New to the forums. Looking for Argiope Aurantia

dulciboy20198

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 22, 2014
Messages
3
Hi Everyone!

I have been interested in spiders for a couple years due to a regular orb weaver showing up at my house scaring the daylights out of me every year. I ended up naming this spider Rufus (before I knew it was most likely a female) and for the forth year in a row Rufus has showed up again and scared the crap out of me. Since then my friend had the same species show up and he (and his wife) freaked out so I went up to their house and brought it back here to live. These belong to the genus Araneus from what I can tell from research. At the bottom of this post there is a picture of Rufus's hiding spot. I can post a better picture sometime if you would like. They make about 2-3 feet across webs and only appear at night. Now on to the spider I am really looking for.

Back about 15 years ago my grandpa showed me this amazing spider that made a huge orb web with a zigzag pattern in the middle. Since he passed last year I stumbled on a youtube video showing this spider and it was the Argiope Aurantia. I have not seen one of these since he showed it to me and we had got rid of the lambs ear it was building a web in. I was wondering if there is a common place in Columbus, Ohio to find these spiders? Is there a specific plant I can grow that will attract them? I know they only live about a year so it would not really be feasible to raise them like a tarantula. These seem to be pretty rare around here but the common orb weavers I (literally) run into all the time are not.

I am eventually looking for a Euathlus sp. Red to have as a pet but those also seem hard to come by (at least decent sized ones).

Thanks!
Ian
IMG_1651.jpg
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,048
Let's start with welcome to Arachnoboards. No finer place on the internet to get information on all things artiodactyla.

You are certainly correct about freaking out when seeing Argiopes. They can crawl on you! Though there has never been a recorded incident of one biting a human. People, as a rule, just don't resemble moths.

As for finding Argiopes, they live for up to 5 years and tend to stay in the same location. That tends to pose a problem. The babies, spiderlings, disseminate by ballooning. Paying out a web and sailing away into the breeze. Where they land is where they will attempt to spend their lives. Unfortunately, if near human habitation or agricultural areas, their lives don't last long. One odd study I read some time ago estimated that over 99% of the argiopes in the midwest are killed because they try to make their homes in cultivated fields, especially corn.

The second problem is they often are unable to establish themselves in forested areas. Ballooning spiderlings end up high the the branches and are a feast for birds.

So the areas where you want to hunt for them are brushy shrubby areas, even rural areas where rampaging morons (they carry sticks to whack things and .22 guns to blast what they can't whack) are scarce. They rarely make their webs more than 10 feet off the ground and as you have noticed, hide during daylight hours.

On the bright side, argiopes tend to be very successful predators once established. They are beneficial of course as they can take prey down to the size of gnats and midges, and are even used in some orchard farming operations to control moths which produce undesirable caterpillars. In gardens around the home they can often be relocated to areas where their webs will remain undisturbed.

Good luck!
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
1,325
These are pretty easy to find, especially in gardens and forest edges/meadows. I think this particular species does not live as long as some of the genus but they are large and yellow so they are easy to spot. That pattern is called the stabilamentum and is thought to warn birds not to crash in the web and the spider will retreat to the other side of it to deter wasps.
 

aaarg

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Messages
176
Welcome!

RE: Euathlus sp. "red" - good choice! They do pop up from time to time with various breeders. I got my adult from Jamie's Tarantulas, though she currently doesn't have any in stock. Keep your eyes open!
 
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