Got Spiders? What you need to know! (Spotted Orb Weaver Spider)

Got spiders all over your porch, deck and doors? Here is everything you need to know about orb weaver spiders and their beautiful symetric "wagon wheel webs". This particular orb weaver is known as a barn spider or more appropriately the Spotted Orb Weaver ( Neoscona crucifera). In this video I will explain how the webs are made, where they are made and why, whether these spiders bite and concerns about bites, different kinds of spider threads, the strength of spider silk, how spider silk is made, what spiders eat and what eats spiders, and why you see them so often on your back porch at this time of the year.
Special thanks to Eric Day for identification of the genus and species! Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension, Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech Insect Identification lab, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24961-0319
idlab‪@vt.eduardonorato9772‬

[@Lynn-vt4id]

As someone who crochets, I felt her excitement as her project got close to being finished. What they can accomplish is amazing!!

[@natureatyourdoor]

And she does it almost every night!

[@michellebailey6511]

I had an orb weaver make her web just outside my office window this summer. She left an egg sack against the window so I got to watch the eggs develop into spiderlings. It was so cool watching the eggs develop and change and eventually hatch and dispurse. I still have a bunch of them in little silk tunnels all around my window!

[@natureatyourdoor]

Pretty awesome! Thanks for share!

[@johnracki2258]

I dont generally like spiders, but the orb weavers and the jumping spiders are really cool.

[@natureatyourdoor]

They are! I an trying to film the jumping spiders! Spiders with personality!

[@miask]

LOL! If I see a spider in the grass or garden, I’m generally okay with it. If they make their way into my home-it’s war 🥺 One spider I love are the fall garden spiders. I love to watch them build those beautiful webs!

[@natureatyourdoor]

@@miask it is fascinating to see them build the webs!

[@brianquilty687]

Amazing ! Awesome to watch the female build her web ! Thank you Mr. Taylor !

[@natureatyourdoor]

You are welcome Brian!

[@thetwitchywitchy]

I dealt with extreme arachnophobia my entire life up until about 6 months ago when I found a few channels on youtube that have done an incredible job of helping me break down my fear. Jumping spiders were my bridge ❤ Seeing how cute their little faces are and how they move their heads to look at you and act like little cats completely broke thru the fear wall for me. After that first brick fell, I was able to see the beauty and incredible intelligence of arachnids. They’re all so incredibly unique! And for orb beavers, their webs aren’t just beautiful, but their engineering marvels!!! they are constantly checking and adjusting the tension of each strand, every Web they create is completely unique and no piece of it is by chance or accident, every strand has a purpose ❤ that’s so amazing!! I’ve become a total spider nerd lol i love telling anyone who will listen what i’ve learned, plus my adhd kinda takes over whenever i’m talking about something i’m passionate about 😂 i never could have predicted that id have any interest in spiders, i would literally fear cry and have a full on panic attack anytime I would see one, it was a very real, paralyzing terror. I thought every single spider was naturally aggressive, that they would intentionally drop on you and that they wanted to hurt you. I’m so grateful to the channels I’ve found on youtube for helping me remove that from my life. While I’m still afraid when I come across a large spider, I’m getting more comfortable every time I make the decision to stop and observe them than running from them.

[@natureatyourdoor]

Thanks so much for sharing your story! Hopefully it can help others with same! Funny that jumping spiders was your bridge! They are spiders with personality! And curiosity!

[@reliablyrandomoutdoors]

Great video mate, just had one of these spotted orb weavers setup shop in the door to my closet. Wife was none to happy about that LOL 😂 found your video on a little geek out session lol

[@natureatyourdoor]

I am all about geek out sessions!

[@Tammie4561]

Thank you! My window spiders cover the area with webs in the evening and they're all mysteriously gone in the morning. I've always wondered where they went, now I know.

[@natureatyourdoor]

Glad to help!

[@lalaland962]

I love spiders and watching them build webs, and I've seen some odd-looking webs.

[@natureatyourdoor]

Never get tired of it!

[@planetfroth]

Super cool! Thanks for making this video. I’ve always seen orb spiders starting in the summer and Southern California, the ones that make it all the way to winter get to be pretty big! Such hard workers, making it a whole web every night.

[@natureatyourdoor]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for taking time to comment and encourage me!

[@letstalkmoore9726]

I have a huge one on my deck near the light and I’m fascinated daily with the web and how she cleans it up every single morning

[@natureatyourdoor]

Yes! Glad you get to witness that amazing cycle!

[@staceyduncan9237]

My house I had in Riner would be covered up in the fall with Orb Weaver Spiders, sometimes I would place incects from under the porch in their webs

[@natureatyourdoor]

I drive through Riner almost every day!

[@staceyduncan9237]

I lived on Meadow Creek Rd (pigpath) Corky Duncan was my Father.

[@natureatyourdoor]

@@staceyduncan9237 small world. You know I taught at Radford High 30 years?

[@staceyduncan9237]

@@natureatyourdoor I do. I would have been the class of 88 if we didn't move to Riner. I would have enjoyed you being my teacher. Dorothy Sanchez was my Biology teacher at Auburn, my favorite subject by a landslide.

[@natureatyourdoor]

@@staceyduncan9237 just missed you! I started their in '85!

[@robinmcclellan1870]

Kinda creepy but very cool! Great video...again!

[@natureatyourdoor]

Thanks again! Spiders really creep me out too to be honest!

[@fishinforfun64]

Thanks, Frank! Have you heard of the new invasive "Joro" spider??? If you don't have them yet....YOU WILL! I started seeing them 2 years ago here in the North GA mountains! Since then their numbers have increase exponentially! They look VERY similar to a Garden Spider but, they live in colonies and spin huge golden orb webs surrounded by messy webbing on either side that's very STICKY! And they build webs at face height and above. Problem is, there seems to be a web every 15 to 20 feet! No joke! They are AWFUL!!! They really make hiking in the woods during late summer and fall miserable! If you think walking into a regular web is bad, you're in for a real treat with these guys! I feel they are a real threat to our native spiders! 😢

[@natureatyourdoor]

Oh boy. Yes..I have heard of them but haven't seen one yet! You know I ll have an episode when they show here! Thanks for the heads up! Yikes!

[@fishinforfun64]

@@natureatyourdoor , I didn't think much about it when I first saw them. But, seeing how they are multiplying, I'm getting concerned. You CANNOT walk in the woods without carrying a stick to knock the webs out of your path. Well, just go around it. Nope! You'll just walk into another one.

[@natureatyourdoor]

@@fishinforfun64 I have done that in the fall on AT when I was first one through in the morning! Ack.

[@noraharris3857]

Very interesting. Thank you so much. God bless you.

[@natureatyourdoor]

You are very welcome!

[@shawnaburns5158]

We used to have them in the county out on our farm scary but cool at same time my older sister traumatized me about them sadly ,,but they help get rid of annoying bugs

[@natureatyourdoor]

They do!

[@nbmooselovers]

Great video! I love spiders!! 😊👍

[@natureatyourdoor]

Thanks for visiting! I hope you will check out my spider playlist...as a spider lover, leave me comments on what you think of those videos!

[@nbmooselovers]

@@natureatyourdoor I sure will do! 👍

[@GojoDuck.]

Did you guys know that here in the Philippines we can make orb weaver fight we train them and then make them fight

[@natureatyourdoor]

No way! Whoooooaaaa! 😃

[@momnoah5]

How to learn Karate, Kung Fu and Tai Kwon Do all in 2 seconds flat: Walk into a spider web with spider in the dark. Honestly, I'm not an arachnophobe, but I don't want them in my house and walking into an unseen web or having one crawl on me gives me the creeps.

[@natureatyourdoor]

Too funny re...karate ..etc...

[@fn-2187bb8]

I 💛 X 8 Orb Weaver spiders!

[@natureatyourdoor]

They are so amazing to watch!

[@carmennunnally5776]

I wish we could sell their silk

[@natureatyourdoor]

Ha!

[@arasseo_wakarimashita3904]

Here i Philippines, we used it for spider derby.

[@natureatyourdoor]

! Fun ! Can you tell me more about the spider derby? 🙂

[@arasseo_wakarimashita3904]

@@natureatyourdoor . You can watched it here I. KZbin. Like rooster.

[@natureatyourdoor]

@arasseo_wakarimashita3904 send my a link my friend and I will certainly watch it! 😀

[@arasseo_wakarimashita3904]

@@natureatyourdoor kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3rZna2oibyXrpIsi=A0lSmQJY7e8uMsPJ

[@souless08]

can a harvestman spider kill an orb spider ? not one of them cobweb/cellar spiders but an actual harvestman spider.. I find it hard to believe they can but have seen evidence of it several times, twice in just the past week :( .. I love my orb spiders and will be mad if those stupid little long legged nothings are somehow killing them LOL Most every time i have seen one of my dead orb spiders dead outside, most every time there was a harvestman alive in the web..

[@natureatyourdoor]

🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 wow...I don't know...puzzling...will have to research that!

[@natureatyourdoor]

Well, harvestmen do eat spiders along with other prey! 🫤

[@souless08]

@@natureatyourdoor I think I found my own answer.. LOL "Harvestmen, also known as daddy longlegs, can be toxic to other spiders because they have a foul-smelling chemical mixture that they can spray or coat themselves in when disturbed. This substance can kill spiders and insects, but it's not the most toxic poison"

[@souless08]

@@natureatyourdoor I posted a reply earlier today and it got removed/erased? I posted the why and its gone now?

[@natureatyourdoor]

@souless08 I do not know...I never delete any comments (lol, even negative or when I get trolled, unless it is adult site spam) ! Can you repost?

[@user-eq9su6bk2n]

I just subscribed I'm not able to watch right now I love spiders

[@natureatyourdoor]

Do check out all my spider episodes! 😀

[@wandataylor6266]

I’m sorry Frank but I hate spiders 🫣. I can do the crazy dance if I walk into the web. We have them ugly things everywhere. They have even put webs between the power lines. I was wondering what that thing was. Now I know 😊 thank you for the info. The webs are amazing and artfully done. I do like they catch bugs and mosquitoes but I just freak out if I run into their webs.

[@natureatyourdoor]

I have done the crazy dance many times on hiking trails!

[@michellebailey6511]

I had an orb weaver make her web just outside my office window this summer. She left an egg sack against the window so I got to watch the eggs develop into spiderlings. It was so cool watching the eggs develop and change and eventually hatch and dispurse. I still have a bunch of them in little silk tunnels all around my window!

[@natureatyourdoor]

What a great opportunity to see up close...in total safety! 😉