Posted by Georgia Hozey on September 20, 2008

Q: My family enjoyed watching this spider for the last 3 hours...... but he is rather intimidating and I have 2 small children. He built an impressive web across our deck, he seems to like full sun... or atleast he built his web in a place with no shade around and his web has been up for atleast the last 3 days and nights.

He repairs damage to his web very quickly, yet we could not catch him making what must have been 3 feet long journeys around his web. We did get to watch him repair where a bug made damage (we never saw the bug).

The photo I am submitting shows him in greater detail than I could describe him.

His legs are black and grey at the tips, leading to deep reddish brown and tan circular colored areas. The area where his legs join is deep reddish brown with WHITE fuzz on it...... the other "bulbous" part seems to have brown and tan with an obvious "crucifix" (crosslike) marking on him.

State: Georgia

Habitat: suburban/yard

A: Very nice photo - thanks so much. There are a lot of different kinds of spiders around North America so I can't be sure exactly what you have but I may be able to give you its genus. It looks very much like a member of the genus Araneus and MAY be Araneus cavaticus, also called a Barn Spider. You may want to google this animal and see if it looks exactly like your spider.

This spider is not dangerous and poses no threat to your family or pets. It's nice that you've been able to watch how it builds/repairs its web. If you like, you may want to capture a small insect, maybe a cricket, and toss it into the web. Watching a spider handle prey in its web is always impressive. Thanks for your question and I hope this helps.

John Wiessinger ( September 20, 2008)