Big creepy spider in my tree.

Anyone know what kind of spider this is?
It's about the size of the palm of my hand. It lives in the tree outside of my apartment in southern CA. It's web is about 7 ft. tall by about 4ft. wide.

Damn...I knew i shouldn't have clicked on this post......eeeeek!

The size of your palm????

Maybe took a ship to Cali from Australia.

Is this it??

How to Identify a Hobo Spider

www.wikihow.com...

causes necrosis if it bites you...


or a giant house spider, they get bigger than the Hobo...but not poisonous.

www.flickr.com...

reply to post by watchitburn


Good website here.
www.insectidentification.org...

The body is shaped like a garden spider, I have never heard or seen one as large as a palm, if you have a very very small hand?

reply to post by watchitburn


Look up orb weaver and garden spider for California.

Originally posted by timetothink
Is this it??

How to Identify a Hobo Spider

www.wikihow.com...

causes necrosis if it bites you...


or a giant house spider, they get bigger than the Hobo...but not poisonous.

www.flickr.com...

edit on 9-9-2012 by timetothink because: (no reason given)

Hobos are not web weavers.

reply to post by timetothink


From your link it most likely is not a hobo spider, as they allegedly do not exist in southern California. And I do not think it is a giant house spider, because the coloring is too light. And it lives in a tree.

reply to post by Char-Lee


My palm is 5" long X 4" wide. My hands are not large relative to most I suppose. Hey, I'm only 5'3". But I assure you this is a big honkin spider. I think tarantulas and banana spiders are the only ones I've come across that are bigger.

Originally posted by Char-Lee
reply to post by watchitburn

 

Good website here.
www.insectidentification.org...

The body is shaped like a garden spider, I have never heard or seen one as large as a palm, if you have a very very small hand?

edit on 9-9-2012 by Char-Lee because: (no reason given)

From your link, the closest thing it looks like is the Spotted Back Orb Weaver, but it is way too large according to the site.

Dude I'd be moving if that thing lived outside my apt. I wouldn't be able to sleep!

Either that or I'd squish it.

One more try...does this seem close?

www.arachnoboards.com...

Looks a lot like the Golden Orb Weaver we get in Queensland Australia.
If you get a chance, see if you can watch the way it shoots the web out to get it across long spans.
Do this at night, with a torch. You might have to wreck her web a bit first….. But it's amazing, the web actually shoots out like smoke/vapour and gets carried quite far on the wind before it starts to solidify.
Looks awesome under torch light.
See if you can film it even?

reply to post by cavalryscout


It is pretty high up in the tree.

Attempting to squish it would leave me vulnerable to being bitten. Also it has been there for months. We have an understanding. I live in awe of it's creepy crawliness, and it lets me live.

reply to post by timetothink


No, my spiders body is yellow tinged, and it's body is thicker.

But I appreciate your assistance.

reply to post by watchitburn


I have to stop now, my skin is crawling......

Originally posted by watchitburn
reply to post by cavalryscout

 

It is pretty high up in the tree.

Attempting to squish it would leave me vulnerable to being bitten. Also it has been there for months. We have an understanding. I live in awe of it's creepy crawliness, and it lets me live.

I was joking I wouldn't squish it. Spiders just freak me out.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Kill it! Kill It!!!!!!!!!! That literally gave me the chills. Now I'm going to have nightmares! Why oh why do I click on threads that have the word 'spider' in it?

I have a very powerful air gun and it's almost never seen a BB fired. Wanna know what good an air gun is without BB's to shoot?

Well..from about 8 inches away, that little beast will simply vaporize for all intents and purposes to what one sees.

Spiders... Flies....but oh yes, Spiders. I HATE spiders. Of all the critters on Earth.....I can stand snakes, and I'll even put up with squid or octopus. Spiders? Nope.... Pop goes the air gun and it's like he got beamed away to some distant little circle of a very hot place.

Maybe you may want to consider giving it a new home before it nests and has babies...........



What on Gods earth possessed me to clink your post I'll never know - I screamed like a little school girl when I saw your pic and ran from my computer.......aahhhhhh.

(other than that I'm a real toughy - honest)

Don't "squish" the poor creature, it's done nothing to you.
Point in fact you're lucky to have such a conscientious neighbor who has undoubtedly helped keep the riffraff down.

I always allow spiders to live in the house, so long as they stay out of my way & don't crawl on me while I'm sleeping, we're good.
Spiders are great house guests, they're quiet, normally confine themselves to out of the way nooks & will keep the peskier vermin to a minimum.

Especially living in Cali they're helpful with all the bloody ants there.
I used to live in the south bay of LA & the ants were terrible, finally got a couple spiders that set up residence in the kitchen, no more ants.

So again leave the fellow alone unless you're fond of flies & mosquitoes, & those are insects to dislike, pfft scavengers & parasites whereas spiders are cunning predators.

reply to post by aethertek

I was more tolerant of Spiders, to be fair, when I lived in California. There was only one spider there I had to worry about. The Black Widow..and contrary to it's downright evil reputation, it's not near as dangerous as it's made out to be. Oh, it's a nasty time, to be sure...but I found worse. It took the Brown Recluse for me to come to hate spiders so passionately......well, it's a near religion. hate hate hate. eww eww eww! THEN.. Oh.. then I learned what a camel spider was....and someone is bound to bring a baby one back someday purely by accident..can you imagine ? NOW I know why people in the desert over there are just a little nuts. It's childhood with THOSE monsters running around.

eww.. No! Death to all spiders within my line of sight. (shivers)