I've got these little suckers all around the tree behind my garage:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1159964260.jpg
(I didn't take the picture, I hope the photographer doesn't send us a nasty email.)

I've got red ones and white ones. I'm sure they're harmless, but they sure give me the hebegebe's. They do make nice webs though.

Yep, I've probably got 15-20 of those in my back yard in red, orange, cream and white. They are harmless. My mom says that when she was a kid in Florida she'd play with them in the orange groves. I don't mind them except when I run into those webs face first.

I have been told a few times by pest control people and by local county Ag that the Brown Recluse does not exist in Ca.

I have a hard time believing this. I was bitten on the small of the back by a brown spider of some description a few years ago. The bite was painless but it swelled up into a knot that was painful and took six weeks to heal. It eventually got necrotic in the center and healed slowly. The day after the bite I had heart arrythmias all day. All these symptoms coincide with those reported for the Brown Recluse.

Dunno what bit me but it was nasty.

Saw this little guy swimming laps in my pool this afternoon. Perhaps switching to a salt chlorinator would lower the surface tension of the water...allowing his relatives the opportunity to SINK, instead of floating on top of the water. As for this one...well, let's just say he's gone down to Davey Jones' locker... ;)

Kinda wild breaking the surface from underneath just in time to see one of these guys "running" towards you thinking you're a way out of the "ocean". :eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1160008900.jpg

My foot, for size reference...
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1160008947.jpg

Randy

Just drip some soap on the spiders when they are in the water and watch them sink :D

Alright; for the past couple of weeks I've been trying to get a decent picture of one of these suckers and I think I have succeeded as much as I can expect to with my digital camera.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1161375996.jpg

This one hasn't been much of a problem in that it has not really encroached on a walk way. It actually did earlier this week but I knocked the web partially down and it rebuilt in the tree there. It's been there all week now (getting bigger I imagine).

I'm toying with the idea of capturing him but then I would have to worry about feeding him. Bugs creep me out something fierce. The termites have been swarming again and I found a few near my back door in a battle rivalling something you might see in a movie with some small ants. Guess it's time for another inspection...

Here's a good site with pics detailing spiders we have in SoCal

http://www.phorid.net/spiders/gallery.htm

By the way, I had one of these pay me a visit about a month ago. Absolutely HUGE and even more beautiful in person. It was very shy though and bailed out after a couple of days. It's called the Black and yellow argiope.
http://mamba.bio.uci.edu/~pjbryant/b...iders/0046.jpg

If I happened across that guy in my yard I think I would likely move.

It's a cousin to the Saint Andrews Cross. They are both argiopes.

I found a bunch of these little suckers last weekend. Never seen 'em before.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjcam/270574150/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/94/270574150_d00f637423.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="DSC_0941" /></a>

That's a big spider for here in the ATL. Nice Gold Toe socks.

I can't believe a whole summer went by and you never had a Pelican Pool Party!

spider artwork:


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1161449937.jpg

Nothing but some harmless Daddy long-legs spiders. About as common as ants at a picnic.

And carnutzz, the thought of a Pelican Pool Party is definitely something we've kicked around. We've just been mired in home improvement projects to the point the house really isn't ready for company. Hopefully next summer! :D

Randy

I just hope next year I'll still look as good in my speedo!

I highly doubt anyone can look as good as I do in mine!!! :D :D :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1161462383.jpg

Randy

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjcam/275623026/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/106/275623026_e5573243ed.jpg" width="500" height="362" alt="DSC_1029" /></a>

Found a few more. I guess we have lots of spiders here.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjcam/275876814/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/84/275876814_f7a167ae67.jpg" width="500" height="401" alt="Black Widow" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjcam/275876718/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/102/275876718_77f25f177d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0105" /></a>

Some English ones...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1161514541.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1161514582.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1161514612.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1161514652.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1161514707.jpg

The one on the toilet paper is missing one on its left...