Trying to help Cammy catch a toad today in the garden I ran right into this beauty's web. The picture doesn't do her justice. This is absolutely the biggest banana spider I have ever encountered....bigger than my mother's tarantula. She is nestled quite comfortable near the garage and the compost pile near the garden and she is queen supreme. There were tons of baby spiders all in her web. I generally leave all garden spiders alone including this one but I must say the movie Aliens, with Segourney Weaver keeps running through my mind. I had just gotten through with baking up three batches of delicious banana bread when we went out to dump the banana peels and scraps. We walked around the yard and found some other interesting spider hangouts. Take a look at this funnel web.
Let's just say Mrs. Spiders Tea Party was definitely on our reading list for the night. Cammy wants to delve into the world of arachnids now and I'm all for it. I was planning on a worm study to start the school year off but spiders it is.
We already had a few books in the house but we have read them all already so we are in need of a trip to the library.
When the neighbors got home Cammy went running yelling that there was a spider as big as mom's camera. I was amazed at what she already knew....she told me about Anasazi trying to sell wisdom and that spiders eggs can hatch up to ten thousand babies....creepy considering my pottery studio is crawling with them. I usually don't have the heart to kill them. I will usually just try to sweep them out the door.
Well, I'm going to have sweet spidery dreams Anasazi.
Our resident Miss Spider has caught a tasty butterfly for a snack today. Yesterday Cammy was amazed by this beautiful spider's size. Today upon seeing what a large appetite the spider had she was a bit frightened. It really struck her that a spider could eat something as big as this large butterfly. She got quite frightened for my life when I was trying to get a close up shot....we do not have a powerful zoom camera, so I had to reach up pretty close. We checked on her progress several times throughout the day and by late afternoon there was no sign of the cocooned butterfly anymore. Apparently Miss Spider was very hungry.
