new house guest

[wreckless]

fortunatly he sleeps outside.
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/files/1028843_rbrsf/new-guest.gif

it's a banana spider, and from what i read/was told they are not deadly but do possess a
neurotoxin much like the black widow, though not as powerful. a day or two of pain and blistering is
what you are most likely to get. he's camped out right next to my front door, but i think i may
move him to a less visible location.

[candymanjl]

dang, doesn't look to friendly :) good picture!

[95VicChik]

hey hun i think i'm good...u can keep him, he looks comfy where he is lol!

[Rex-Si]

Well I studied entomology for 10 years with Florida Pest Control so I'll share some knowledge.

Thats actualy a Black and Yellow Garden Spider more commonly known as a "zipper spider".
http://hartmanprehistoricgarden.com/sp-argiope-f.jpg
This spider it has its own unique web, that may be more than two feet in diameter. At the center of the web, this spider makes a dense area of silk that often gives the appearance of a zipper or a zigzag line of webbing.

Spiders undergo several molts before they are fully grown. If they do not shed their skin they die. The skin molts and splits open in a special way. First, the spider injects a liquid called "molting fluid" between its outer old skin and its newly developing skin. The way that the old skin splits is crucial. If it cracks open in the wrong places, or at wrong angles, the spider dies.
Once the old skin is loose, splits appear along the sides of the body and in front of the eyes. But no horizontal split occurs across the body. The vertical split along each side of the body and the one crosswise in front of the eyes form a flap of skin.
Like a person pushing up a hinged trap door the spider pushes up the flap. It pushes and pushes and pushes until the flap drops back over the abdomen. Out of the opening wriggles the spider.

So you learned some usless info on just how awsome a "bugs life" is when you study them in detail and learn what makes them tick.

[Rex-Si]

http://www.flnature.org/photos/Argiope_aurantia_5,_Saint_Cloud,_20040621.jpg

http://www.flnature.org/photos/Argiope_aurantia_4a,_Tallahassee,_20020615.jpg

http://www.flnature.org/photos/Argiope_aurantia_1a,_Tallahassee,_200009.jpg

Just a few more shot's I dug up that I thought looked pretty good.

[CivicBeater]

that's pretty crazy info! Cool stuff.

[wreckless]

Right on! so i guess we'll keep him. i just looked up some stuff about them and i saw one that killed a cicada. if they kill and eat those stupid things, IT CAN STAY!

[Matt S.]

Mike, locals call them "writing spiders" because of the zig zags in their web. Feed it bugs, they get fricken HUGE.

[ruthlesscx]

umm nah!
no thanks me and bugs dont get down like that!
looks cool and all but if hes by my house hes gonna get evicted!
(had a big tranutla living in the basement and paid me a long visit one night!)
great pic by the way!