I used to be so squeamish around spiders. Now I get up close to them. The tan jumpings are adorable. :D

I guess I am glad we do not have any mantids, as likely they'd be the non-native variety. I'd rather have grasshoppers. They are kind of cute in their own way. I like "herding" them when I walk into a prairie patch.

Procreating mantis couple.

I don't think I've ever caught them before... mantids.


Here's something much more cute. Tree frog.



And I found my blue winged friend in just the right light - for just a moment.

A katydid in between the leaves of Crassula ovata 'Gollum'

Finally found an adult mantid...quietly hanging by our mandevilla trellis:

wildflowers said: Yeah, if we got the real story, Rick might very well have been jumping while screaming, trying to brush the spider off and running away all at the same time.

It is a funny visual!

wildflowers said:It is a funny visual!

What a little cutie!

This spider has staked out it's territory and maintained it for , it seems, a couple of weeks.

I found a spider in my shower this morning. I evicted him to the drain pipe.

I never really thought about it but dh says the spiders come in through the drain. Guess that's how they get in the shower!

Had several garden spiders -- in the cottage garden. Now I only see one. The others disappeared overnight, probably a late night snack or early breakfast for some flying critter.

Or maybe this frog that's hanging out near the last spider!

Out early this morn for a walk with the dogs, I saw this odd looking orb spider in its huge web, stretching from a tree to the house-top. It was about ten or more feet high. When we returned from our walk, the spider and its web were gone!! All but a single strand of silk stretched across the sky... I can only figure that the blue jays that were making all kinds of noise must have gotten it? Or some flying thing broke the web and the spider will be back in the morning. It was too high up for anything walking to reach.

Proof -

Christine, it would appear your orb weaver is a nocturnal one. I quote:
"Many species in this family build a new web every day or every night, and then take it down and eat it before hiding for the night or day."
From:
http://www.biokids.umich.edu/c...

flaflwrgrl said: build a new web every day or every night, and then take it down and eat it before hiding for the night or day.

wow.

Ann, I had read that before and wondered if it might be the case here, but I didn't know how long Christine was out walking. She did say it was early morning though, so it makes sense.

Mantid on my Plumeria Celadine.

Ann, you're right! That must be what happened! I looked out the window yesterday evening, almost dark and saw the spider out there busy spinning its web. And sure enough this morning, there was no sign of it!

Melanie, we weren't gone very long at all, maybe ten or fifteen minutes. Must be a fast eater!

Okay, going to check out Ann's link...

Christine, check tonight after full dark or even later ~~ take a flashlight & you should see the web or it still in the process of spinning the web for the night.

Will do. I almost took the camera out last night to get a pic, may try tonight.

We had a BIG orb weaver doing a web from the back porch to the eves to a lawn chair on the patio for over a month. Every night @ 9 we could see it spinning the web & every morning it was gone. I only got up early enough one morning to witness it taking down the web. If you look really, really closely, you can usually see (in the day) where they have left 1 or 2 "anchor" threads that are placed where they are not likely to be violated & that saves them a lot of time each evening when they go to build the web again.