Nasty little bugger!

[workin for wood]

Caught this spider out the corner of my eye and had to see what it was I saw. It was under a cottonwood leaf that it had wrapped up like a taco using it's web. I know alot of you are from different places around the country or in different countries and have huge nasty spiders of all types. For here, in Michigan, this spider is a monster, as we don't have many huge spiders at all. This has to be a female as I'm sure it's an egg sack on her back which is easily as big or a bit bigger than a dime. I have never seen a spider anything like this before, in size or character, other than at a pet store or zoo, so I don't know what the heck it is. The entire size with legs stretched out has to be close to 2.5 inches, and the legs are thick with a cool design. I caught her, photo'd her and then dispatched her back to the wild, hopefully to go eat some noisy crickets!

[greatdane2]

Its amazing how much fun these guys can be. I got bit years ago in the middle of my back. It dropped me in seconds and I thought I had been shot.

Alan.

[Dragon]

We have always had spiders but did notice that in the last few years they have been getting bigger in size. I've seen a few large ones that had me step back some. And I'm a bug collector. Must have something to do with global warming.
Diane

[Tor]

Not a beastie I recognize, but those things can be quite nasty. Glad it either couldn't get you or you didn't let it.

I got bit by a brown recluse (well, supposedly it is the brown violin spider we have here, not the recluse, but the bite is about the same) about a year ago. I was very fortunate to have the healing tools I did, as for the first three days it was following normal progression, on a bite on my forehead, right above my eye.

Tor

[Daryl185]

down here in Fl where I live we have an abundance of wolf spiders and brown recluse they are both nasty and the recluse can be deadly the toxin from their bite eats skin

[mdvt]

Many of you are going to scoff at this one......my wife is deathly afraid of spiders, (me, snakes). When ever there is a spider spotted in the house..........SPLATT!!!!!! she's not at rest until it's dead.

[workin for wood]

I read that there is always a spider within 20 feet no matter where you're at.

Figured out this spider, it is almost maximum size and is a Marble Orb Weaver...harmless

[Gaia]

She's beautiful.
If she was weaving the leaf, she was probably trying to make a nest to lay her babies in. Glad that you released her back to the wild.

Thank you for sharing.

Bobbi

[Toolman56]

Well thats neet you relase her back to the wild, but at work we have a very big spider hangen off the celing about 12 feet long 6 feet wide, with eyes that light up and blink glowing red and come crawling down her web at halloween time , it a riot with the kids , o i forget too tell you i work at a party store , thats were they have stuff or items like birthday plates, napkins, ect, also items for weddings,n stuff, we are the biggest in Iowa, and we are the biggest in halloween store too with over 5 thousand differnt coustumes and acc, yes we are ready for halloween , was pretty pretty busy since jan 25, but we are a set and ready and a month ahead of schudule, so thats good ,it means i can quit working 12 hours days now , thats not good , ill miss the money,Everett.

[jigsue]

I hate spiders, too. We don't have any nasties (bites and the like), but we do have some big 'uns. In the autumn (coming up), we get those that you can hear walking across the wooden floor. My hubbie can guess the size from the pitch of my scream. I am OK if I know where they are and they can be fascinating to watch, but once they disappear, I am worried about where they are, so he catches them and puts them outside.

I get my own back when we get frogs in the house: he cannot bear to touch them, I have to catch them and put them out.

The one you caught is a real pretty one and great that someone could identify it!

Sue