I love orb weavers! Such amazing spiders! I have been meaning to cover them. Thank you for giving them some love and sharing all of this awesome information! I learned a lot!
Please do! I know that some people keep orb weavers as pets, but I've heard that they need larger enclosures to give them enough room to build their beautiful webs. (Maybe the spiny-backed would be more reasonable in this regard since it builds a smaller web?) As much as I enjoyed this video on orb weavers in the wild, I'm also curious how they would be as pets.
When I was little, my family had a playset in our backyard and there was a garden spider that made a web on part of it, I remember I named her Charlotte like from Charlotte's Web and god, I loved looking at that spider every time we got to go outside and play- It now makes me really nostalgic whenever I see any kind of orb weaver, and they're probably some of my favorite spider species to be discovered, not only are they pretty, but they're friendly, and they make huge webs that are like artwork in a museum
I own a pretty big snake and people are always surprised when I mention my fear of spiders it's a leg thing, the more legs the scarier. Snakes are legless!
When I was an archaeologist, fall field surveys would sometime take us through southern Minnesota crp grasslands loaded with yellow garden spiders. Like easily a dozen in a hundred yard transect. We had to wade through the shin or knee high grass, and if you didn't dodge the webs you'd often end up with a very big, very confused spider coming along for a ride.
@@emilycosgrove1656 you can definitely be a successful archaeologist with arachnophobia, as long as you're willing to accept that working outside will result in spider encounters from time to time and you make plans for that. In archaeology, you're usually working with a team, so letting your colleagues know your fears ahead of time is important so everyone can plan accordingly. I had a dig partner once with arachnophobia, but she let me know ahead of time. If a spider ended up in our excavation unit, I could remove it right away and keep us on track. As for field survey, walking through tall grass or the woods will definitely require some facing your fears, but I would say 99% of my days I didn't even see a spider, even when I was deep in their habitat, because your job is to walk quickly and scan the ground, not look around for spiders 😜. Honestly, I would say archaeology helped me become much less nervous around all kinds of spiders and insects, just because being around them all the time makes them seem a lot less creepy. Hope that helps!
We found a garden orb weaver in our backyard once and my stepdad started treating it like a pet. He would catch grasshoppers and other insects and plant them in her web for her. She was very calm and seemed appreciative. As someone who grew up with really severe arachnophobia, she helped to lessen my fears. To this day, orb weavers are still my favorite type of spiders.
We had one too!! Our dad loved it and showed my sister and i that we could catch grasshoppers and crickets and *yeet* them onto the web and she loved them- the bugs in our yard didnt stand a chance once we realized how cool the spider was when capturing and eating the bugs 😂
Me too! At my grandmas house we had a ton of them! One special one lived on our porch, and she was our beloved guard spider, she lived for around 1-2 years and never bothered us, we gave her grass hoppers and and those annoying little red and black bugs that like to be annoying, we were very sad when she died, but another one took her place, and the line continued after that one passed
I love spiny-backed orbweavers. They come in lots of different color combinations of white, red, black, yellow, orange, and green. The bushes in front of my front windows used to have several spiny-backed orbweavers in them, but the big Texas freeze last February killed the bushes. Honestly, since the freeze I haven’t seen nearly as many orbweavers (we have garden spiders and banana spiders in this area as well) as usual. Hopefully they come back in the coming years.
I came to texas for Thanksgiving and me and my friend saw a really pretty, what we think is an orbweaver, on our walk. It was really pretty and we just left it alone, and on our way back to their house we checked on in to see what it was doing. Its web was beautiful as well.
I love this channel because literally every type of person can learn from Emily…. Obviously she’s great at educating kids… but I have a degree in evolutionary biology and work as a science writer, and I genuinely learned several things I’d never heard of before in this video!
I found one walking in the rainforest in Queensland, the usual way people find them, by walking into it. I just peeled it off my face, spider included, and it was fine. Apart from the mild heart attack because I didn't know anything about spiders at the time...
I used to be terrified of them- to the point I tried to stab a wolf spider with a chef's knife. (I missed and the spider survived.) Then my parents decided to rent out a house in Cape Cod for vacation one year and the place was infested with them. When they wouldn't let me sleep in the car, I decided to stay up for the whole week long trip. I made it to about 4AM the first night before passing out. I feel asleep the rest of the night more or less on time, but never really felt safe doing so. (I had a flashlight and a pocket knife on the nightstand next to me- I didn't think a shoe would work on them they were so large.) The last night, I woke up in the middle of the night and it was dead silent save for a very slight tapping noise. I looked in the direction it was coming from and saw a massive wolf spider running around next to a nightlight- from the other side of the room. It eventually ran back into the darkness and disappeared. Noticeably shaken, I pulled the blanket up over my head, tucked the edges up so that they were not on the floor (to stop it from climbing into my bed) and tried to go back to sleep. I'd been in that house five days and had yet to be bitten. Fast forward two weeks and I'm playing unofficial IT guy at my mother's school. (Since the school's actual IT guy thought it'd be a good idea to wait until the first day of school to set up everyone's computers.) As I was untangling the snake's nest of cabling that had haphazardly been shoved into a computer cart the previous June, I notice something crawling around. It was just a small cellar spider, and, while it might have normally sent me running out the door screaming, this time, probably resulting from the uncomfortable, but necessary, interactions with wolf spiders, I didn't. I figured I could actually put an end to my arachnophobia and actually picked it up. The strange thing is, I went from absolutely terrified of them to incredibly fascinated. And while I've had yet to pick up a tarantula (they are not exactly native to Maryland,) I've handled VERY large wolf spiders. Its now at the point where I actually want to find them in my basement, were as before I'd be going for a shoe, knife, or rifle.
I really REALLY appreciate how you shot and edited this video! It's a little bit of a silly thing, but I have a built-in mild arachnophobia. Like looking at them for too long or too close makes me anxious. But I really like learning about spiders because they're amazing. What I really like is that you show them in a lot of angles, with shots back to Emily. Which makes it a lot easier for me to learn about the orb weavers without making my silly brain go "AAAAAAAAAA SPIDER DANGER". Hearing about them is really great too because if I encounter one outside now I probably won't be startled because I know about them now.
I love spiders in general. My garden is full of them because I had two golden silk roaming out there and each one had babies not long ago, they do a wonderful pest control and their webs looks amazing when the sun shines. Also, yesterday I discovered two Aphonopelma seemanni in the backyard and immediately fell in love (just Costa Rica things right here 🤣).
floridian here- we have sooo many spiny orb weavers in our lanai lol. we have no idea what they even eat, since it's screened in, but they're thriving!
orb weavers are so beautiful. As a kid my brothers and I saw a spiny orb weaver in Florida on vacation, it was red with black or black with red markings and we were like "woah it's a Darth Maul spider!" we'd never seen a spider with spikes before lol This summer we had a huge yellow garden orb weaver in my yard (in Arizona) for a while before she left, mostly black and yellow with some red near her body, so pretty.
within a minute and 15 seconds I learned more about spiders than I ever thought possible. 1) Never knew spiders could make both sticky AND non-sticky webs! 2) NEVER KNEW THEY HAVE TOES!!! This is why I follow you guys! Thanks so much for your work, commitment, and love to creatures of all sorts!
The Golden orb weavers in South Africa are also huge, but what I love most is that only some of the threads is made of the golden silk, and you can pluck it like a guitar string. It's so cool.
As someone who spent almost a decade in the southeastern United States, I can pretty confidently say that your 3" diagonal leg span for the Golden Orb Weaver, might be a bit conservative. I never stopped to pose one on a ruler, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them were over 5 inches.
I have these spiders hanging around my house all the time. In fact, there is one living by my sliding glass door. It's been amazing to see it grow from a tiny little baby to the size of a silver dollar!
The spiny back spiders are everywhere in my yard in Florida! They're really cool, they honestly remind me of crabs lol. I love their pointy fancy hats!
Hey I'm also from Florida! I've seen a TON of them living together all over the sea grape trees in my neighborhood. The most I've found on one tree was 16! Those trees are almost like garden spider apartments.
Argiope aurantia is my favorite spider because my favorite colors are black and yellow. One summer, I actually refused to mow or weedwack a corner of our yard because one of these ladies built her web there. I'm so happy you included them!
Jumping spiders are sooo cute and fun to hold. Love the blacks and whites ones with the crazy fluorescent green on them which i believe is the male of species
@@denigong9708 Oooh, you mean Phidippus audax/Bold Jumping Spider? Those are really cool looking! Their Chelicerae are stunning and vibrant. :D Plus, they are apparently less shy than Zebra jumping spiders or regal jumpers. Though, I feel like it's just because they have 'Bold' in their name that people might think they're more adventurous. I feel like jumping spiders in general are all very friendly and curious, regardless. lol And yep, you're correct, the males are darker and have the bright coloured chelicerae. :3 Some have orange spot or stripe markings on their abdomen and/or legs. They're all super pretty! Some even look like they have a little heart in their abdomens along with the spots.
I love orb weavers!!! I got to have one as a friend when I went to Texas for a couple months last year. I'd go out on the porch and have coffee while watching her hang out, sometimes talk to her. I named her Lady Grey, and she was there for about 3 weeks before a storm washed her out.
WOW! I have never EVER heard of the spiny backed orb weavers before! I'm googling them right now totally at awe of their different looks! :D Thanks for teaching me something new as always!
Yay! Love that these amazing cuties are getting some attention! I actually own a yellow garden spider named Banana. Watching her grow bigger every molt and feeding her grasshoppers, moths, and the occasional cricket has been a blast! I also love seeing how her web changes everytime she decideds its time for a fresh web. ^-^
I’m in fl. I have at least 2 different species of orb weavers in my yard rn. Now that I know they are harmless and docile unless threatened, they are now my pets.
Neat little fact: I believe the spiny-back orb weavers may have been inspirstion for the Gold Skulltulas in Ocarina of Time since they have spikes/spines on them too. (Edit: updated to the Gold Skulltulas, double checked that)
Orb weavers are awesome! One of my favorites is the orchard orb weaver (genus Leucauge). They have shiny silver and gold markings, making them look like dazzling little jewels sitting in their webs. The first time I saw one I almost couldn't believe it was real, because of how pretty it was.
The outtakes caught the Spinyback making their web tuft! They put them on their web similar to how the Garden does the zipper pattern. Definitely helps to not run into them. When I lived in SC, the Spinyback webs were actually really big, and the anchor silk would even go from the ground to low tree branches. Pretty crazy.
I think spiders are neat and I've never had much of a fear of them at all. They are very cool to be able to work and live along side EXPESUALY to get rid of mosquitos.
Ok so, I've always had a fear of spiders, especially the weird shaped ones, but TBH this video kinda helped me with that, especially with the bloopers and the little spiny back one stopped to repair the web it was kinda cute, and like, my anxiety kinda dissipated. Thanks for being so cool and educating about things!
This is literally my favorite spider! The spiny backed orb weaver specifically! Gasteracantha canciformis is local to me and I've always loved them and their amazing webs. I'm at work so k haven't watched the video yet but I'd love to see these guys available as pets at one point in the future. Not much is known about their care, I'm trying to work on that.
Orb weavers are such a cool kind of spider! We have a good chunk of Furrow Orb Weavers that make their webs on the outside our house on our windows, both male and female! It’s so cool observing them; in all honesty, I’m pretty sure orb weaver spiders have become my all-time favorite spiders 🥰
So we had one of these on our porch when I was growing up. My parents called it a banana spider (this was in Tampa, Florida near a creek if anyone wants to figure out what it was - and I swear it was like 3-4 inches wide, maybe bigger is if the legs were flattened). Idk which it was, but I am pretty scared of (read as: terrified) spiders and my dad paid me a nickel every time I closer to this GIANT YELLOW SPIDER. If anyone is wondering how that went, I am still scared of spiders and make my husband some take care of most bugs and spiders. But I try to not kill ones that don't seem poisonous, however we live in brown recluse (how do you spell that??) territory.
Orb weavers are my favorite spider! Cross orb weavers are everywhere where I live and I got the opportunity to see yellow garden spiders on a trip to Virginia. They make such beautiful webs and I felt blessed when 6 of them chose my porch as a home this summer💜
I love when my neighbors call me to come get spiders! We get tons of spiny-backs and wolf spiders, but it's a real treat when they call me for bananas! There are some woods nearby our neighborhood that surely must be growing a crazy population of relocated arachnids. 😬😅
I'm trying to get over my fear of spiders but at the moment the only spider I would willingly hold is a jumping spider because of how adorable they are. Thank you for introducing me to them!
My Nana's house would get absolutely infested with the yellow garden spiders like they're at least be 10 all around her house sure they're completely harmless but having about 10 spiders watching you while you're outside walking around isn't exactly comfortable
Aww, I have spiny backed orb weavers in my backyard! They are so cute and make such beautiful webs. I’m glad to see no mosquitoes or pests near my plants because of them. Thank you orb weaver spiders. ❤
Neat! There was a big spider on the outside of my work building earlier this year. It looked cool, but sadly I had to remove him due to the fact that he was right next to a high traffic area and my female coworkers were terrified, lol. I wonder if he was a type of orb spider?
If the spider was big, it was most likely a female -- and you could've said "a few of" your coworkers were scared to remove the apparent gender bias. ✌
I've been learning more about spiders since moving to PR last summer. I saw a black and white garden spider at the park and just had to stop to admire her! Stunning web and spider!
Sorry em.. i wanna support you by watching this but my arachnophobia perked up at the sight of it so I'm sorry!!! 😭😭😭😭 Ill just listen to it for this video 😢
Spiders are so cool and fascinating! I'm glad you did this video and got the footage. They're very beautiful and unique. The footage at the end with the Spiny Backed Orb Weaver is so cool to see it making it's web n stuff!
Loved this! There used to be a couple gorgeous black and yellow orb weavers with webs spread out along the bushes by our old house, they were fascinating to watch and super calm and chill spiders.
I love your videos, I love reptiles, spiders, bugs, and Amphibians they’re just beautiful creatures and I really support your channel and I even subscribed!😃
Informative video. I have seen garden spiders all my life, and i too was somewhat intimidated by them, thinking that they could deliver a really nasty bite. It's good to know that they are harmless and helpful in controlling garden pests.
I live in a part of Georgia that was invaded by masses of Golden Orb Weavers this year! I had six in my backyard! (and in front of my front door but she was relocated to a better spot near a light post on the edge of the property). I loved watching them this year, I'm hoping they stick around for next year.
We get zipper orb weavers and some chonky round bois where i live. i always called the zippers that just because of the webs, i never knew it was an actual common name for them.
I've always been a neurotically tidy gardener until I noticed the small orb weavers love the Hosta & daylilly stems after the flowers fade. I can tolerate a messy look to give the kids their first place to spin & they eat bugs for me. Love the spiders now that I've gotten over a childhood phobia, they're so cool to watch weave.
I love orb weavers! They are what got me fascinated with spiders as a kid! I found one in my backyard in Wisconsin one summer. I would feed it grasshoppers and watch it wrapped them up!
I LOVE Orb Weavers!!! I did my Masters degree on Micrathena gracilis and Micrathena mitrata. Micrathena is another genus of orb weaver that has spines.
Such a cool video! The more I learn about spiders, the less my arachnophobia affects me. I couldn’t really watch this video per se since every time I see the spindly looking spiders I have this visceral fear response that I have no control over but I really like your enthusiasm and the way you present the information. Hopefully one day I can come back to this video and appreciate the spiders in a more visual sense :)
@@denigong9708 best of luck on your journey to defeat your fear. I feel like having the ability to learn about rather than just scorn and fear a thing really speaks volumes about someone’s character and applies to more than just phobias. Even if you and I can’t ever fully get rid of this misplaced instinct, maybe we can still use our knowledge to defeat stereotypes and misconceptions. After all, if we can have an appreciation for something that causes an involuntary fear response, why not try and get others to have a new perspective!
Those garden orb weavers are where I truly track my fear of spindly spiders from because when I was like 5-6 I walked out a door without looking and ran right into a web with one on it and it crawled on me and my little soul almost left my body. Ever since, whenever I see one I panic. Truly testing myself watching this.
I actually have free range Furrow Orb Weavers around the lamp by my bed over the summer and those build their webs from the outside in. It's actually really relaxing to watch them do it. They are much much smaller than the orb weavers discussed in this video.
Orb weavers look cool and I love their webs! They're artists without even realising! Plus, they're good little helpers in gardens. Good little leggy bubs.
I currently have a western spotted orb weaver. She has layed 2 egg sacks. Saved her as i found her bug spray day at the apartment. Very spoiled happy girl now
I have to be honest spiders are one of the only things that scare me but you have helped me through that fear. I used to be scared of tarantulas but you helped me over come that thank you
I found a shamrock orb weaver a couple years ago right in my yard- caught a glimpse of it's butt under a leaf when I was taking the garbage out, caught it and absolutely fell in love with it
We had one in our yard in NC. We named it Banana Sprinkles and checked on it every day. When it died we saved its exoskeleton and studied it. It was awesome for this homeschooling mom.
When I was a kid, there was a garden orb weaver outside in front of the living room window. Me and my little brother named him John Marshall. 😂 We loved that spider, every morning we would run to the window and open the blinds to check on John Marshall. He was there for at least a few months and I have a lot of fond memories from that time.
Nope. Lol. You managed to change my mind on snakes. I love and appreciate them now. But you can’t change my mind on spiders. They give me the heebie-jeebies.
Great info…. Deff should’ve mentioned orb weavers are one of it not the only spiders that breakdown their webs when the sun starts coming up and rebuilds their beautiful webs as the sun starts to set… pretty amazing to see
we had a beautiful yellow garden orb weaver living on our front porch a few years back! we called her charlotte, and i still miss her sometimes to be honest. she was a big reason i stopped being afraid of spiders-- she was just so cool, and i saw her every day, it was hard to be creeped out
I love that reptile channels have started to branch out to spider content I love garden spiders. I saved a large female from a bunch of kids.... they were throwing rocks at her. I managed to save her and educate the kids on her importance to the ecosystem and what they would benefit from leaving her alone. I think I already got through to some of them so that's a bonus!
I'm arachnophobic (although I've strangely always been okay with tarantulas) but I definitely appreciate the orb-weavers we get here in Oregon. They don't come in the house, they stay in one place (and generally out in the open where I notice them before running into them), and they keep the insect population down. 10/10 spiders, as long as they're not crawling on me we get along just fine. xD There was one that lived right outside my friend's apartment for so long that she actually named it and we all kind of treated it as a friend. It'd shake its booty at you when you approached the door--super cute. :)
When I lived in Florida, my favorite thing to see was the "banana spiders" coming out full force. I've seen many of them have webs around 10 ft in diameter. They're great web builders and were known for connecting tree canopies in my neck of the woods. Very funny when your dad accidentally drives thru a big web on his lawn mower and gets one as big as his face on him lol. Adore these big ladies
I had a yellow garden spider in my front yard once, but past control had destroyed its beautiful web and utterly destroyed me because I knew they were harmless and grew attached to it. Such beautiful spiders. Fun fact, the yellow garden spider's silk (if all the silk would be condensed to a block) is the strength of steel. Its string is like a very thick thread and apparently scientists have wanted to try to recreate the strength of the silk
Absolutely obsessed with orb weaver spiders. They are so neat and interesting! Had the one that has the zig zag design always build its web in our doorway in 1st grade. I would always spend 10 to 20 minutes catching moths for the spider and throw them in her web. Treated her like an additional pet. Moved after that year but she did leave an egg sack so maybe next generation made it.
I have garden spiders in my yard all the time they’re gorgeous! I love spiders! Not to touch but for what they do! Thank our for this video as I’ve never seen a spiney spider!!! So cool!
I had an orb weaver that used to put up a Web in front of my porch every night, then by morning it was gone and it would be under a leaf on the tree nearby during the day. I loved that thing. I'd turn on the light every night to help feed it.
These spiders are so cool to watch. During the summer they would take advantage of our flower pots and use them to help build their webs. I think it's so fascinating to watch them grow and hunt. it's a privilege not everybody has and those who do aren't always aware just how lucky they are. They were two that even layed a egg once but I never saw them hatch. but it was cool non the less to see them.
I love orb weavers! Such amazing spiders! I have been meaning to cover them. Thank you for giving them some love and sharing all of this awesome information! I learned a lot!
When I saw this on my feed, I thought it was your video 😂
Hello Mr Clint
Please do! I know that some people keep orb weavers as pets, but I've heard that they need larger enclosures to give them enough room to build their beautiful webs. (Maybe the spiny-backed would be more reasonable in this regard since it builds a smaller web?) As much as I enjoyed this video on orb weavers in the wild, I'm also curious how they would be as pets.
I'd love to see a video about them from you, Clint!
I love your videos, especially the spotted salamander one
When I was little, my family had a playset in our backyard and there was a garden spider that made a web on part of it, I remember I named her Charlotte like from Charlotte's Web and god, I loved looking at that spider every time we got to go outside and play-
It now makes me really nostalgic whenever I see any kind of orb weaver, and they're probably some of my favorite spider species to be discovered, not only are they pretty, but they're friendly, and they make huge webs that are like artwork in a museum
This is such a cute comment 🥰
I love this. What a great comment. 💜
Thank you for that beautiful comment. :)
That is awesome, since Charlotte's Web is based on exactly on her being the same species.
I own a pretty big snake and people are always surprised when I mention my fear of spiders
it's a leg thing, the more legs the scarier. Snakes are legless!
So by that logic millepedes are the spawns of satan for you? Lol
@@snakewithapen5489 Millipedes are kinda cute. It's the centipedes that I really hate.
does that mean you are scared of crustaceans
My mom likes spiders and loves snakes but she is terrified of lizards because they have legs 😂
I’m sorry but… a snake with centipede legs.
Now that’s a hell spawn for you.
When I was an archaeologist, fall field surveys would sometime take us through southern Minnesota crp grasslands loaded with yellow garden spiders. Like easily a dozen in a hundred yard transect. We had to wade through the shin or knee high grass, and if you didn't dodge the webs you'd often end up with a very big, very confused spider coming along for a ride.
Excuse me I want to be an archaeologist but I also have severe arachnophobia do you have tips for this not happening
@@emilycosgrove1656 you can definitely be a successful archaeologist with arachnophobia, as long as you're willing to accept that working outside will result in spider encounters from time to time and you make plans for that. In archaeology, you're usually working with a team, so letting your colleagues know your fears ahead of time is important so everyone can plan accordingly. I had a dig partner once with arachnophobia, but she let me know ahead of time. If a spider ended up in our excavation unit, I could remove it right away and keep us on track. As for field survey, walking through tall grass or the woods will definitely require some facing your fears, but I would say 99% of my days I didn't even see a spider, even when I was deep in their habitat, because your job is to walk quickly and scan the ground, not look around for spiders 😜. Honestly, I would say archaeology helped me become much less nervous around all kinds of spiders and insects, just because being around them all the time makes them seem a lot less creepy. Hope that helps!
@@fablehill Thank you!!
We found a garden orb weaver in our backyard once and my stepdad started treating it like a pet. He would catch grasshoppers and other insects and plant them in her web for her. She was very calm and seemed appreciative.
As someone who grew up with really severe arachnophobia, she helped to lessen my fears. To this day, orb weavers are still my favorite type of spiders.
We had one too!! Our dad loved it and showed my sister and i that we could catch grasshoppers and crickets and *yeet* them onto the web and she loved them- the bugs in our yard didnt stand a chance once we realized how cool the spider was when capturing and eating the bugs 😂
@@nonyabeeswax366 not to mention just how aesthetically BEAUTIFUL these spiders are!
@@monicamunir4552 YES! They are gorgeous spiders, for sure!
@@nonyabeeswax366 I bet that spider was very grateful for all the food offerings. Probably thought they were at an all you can eat buffet. Lmao!
Me too! At my grandmas house we had a ton of them! One special one lived on our porch, and she was our beloved guard spider, she lived for around 1-2 years and never bothered us, we gave her grass hoppers and and those annoying little red and black bugs that like to be annoying, we were very sad when she died, but another one took her place, and the line continued after that one passed
I love spiny-backed orbweavers. They come in lots of different color combinations of white, red, black, yellow, orange, and green.
The bushes in front of my front windows used to have several spiny-backed orbweavers in them, but the big Texas freeze last February killed the bushes.
Honestly, since the freeze I haven’t seen nearly as many orbweavers (we have garden spiders and banana spiders in this area as well) as usual. Hopefully they come back in the coming years.
I see them all the time and I always walk into there webs
the broodmothwr
They look like Pokemons XD
I came to texas for Thanksgiving and me and my friend saw a really pretty, what we think is an orbweaver, on our walk. It was really pretty and we just left it alone, and on our way back to their house we checked on in to see what it was doing. Its web was beautiful as well.
I hope those orbweavers are doing okay after that and found some kind of foliage to make homes again. ;w;
I love this channel because literally every type of person can learn from Emily…. Obviously she’s great at educating kids… but I have a degree in evolutionary biology and work as a science writer, and I genuinely learned several things I’d never heard of before in this video!
A+ Good rhythm, just the perfect amount of information delivered at the perfect pace with no annoying extraneous words or empty pauses. Well done.
Garden orb weaver are possibly my fave spider ever, even above jumping spiders. They're just stunning and their web is so unique and beautiful!
I found one walking in the rainforest in Queensland, the usual way people find them, by walking into it. I just peeled it off my face, spider included, and it was fine. Apart from the mild heart attack because I didn't know anything about spiders at the time...
hjalfi I would’ve had a freaking panic attack if that happened to me 😂
I usually am not a fan of spiders, but that, is just AMAZING! 💛💛💛
But do you watch Spiderman??
That would be interesting for you of what you think.
@@JoDON111 ive never watched spider man... personally i dont understand the hype
@@JoDON111 I love spiders but I would have to say that watching Spider-Man and being afraid of spiders are too completely different things
I used to be terrified of them- to the point I tried to stab a wolf spider with a chef's knife. (I missed and the spider survived.)
Then my parents decided to rent out a house in Cape Cod for vacation one year and the place was infested with them. When they wouldn't let me sleep in the car, I decided to stay up for the whole week long trip. I made it to about 4AM the first night before passing out. I feel asleep the rest of the night more or less on time, but never really felt safe doing so. (I had a flashlight and a pocket knife on the nightstand next to me- I didn't think a shoe would work on them they were so large.) The last night, I woke up in the middle of the night and it was dead silent save for a very slight tapping noise. I looked in the direction it was coming from and saw a massive wolf spider running around next to a nightlight- from the other side of the room. It eventually ran back into the darkness and disappeared. Noticeably shaken, I pulled the blanket up over my head, tucked the edges up so that they were not on the floor (to stop it from climbing into my bed) and tried to go back to sleep. I'd been in that house five days and had yet to be bitten.
Fast forward two weeks and I'm playing unofficial IT guy at my mother's school. (Since the school's actual IT guy thought it'd be a good idea to wait until the first day of school to set up everyone's computers.) As I was untangling the snake's nest of cabling that had haphazardly been shoved into a computer cart the previous June, I notice something crawling around. It was just a small cellar spider, and, while it might have normally sent me running out the door screaming, this time, probably resulting from the uncomfortable, but necessary, interactions with wolf spiders, I didn't. I figured I could actually put an end to my arachnophobia and actually picked it up.
The strange thing is, I went from absolutely terrified of them to incredibly fascinated. And while I've had yet to pick up a tarantula (they are not exactly native to Maryland,) I've handled VERY large wolf spiders. Its now at the point where I actually want to find them in my basement, were as before I'd be going for a shoe, knife, or rifle.
I really REALLY appreciate how you shot and edited this video! It's a little bit of a silly thing, but I have a built-in mild arachnophobia. Like looking at them for too long or too close makes me anxious. But I really like learning about spiders because they're amazing. What I really like is that you show them in a lot of angles, with shots back to Emily. Which makes it a lot easier for me to learn about the orb weavers without making my silly brain go "AAAAAAAAAA SPIDER DANGER". Hearing about them is really great too because if I encounter one outside now I probably won't be startled because I know about them now.
You definitely need serious therapy if seeing an image of a spider makes you go into panic. You need serious mental help
I love spiders in general. My garden is full of them because I had two golden silk roaming out there and each one had babies not long ago, they do a wonderful pest control and their webs looks amazing when the sun shines.
Also, yesterday I discovered two Aphonopelma seemanni in the backyard and immediately fell in love (just Costa Rica things right here 🤣).
floridian here- we have sooo many spiny orb weavers in our lanai lol. we have no idea what they even eat, since it's screened in, but they're thriving!
orb weavers are so beautiful. As a kid my brothers and I saw a spiny orb weaver in Florida on vacation, it was red with black or black with red markings and we were like "woah it's a Darth Maul spider!" we'd never seen a spider with spikes before lol
This summer we had a huge yellow garden orb weaver in my yard (in Arizona) for a while before she left, mostly black and yellow with some red near her body, so pretty.
Yas
Not gonna lie, that darth maul spider line was adorable
within a minute and 15 seconds I learned more about spiders than I ever thought possible.
1) Never knew spiders could make both sticky AND non-sticky webs!
2) NEVER KNEW THEY HAVE TOES!!!
This is why I follow you guys! Thanks so much for your work, commitment, and love to creatures of all sorts!
The Golden orb weavers in South Africa are also huge, but what I love most is that only some of the threads is made of the golden silk, and you can pluck it like a guitar string. It's so cool.
As someone who spent almost a decade in the southeastern United States, I can pretty confidently say that your 3" diagonal leg span for the Golden Orb Weaver, might be a bit conservative. I never stopped to pose one on a ruler, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them were over 5 inches.
I 2nd this. Ive seen a lot at a easy 5 inches pushing 6
Same here the ones I saw at my camp when I was like nine were huge I’d say like four or five inches long
I have these spiders hanging around my house all the time.
In fact, there is one living by my sliding glass door. It's been amazing to see it grow from a tiny little baby to the size of a silver dollar!
I love jumping spiders.
Still can’t get myself to love orb weavers, but I can appreciate them from far far away.
The spiny back spiders are everywhere in my yard in Florida! They're really cool, they honestly remind me of crabs lol. I love their pointy fancy hats!
The second part of the scientific name „cancriformis“ means crab shaped :D
Ive always called them crab spiders budd so you're right on the money. Like everyone i know calls them that
Hey I'm also from Florida! I've seen a TON of them living together all over the sea grape trees in my neighborhood. The most I've found on one tree was 16! Those trees are almost like garden spider apartments.
Argiope aurantia is my favorite spider because my favorite colors are black and yellow. One summer, I actually refused to mow or weedwack a corner of our yard because one of these ladies built her web there. I'm so happy you included them!
These are my favorite spiders besides jumpers!🖤
Jumping spiders are sooo cute and fun to hold. Love the blacks and whites ones with the crazy fluorescent green on them which i believe is the male of species
@@denigong9708 Oooh, you mean Phidippus audax/Bold Jumping Spider? Those are really cool looking! Their Chelicerae are stunning and vibrant. :D Plus, they are apparently less shy than Zebra jumping spiders or regal jumpers. Though, I feel like it's just because they have 'Bold' in their name that people might think they're more adventurous. I feel like jumping spiders in general are all very friendly and curious, regardless. lol And yep, you're correct, the males are darker and have the bright coloured chelicerae. :3 Some have orange spot or stripe markings on their abdomen and/or legs. They're all super pretty! Some even look like they have a little heart in their abdomens along with the spots.
I love orb weavers!!! I got to have one as a friend when I went to Texas for a couple months last year. I'd go out on the porch and have coffee while watching her hang out, sometimes talk to her. I named her Lady Grey, and she was there for about 3 weeks before a storm washed her out.
WOW! I have never EVER heard of the spiny backed orb weavers before! I'm googling them right now totally at awe of their different looks! :D
Thanks for teaching me something new as always!
I love these spiders! They're so cute
Orb weavers helped me overcome my fear of spiders! They usually stay in one place, are amazing to observe and are beautiful! ps - love the bloopers!
My family always called the spiny orb weavers armored spiders glad I know more about them !
Yay! Love that these amazing cuties are getting some attention! I actually own a yellow garden spider named Banana. Watching her grow bigger every molt and feeding her grasshoppers, moths, and the occasional cricket has been a blast! I also love seeing how her web changes everytime she decideds its time for a fresh web. ^-^
I’m in fl. I have at least 2 different species of orb weavers in my yard rn. Now that I know they are harmless and docile unless threatened, they are now my pets.
Neat little fact: I believe the spiny-back orb weavers may have been inspirstion for the Gold Skulltulas in Ocarina of Time since they have spikes/spines on them too.
(Edit: updated to the Gold Skulltulas, double checked that)
the broodmothwr
That sounds more like an opinion than a fact 😆
@@zarabailey2960 not my fact
Orb weavers are awesome! One of my favorites is the orchard orb weaver (genus Leucauge). They have shiny silver and gold markings, making them look like dazzling little jewels sitting in their webs. The first time I saw one I almost couldn't believe it was real, because of how pretty it was.
The outtakes caught the Spinyback making their web tuft! They put them on their web similar to how the Garden does the zipper pattern. Definitely helps to not run into them. When I lived in SC, the Spinyback webs were actually really big, and the anchor silk would even go from the ground to low tree branches. Pretty crazy.
I think spiders are neat and I've never had much of a fear of them at all. They are very cool to be able to work and live along side EXPESUALY to get rid of mosquitos.
This is what Emily can acomplish when she edits instead of going on the stream to watch rex XD
🤣🤣
Ok so, I've always had a fear of spiders, especially the weird shaped ones, but TBH this video kinda helped me with that, especially with the bloopers and the little spiny back one stopped to repair the web it was kinda cute, and like, my anxiety kinda dissipated. Thanks for being so cool and educating about things!
Those are one of my favorite spiders, thank you!
Love the educational content! And spiders! And snakes!
This is literally my favorite spider! The spiny backed orb weaver specifically! Gasteracantha canciformis is local to me and I've always loved them and their amazing webs. I'm at work so k haven't watched the video yet but I'd love to see these guys available as pets at one point in the future. Not much is known about their care, I'm trying to work on that.
I am coming to the snake discovery zoo for my 14th birthday you are my FAV RUclipsr, keep doing what you do!
Orb weavers are such a cool kind of spider! We have a good chunk of Furrow Orb Weavers that make their webs on the outside our house on our windows, both male and female! It’s so cool observing them; in all honesty, I’m pretty sure orb weaver spiders have become my all-time favorite spiders 🥰
My favorite spiders! That's soo cool i learned something new about their webs. Thank you God for such unique and interesting creatures. 💗
they're all so pretty! all the outtakes really show how hard it is to film outside LOL the wind, the bugs, the distracting leaves...
great video! just watched the dark den's video about a orb weaver spider:)
Agree
Same
I love the golden silk orb weaver . They are so cool !! Their web is really strong and they eat it afterwards to reuse it .
So we had one of these on our porch when I was growing up. My parents called it a banana spider (this was in Tampa, Florida near a creek if anyone wants to figure out what it was - and I swear it was like 3-4 inches wide, maybe bigger is if the legs were flattened). Idk which it was, but I am pretty scared of (read as: terrified) spiders and my dad paid me a nickel every time I closer to this GIANT YELLOW SPIDER.
If anyone is wondering how that went, I am still scared of spiders and make my husband some take care of most bugs and spiders. But I try to not kill ones that don't seem poisonous, however we live in brown recluse (how do you spell that??) territory.
Orb weavers are my favorite spider! Cross orb weavers are everywhere where I live and I got the opportunity to see yellow garden spiders on a trip to Virginia. They make such beautiful webs and I felt blessed when 6 of them chose my porch as a home this summer💜
I love when my neighbors call me to come get spiders! We get tons of spiny-backs and wolf spiders, but it's a real treat when they call me for bananas!
There are some woods nearby our neighborhood that surely must be growing a crazy population of relocated arachnids. 😬😅
I'm trying to get over my fear of spiders but at the moment the only spider I would willingly hold is a jumping spider because of how adorable they are. Thank you for introducing me to them!
I remember when I was young, I watched a wild Kratts episode on orb-weavers and it blew my 6-year-old mind lol.
Garden orb weavers are the spiders that always gave me the heebie geebies as a child playing outside😂
My Nana's house would get absolutely infested with the yellow garden spiders like they're at least be 10 all around her house sure they're completely harmless but having about 10 spiders watching you while you're outside walking around isn't exactly comfortable
Aww, I have spiny backed orb weavers in my backyard! They are so cute and make such beautiful webs. I’m glad to see no mosquitoes or pests near my plants because of them. Thank you orb weaver spiders. ❤
Neat! There was a big spider on the outside of my work building earlier this year. It looked cool, but sadly I had to remove him due to the fact that he was right next to a high traffic area and my female coworkers were terrified, lol. I wonder if he was a type of orb spider?
If the spider was big, it was most likely a female -- and you could've said "a few of" your coworkers were scared to remove the apparent gender bias. ✌
I've been learning more about spiders since moving to PR last summer. I saw a black and white garden spider at the park and just had to stop to admire her! Stunning web and spider!
Sorry em.. i wanna support you by watching this but my arachnophobia perked up at the sight of it so I'm sorry!!! 😭😭😭😭 Ill just listen to it for this video 😢
Spiders are so cool and fascinating! I'm glad you did this video and got the footage. They're very beautiful and unique. The footage at the end with the Spiny Backed Orb Weaver is so cool to see it making it's web n stuff!
How was Emily able to do this video without holding a reptile? She must have been itching for a snek.
4:22 That necklace is so pretty!!
I kinda was interested but kinda not due to my arachnophobia but these are good videos so I don't mind watching them
The creature that is a cause of an excessive amount of pain in grounded, yeah sure I'll watch this video.
the way i literally squealed w delight at the spiny backed orb weaver. what a unique color pattern and shape!
Loved this! There used to be a couple gorgeous black and yellow orb weavers with webs spread out along the bushes by our old house, they were fascinating to watch and super calm and chill spiders.
I love your videos, I love reptiles, spiders, bugs, and Amphibians they’re just beautiful creatures and I really support your channel and I even subscribed!😃
Informative video. I have seen garden spiders all my life, and i too was somewhat intimidated by them, thinking that they could deliver a really nasty bite. It's good to know that they are harmless and helpful in controlling garden pests.
I live in a part of Georgia that was invaded by masses of Golden Orb Weavers this year! I had six in my backyard! (and in front of my front door but she was relocated to a better spot near a light post on the edge of the property). I loved watching them this year, I'm hoping they stick around for next year.
We get zipper orb weavers and some chonky round bois where i live. i always called the zippers that just because of the webs, i never knew it was an actual common name for them.
I've always been a neurotically tidy gardener until I noticed the small orb weavers love the Hosta & daylilly stems after the flowers fade. I can tolerate a messy look to give the kids their first place to spin & they eat bugs for me. Love the spiders now that I've gotten over a childhood phobia, they're so cool to watch weave.
I love orb weavers! They are what got me fascinated with spiders as a kid! I found one in my backyard in Wisconsin one summer. I would feed it grasshoppers and watch it wrapped them up!
My moms backyard is literally covered in those garden spiders. My mom loves her spiders.
I LOVE Orb Weavers!!!
I did my Masters degree on Micrathena gracilis and Micrathena mitrata. Micrathena is another genus of orb weaver that has spines.
Such a cool video! The more I learn about spiders, the less my arachnophobia affects me. I couldn’t really watch this video per se since every time I see the spindly looking spiders I have this visceral fear response that I have no control over but I really like your enthusiasm and the way you present the information. Hopefully one day I can come back to this video and appreciate the spiders in a more visual sense :)
Knowledge is power. I'm the same way the more I learn about individual species of spiders the less I'm afraid of them in the more I respect them
@@denigong9708 best of luck on your journey to defeat your fear. I feel like having the ability to learn about rather than just scorn and fear a thing really speaks volumes about someone’s character and applies to more than just phobias. Even if you and I can’t ever fully get rid of this misplaced instinct, maybe we can still use our knowledge to defeat stereotypes and misconceptions. After all, if we can have an appreciation for something that causes an involuntary fear response, why not try and get others to have a new perspective!
Those garden orb weavers are where I truly track my fear of spindly spiders from because when I was like 5-6 I walked out a door without looking and ran right into a web with one on it and it crawled on me and my little soul almost left my body. Ever since, whenever I see one I panic. Truly testing myself watching this.
I love your out-takes - I always wait for them!
Orb weavers are my favorite, so thank you for making this video!!!
I actually have free range Furrow Orb Weavers around the lamp by my bed over the summer and those build their webs from the outside in. It's actually really relaxing to watch them do it. They are much much smaller than the orb weavers discussed in this video.
This is so amazing. I love spiders in general and this was just so fascinating. How about to anyone else??
Orb weavers look cool and I love their webs! They're artists without even realising! Plus, they're good little helpers in gardens. Good little leggy bubs.
The spiny backed orb weaver is my favorite spider! I find them in my yard all the time. They remind me of Shadow ships from Babylon 5 :)
I currently have a western spotted orb weaver. She has layed 2 egg sacks. Saved her as i found her bug spray day at the apartment. Very spoiled happy girl now
So happy for another amazing video!
I have to be honest spiders are one of the only things that scare me but you have helped me through that fear. I used to be scared of tarantulas but you helped me over come that thank you
I found a shamrock orb weaver a couple years ago right in my yard- caught a glimpse of it's butt under a leaf when I was taking the garbage out, caught it and absolutely fell in love with it
We had one in our yard in NC. We named it Banana Sprinkles and checked on it every day. When it died we saved its exoskeleton and studied it. It was awesome for this homeschooling mom.
When I was a kid, there was a garden orb weaver outside in front of the living room window. Me and my little brother named him John Marshall. 😂 We loved that spider, every morning we would run to the window and open the blinds to check on John Marshall. He was there for at least a few months and I have a lot of fond memories from that time.
Wow! I used to have a spiny orb weaver in my backyard, dunno where it went tho. Thanks for letting me find out what species it was
Nope. Lol.
You managed to change my mind on snakes. I love and appreciate them now.
But you can’t change my mind on spiders. They give me the heebie-jeebies.
It's so cool that this video came up right after Dark Den's video about the first ever orb weaver he got! They are so fascinating.
Great info…. Deff should’ve mentioned orb weavers are one of it not the only spiders that breakdown their webs when the sun starts coming up and rebuilds their beautiful webs as the sun starts to set… pretty amazing to see
we had a beautiful yellow garden orb weaver living on our front porch a few years back! we called her charlotte, and i still miss her sometimes to be honest. she was a big reason i stopped being afraid of spiders-- she was just so cool, and i saw her every day, it was hard to be creeped out
I love that reptile channels have started to branch out to spider content
I love garden spiders. I saved a large female from a bunch of kids.... they were throwing rocks at her. I managed to save her and educate the kids on her importance to the ecosystem and what they would benefit from leaving her alone. I think I already got through to some of them so that's a bonus!
I'm arachnophobic (although I've strangely always been okay with tarantulas) but I definitely appreciate the orb-weavers we get here in Oregon. They don't come in the house, they stay in one place (and generally out in the open where I notice them before running into them), and they keep the insect population down. 10/10 spiders, as long as they're not crawling on me we get along just fine. xD
There was one that lived right outside my friend's apartment for so long that she actually named it and we all kind of treated it as a friend. It'd shake its booty at you when you approached the door--super cute. :)
When I lived in Florida, my favorite thing to see was the "banana spiders" coming out full force. I've seen many of them have webs around 10 ft in diameter. They're great web builders and were known for connecting tree canopies in my neck of the woods. Very funny when your dad accidentally drives thru a big web on his lawn mower and gets one as big as his face on him lol. Adore these big ladies
I had a yellow garden spider in my front yard once, but past control had destroyed its beautiful web and utterly destroyed me because I knew they were harmless and grew attached to it.
Such beautiful spiders.
Fun fact, the yellow garden spider's silk (if all the silk would be condensed to a block) is the strength of steel. Its string is like a very thick thread and apparently scientists have wanted to try to recreate the strength of the silk
Absolutely obsessed with orb weaver spiders. They are so neat and interesting! Had the one that has the zig zag design always build its web in our doorway in 1st grade. I would always spend 10 to 20 minutes catching moths for the spider and throw them in her web. Treated her like an additional pet. Moved after that year but she did leave an egg sack so maybe next generation made it.
The spiny backed orbweavers are so cute 💜💜💜
I have garden spiders in my yard all the time they’re gorgeous! I love spiders! Not to touch but for what they do! Thank our for this video as I’ve never seen a spiney spider!!! So cool!
Thank you so much for giving the unloved some love!!!
I had an orb weaver that used to put up a Web in front of my porch every night, then by morning it was gone and it would be under a leaf on the tree nearby during the day. I loved that thing. I'd turn on the light every night to help feed it.
These spiders are so cool to watch. During the summer they would take advantage of our flower pots and use them to help build their webs. I think it's so fascinating to watch them grow and hunt. it's a privilege not everybody has and those who do aren't always aware just how lucky they are. They were two that even layed a egg once but I never saw them hatch. but it was cool non the less to see them.