieces. Yikes. Now I wish I hadn't clicked on that bowl. Yikes those are ugly.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ☺
Sorry you were shocked but I'm glad you came. It's a window into my past that I'm glad to share. Those spiders are still getting into the pool enclosure. It gets worse every year.
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