Happy Little Spider

 Since I have a tendency to let the shrubs in the yard do whatever they wish, the place starts to get a little wild and woolly.  Every once in a great while, I pull out the snips and give the things a good "haircut" but that is not often.  I prefer the "natural" look!  (Or I am just lazy when it comes to trimming bushes.)   My argument is that critters need places to hide!  I am all about helping those critters.

  Our driveway is a long lane that meanders through both of my brothers' properties before getting all the way down to the Bayou.  It is, more or less, a "community" drive since they share it as well.  The lane just keeps branching off to our respective homes.  At our end, the lane makes a large loop which allows for easy turnarounds. Both the inner and outer portions of this loop are planted with azaleas and other blooming shrubs.  Critters abound here since it is these bushes that are a tangled mess.  Today, I threatened to cut them all to the ground...threatened...did not do.  I couldn't.  A spider was using one bush as an anchor for its web.  That put a halt to the idea.  After all, I could not mess up such a nice home and, since I could not cut that one bush, cutting the rest would make it an unsightly mess!

  The spider in question goes by numerous names with the most proper common one being spinybacked orbweaver.  Folks around here have called them things such as crab spiders, jewelbox spiders, spiny belly spider and smiley face spider.  Some people like to be more uppity and combine all the names into something like the spinybacked, bejeweled, crab-like smiley faced spider.  Me?  I just call them cute, little spiders.  

  The spinybacked orbweavers are pretty much a southern critter and can be found in just about every yard down here.  Like all spiders, they do have venom but rarely bite.  If one ever does, it usually just causes a slight bit of swelling and maybe some itching after the initial pain of the puncture.  No big deal.  One cool thing is that these spiders advertise to all birds and even hapless humans that a web is strung across an area. Tiny white "flags" of silk are woven into their webs. These are there to warn us to steer clear.  After all, the spider does not want to catch us but, at the same time, does not want to rebuild a torn web. Smart spider!

  These little jewels can be found in an assortment of bright colors.  While most here on the Bayou are yellow or white, I have occasionally seen some almost orange and occasionally a red one.  All have six "spines" on their carapace (hence the name) and are found mostly during late summer and into fall. Their lifespans are relatively short as the male dies just a few days after mating and the female as soon as she lays her egg mass.  

  So, with all of that fun stuff about this little spider and considering it only has such a short life, it is only "right" that I do not trim the bushes!  It is just too pretty!