Help identifying a spider
 

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1694635420.jpg

Have found 3 around entrances to my house. Are they dangerous or just scary big?

Wolf spider maybe

Cross Orb Weaver

Orb weavers are reluctant to bite. Symptoms are usually negligible or mild local pain, numbness and swelling. Occasionally nausea and dizziness can occur after a bite. Seek medical attention if symptoms persist

Dewolf: Looks like that's it. Thanks

Just big and scary. Practically all spiders are capable of a venomous bite, but most aren't medically significant. Chances are if you ran into her web face first, she'd just crawl off of you and you may not even realize.

We get orb weavers here that are big and build webs all over at night and then take them down during the day. It would freak me out to run into a web face first at night, but it wouldn't be a big deal.

That’s just about the only thing I hate about walking the dog at night. Happens every once in awhile.

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I have those around my house also. They like to build webs under eaves near a doorway here but they also build webs under trees right where you would want to walk it seems. I started out the back door to take the trash out the other night and came nearly face to face with one, I quickly ducked and went backwards at the same time. The next morning I found it resting under the eave in a little protective web and got it on a stick and relocated it to the woods. I always try to relocate them to the woods to live out their spider life away from me.

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2 of the 3 of these orb spiders I have seen in the last couple weeks are putting a web across a doorway. The 3rd one was on a stairway from the back porch. You walk out and have web stuck to your head and body. Nasty. If the wife got the web on her and saw the spider, we'd have had to deal with panic, a fit, and borderline cardiac arrest (prolly not on the last one but you get the idea). This would have been followed by her asking me if we have a flame thrower that she can use...
As such, I had to eliminate the threats since I love my wife more than mother nature.

https://youtube.com/shorts/VjgueVjUd2M?si=dVv3vaTg5GHsBGul

From a couple of years ago. Big spider had a bug in its web.

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Part 2 video of the same spider that had a bug for breakfast.

https://youtube.com/shorts/yUSyJNWsBxc?si=2Zto-JgyHYvzIyxB

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As far as I know I have no phobias. I don't play with spiders, but I have no real fear of them. That said, when Haley's comet was coming back the last time I went to a friends property, near a large lake, that was in a dark area and he set up his 21 reflector telescope. The walk from the telescope back to his house to use the bathroom was a long walk, and he warned everyone, don't go between those two trees, they both are full of spiders, and the webs go between the trees at night. At about midnight, after a few beers. I was in need of his restroom. I forgot the warning and suddenly I was covered in spider webs and it was 100% dark as a coal mine, with just starlight so I could not see anything, just my imagination making it feel like spiders all over me. I got out of that area quickly and did a short yuck dance of wiping spiders off. Not one bite and I quickly got back to the star party. I did remember to avoid the spider trees after that.

Right, that's like me, no phobia, and not scared of spiders, but also don't really want them crawling on me. I'm certainly not happy about walking into a web at night.

Years ago, my wife's grandmother had a house/cabin in the country that we'd go to with the kids on the occasional weekend to get away. It was fairly frequent that I'd get off work on a Fri night and we'd drive out. The driveway was 1/4 mile long and shrouded in trees, so during certain parts of the year, driving down that road in the dark the headlights would show 100 spider webs spread across the road. Driving down the road sounded like you were driving while it was hailing because the spiders were dropping onto the car as you drove through the webs. When we'd get to the house in the pitch black, I wasn't super excited about getting out of the car. Fortunately, the spiders all apparently bounced off of the car.

Our back yard Koi pond was put in 20+ years ago. At first is was just Koi, but the water, and surrounding garden has grown, and critters arrived. The toads were first, and then a few frogs, then came the Five Lined Blue Tailed Skinks.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1694705309.jpg

And the tiny little earthworm eating snakes.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1694705743.jpg

We had a very dry August and for the first time ever, we had three different skinks come into the house. All of them were lucky, in that I managed to grab them and relocate them to the front garden area. Our male Dachshund chases and kills any he can get to.

I just ponce on the skinks and manage to hold them in my hand and not hurt them at all, they don't even drop their tails. They must like thee habitat, as they are plentiful in the neighborhood as my neighbors even mentioned seeing them as something new. They eat lots of bugs, so we like em! My wife acts like they are Gila monsters.

We have skinks like that around here as well and also common lizards, occasionally I will see a toad but strangley I have seen no snakes this year. Usually I will see two or three black rat snakes, pretty much harmless, but haven't seen any at all this year.

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We used to have a lot of spiders, but I guess the Skinks eat them and keep the spider population down. Bonus!