Ardaric the Orb Weaver

Yes, I am back again with another spider photo. Unfortunately this one is not of the one that I had been calling Abigayle. Abigayle it seems has disappeared. To where, I have no idea. I noticed she was missing last night. I saw her earlier in the week, Wednesday night. But that was the last time I saw her. I looked up the life span of the garden Orb Weaver, thinking that maybe she had lived out her duration. Found that Orb Weavers lives are short, only living one season.

The female Garden Orb Weaver lays her eggs in late summer to autumn. The eggs are encased in a fluffy silken cocoon and attached to foliage. The lifespan is about twelve months. They mature in summer, mate, lay their eggs, and die in late summer-autumn. Males and females are similar in size. During autumn, the spiderlings disperse by ballooning (floating on the breeze using small silk strands as "balloons"), and build their own tiny orb webs among vegetation.

I don't know for certain if Abigayle was female. I just liked the idea that she was.

I noticed one morning, last week, that I probably had two Orb Weavers when I found another web underneath the lemon tree. It was confirmed when I checked the web to see if there was another one after looking in on Abigayle and watched her as she was spinning her new web later than evening at about 10pm. The other Orb Weaver was busy spinning its new web too. This one I noticed was a bit smaller than Abigayle.

Yeah, I know. I'm strange. You don't need to tell me, I hear it enough from my friends and my family. Whatever! I just happen to find these spiders awesome and love to see the beautiful webs they spin each night.

This other one is still working on its web right now. As soon as its is done and just relaxing after spending all its energy producing all that silk, I'm going to take some pictures of it. I did take some as it was spinning, but I want to be able to get a nice clean shot when it's still. It will be better positioned where I can get its whole body with its legs still.

Okay, now that I have gotten a pretty good look at this one from the photos I just took, this one is looking like a fella to me. His markings are not as profound as Abigayle's, which I think is the marking traits of the males. I'm not completey sure of that though, that is just what I kind of gathered from what I have read of them on line. I could be totally wrong, but I still think this one looks like it's a male.

I think I'm gonna call this handsome little fella Ardaric. I like that name, it's a nice gothic name. Yes, I know... I'm weird... So what else is new!?