# spider id? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641 "2003-09-14T23:58:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641/1 "2003-09-14T23:58:06Z")
Okay, I’m embarrassed that the pictures are so bad, but they’re the best I could do–it was morning, the window faces east, it’s a dirty window, and I’m not a great photographer. My daughter wants to know what kind of spider this is. It’s pretty large–I’d guess the body is at least an inch, though I may be overestimating. The lighter colored parts are actually red, though they didn’t turn out that way in the picture, but those bands on the legs are definitely red. I’d have thought it was a garden spider, but all of those I’ve ever seen were yellow and black, not red and black, and the body of this one is plain gray-black, not marked like the garden spiders I’ve run into. Also, there’s no white Z in the web, which I associate with garden spiders, wrongly or rightly. The web is really big, it takes up an entire window, stretching from the roof overhang down to below the windowsill, and the spider was there all morning, though it’s gone now. I’ve tried googling, and have been utterly creeped out by looking at all the different spiders. Anyone here know what this is? Is it just a freaky kind of garden spider, or something else? I’m in St. Louis, btw. [http://bothelungfish.com/shejidan/spider/spider.html](http://bothelungfish.com/shejidan/spider/spider.html) ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641/2 "2003-09-15T00:09:44Z")
Garden Orb Weaver, _Araneus_ species. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641/3 "2003-09-15T00:13:42Z")
Also known as the “Big-Ass Spider.” ---
**Author:** ![Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641/4 "2003-09-15T01:01:34Z")
That was quick, thanks! I googled “garden orb spider araneus” and found lots of pictures that were a similar shape but different colors, so I suppose there’s a lot of variety in the species, huh? Paidhi-girl is fascinated by it–she just announced from the top of her bunk bed that the spider is back (she’s supposed to be asleep, not peering through the half-closed blinds). Mr. Cameron, who hadn’t seen it this morning, wanted to know how she knew. “Well,” I told him, “it’s a big spider.” Me, I’m glad it’s outside. It looks like the ones I’m used to calling garden spiders are Argiope–those ones all seem to have that zigzag I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641/5 "2003-09-15T01:08:47Z")
OHH, Spider _I.D._ The concept of Spider Id was kind of a strange one to me. Back to the topic at hand: yyyyyuck. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641/6 "2003-09-15T04:40:26Z")
Can I ask for an ID? I took [this picture](http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/bobobob/spider.jpg) out the window of the 96th floor of the Hanncock building in Chicago. The window was covered in these things! What is it and why did it decide to make it’s home 100 stories up? What is it living on? ---
**Author:** ![Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641/7 "2003-09-15T05:23:06Z")
The Master Speaks–well, not on the species of your spider, but what it’s doing up there. [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mspiderballoon.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mspiderballoon.html) ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641/8 "2003-09-15T05:26:09Z")
The arachnid book is at work, but it looks like the common little garden spiders we have around here. As for how it got there, I’d guess “ballooning”. Newborn spiders release a cloud of web and drift off in the air currents. Ther can get to quite a height. Ever read “Charlotte’s Web”? There’s a good description of it in the part where her daughters all take off. I’d imagine there are enough bugs up there to keep it going or it would have let itself down to another location. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641/9 "2003-09-15T05:30:20Z")
:smack: And now I remember where I just saw somewthing about that! ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641/10 "2003-09-15T05:38:53Z")
**Bob55** , your spider looks pretty much the same as **Bren\_Cameron** ’s. Others have already answered how it got there and what it eats. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-id/201641/11 "2003-09-15T05:59:38Z")
Very interesting, thanks!