Monday 23 May 2011

Nephila Edulis, our very own Garden Orb Weavers

It was with great sadness this morning that I noticed that one of our Garden Orb Weavers had disappeared. Every morning we go down and check on them out of the window near our living area.



We had two Garden Orb Weavers, one with seven legs, which the husband named "7 of 8" and a smaller orb with all 8 legs. Our girls ... The eight legged one spent the morning rebuilding her web after the rains last night.



Having watched Charlotte's Web the other night and then spending hours online researching Nephila Edulis, I headed out this morning with the "good" camera to take pictures of the remaining spider. Anxious to document it's existance.

I had a good look around the space surrounding the web belonging to "7 of 8" and I spotted it. A golden orb egg sac, hanging from the underside of the pergola structure .. and then I spotted "7 of 8" ... she was still with us!



How beautiful is this egg sac?



Tori and I are looking forward to keeping an eye on the egg sac to see when all the spiderlings hatch.



I feel very glad to have found her, but I know that once the Orb's lay their egg sac it means that their time on this planet has come to an end.

So for that, I am very sad as we have watched her grow and eat bugs since late last year. Farewell "7 of 8", we have become very attached to you.

3 comments:

Jennie said...

Ooh, your orbs are pretty! I've never seen mine by daylight and I'm still not 100% sure what she looks like.

Libster said...

we have some awesome orbs too, nothing at the momment..... We also have black house spiders that look abit like redbacks without the red stripe. we had one that lived for over 6 years... she was a beauty... we used to throw her flies :)
enjoy your new babies

Lynne Kelly said...

Wonderful spiders - wonderful photoraphs. Looking forward to your updates on the egg sac.