Mom hates bugs of any kind. So when she investigated what Riley and I were staring at on the patio floor and found it was a small lizard caught by a spider’s web, she set the little guy free.
She then got her broom and started knocking down the many webs around the patio floor, furniture and ceiling, finally moving outside to get any there. Imagine her wide-eyed, try-to-hold-it-together, freeze-in-place look when she saw this creature under the house eaves just outside the screened patio.
The markings on its back look white in the pic but are yellow. Notice the distinctive web design in the lower left of the bottom pic. It looks like a phone cord.
Can anyone tell us
- What kind of spider this is and
- If it is dangerous and
- If Mom should kill it? (she is leaning toward death to all spiders)
(Notice I got to use my counting skills!)
Oh, and did I mention it is big!
Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess with Lucy and Chia 
The “Let it live” votes rule. Vive Charlotte the writing spider.
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ahw, just leave it in peace…like I said, it is a useful pretty creature and will never enter your home or bite you!
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Yaaaaaay!
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Hi Noodle! You have tipped the scales. Charlotte lives.
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1) Orb weaver/garden spider
2) Not harmful to you
3) Let it live! They make the most beautiful webs and remind me of Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web!
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OMD, you are right! And so is my brother, calling it a writer or writing spider. Another name for the same thing. Also, I see it is a female. Gorgeous? I guess beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. So now we are tied with 3 death votes and 3 live votes.
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this looks to me like the yellow garden spider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_aurantia
A beautiful and useful animal that is not interested in interning a house or biting a human. I think it is gorgeous…Cheers Johanna
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Well, that left no room for doubt. Thanks, Cupcake. (You ate a butterfly?) (Are there really such things as alien spiders?) (*shudder)
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I think this is two votes for death to the spider. My brother texted and said it is a writer spider and they are good and eat all the bad things. So he and my dad both vote for a stay of execution.
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Yikes! That web is bizarre and that spider may be an alien. Mom and I are in favor of death to all spiders – especially ones from outer space. Also death to all bugs and ants and flies and gnats and once I even ate a butterfly. Kill it.
Love and licks,
Cupcake
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Lexi!! I usually like spiders cause mom likes spiders….they kill ants…her phobia. However, this spider looks dangerous. A real killer. Stay away my friend. I don’t trust him. From here, he looks silver…maybe a nasty spider wearing a good spider suit, MOL
(((Shoko)))
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Do you mean you get caught in their webs? Oh my! So are you voting death to the spider?
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This seems to be the year of the spider. I have never seen so many in Florida. At night, they seen to go from one tree to another 40 feet away. i am constantly getting caught by them . NOT A FAN!!!!
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