At the end of the garden year, I generally have written my blog about topics such as what to do before the winter rains set in or how to store your tools for the season. But it seems that more often than not at the end of October, I write about the dilemma of the garden spiders being so active.
And boy! This year was no exception. In fact, I think they were out and about weaving their webs even earlier this year than in the past. Maybe it was because of the warm, dry summer and they were taking advantage of nice weather. Or maybe they are just increasing in numbers because of the abundance of food sources. I do not pretend to be able to figure out spiders. And, really, I try to appreciate them because they are such good garden helpers, ridding us of lots and lots of unwanted insects. But they still unnerve me with their eight hairy legs and their staring eyes. Eeew.
No wonder Halloween decorations generally include of spider webs. They are very creepy, especially when I find myself blithely walking down the path in the morning and have webs spread across my face. Sometimes even after I have already been down that same path a few hours earlier. No matter. Gotta give spiders credit for being unshakable and hardworking, though. They get out as soon as I leave and cover that same path in a matter of a few minutes.
Spiders are in our gardens – and sometimes in our homes – all year, but we see them mostly in the autumn because that is mating season. 99% of the time the male spiders are smaller than the females. In spite of the way it seems, spiders would still rather flee from us than bite us. Its only when we are invading their homes or webs that they get a little testy. And who can blame them in that case?
There was a very large spider – at least an inch and a half long – that set up housekeeping for about two weeks by our front gate. Luckily for the both of us, she wove her web to the side so I could watch her and not have to ruin her web to pass by.
My nickname for her became The Queen because she certainly controlled all in her realm. I was able to take photos of her so I could better identify her. I found out The Queen was an Araneus diadematus, or European garden spider. Although she is European, she and her kin are quite common in North America and specifically along the northern tier and in the Northwestern states. Upon further research, I learned that the coloring of individual spiders ranges from light yellow to very dark grey. But all the European garden spiders have the same type of mottled markings across their backs. They also have five or more large white dots that form a cross on their backs.
Interestingly, this type of spider weaves a new web every day, having eaten the previous day’s web in the night, along with all the creatures she has caught in it. This helps her to recycle the silk proteins in her system over and over. I did not notice The Queen weaving a new web each day, but she certainly might have. These garden spiders build orb webs, which are very geometrical in form so I might not have noticed the difference from one day to the next. The Queen sat in the hub of her web, face down, so she could better scoot over and inspect any prey unlucky enough to be caught. She would then cover it with more silk before ingesting it. In fact, this type of spider may not eat her prey at once after killing it, but leave it wrapped in silk until she was hungry.
The Queen would have mated with a male at some point this fall. Males must be very cautious when approaching a female spider for fear of being considered prey. After mating, the male will scurry off to safety so he can return and mate later with the same –or a different- female. But males can only mate a few times as they do not live as long as the females. The female then creates an egg sack whose size is directly related to her size, but not to the number of eggs contained in it. She keeps wrapping silk around the eggs, laying more eggs, and wrapping with more silk until a cocoon is formed. The Queen would then remain close by for several days in case any of the threads of silk would need to be repaired. Then she dies. The cocoon remains the same size while the spiderlings develop for a few more months, emerging in the spring. They are carried off in the wind to new locations where they in turn will live out their lives.
Even knowing all this about The Queen doesn’t make me want to be around her any more than I did before. She is still creepy and crawly.
Happy Halloween!
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