Farewell to the Garden Spiders

by Eric Neubauer

Fall is a sad time of year for some. I had garden spiders arrayed around my house again this year. One picked a low spot between the porch and skirting. It was a good spot at first and she grew quickly. There were lots of suitors while she was the only show in town, including some from the other species.

Argiope aurantia

About that time, she wasn’t catching anything and looked like she might be starving to death, so I started throwing differential grasshoppers into her web. After a while she was doing OK on her own, so I stopped. In all she produced six egg sacs. No other spider came close and most never produced a single sac. After the last sac, she caught no more grasshoppers and died about a week after the photo was taken.

Egg sacs ad what appears to be a former suitor

2 thoughts on “Farewell to the Garden Spiders”

  1. Did the babies survive and do they normally die this way and

    How long do they live. Why was she unable to get food herself?

    C

    Like

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