Contents
Prey
Garden spiders eat a wide variety of insects, including flies and small worms. They also feed on plant bugs like cucumber beetles, thrips, and caterpillars. The larger ones also feed on grasshoppers and wasps. You may even be lucky enough to see a spider and a praying mantis battling over a meal.
Black-and-yellow Garden Spiders live from autumn hatching until the first hard frost, and males die after mating in the first year, while females can live for years in warmer climates. They feed on almost any insect, including flies, ants, and bees, but they are also preyed on by birds and lizards. They are usually found in gardens and parks.
Predators
Garden spiders are great garden pest control agents. They consume pest insects as well as beneficial insects, such as honeybees and butterflies. These nocturnal creatures are often called “generalist” spiders, and some species are specialized in a particular type of prey. Some, such as the woodlouse spider, are particularly good at hunting woodlice, which have few natural predators.
Yellow garden spiders build webs and ensnare their prey with venom. They also wrap their prey in a silk cocoon, making them a formidable predator. These arachnids also serve an important role in the ecosystem, consuming insects, bees, bats, and birds.
Lifespan
The life span of a garden spider varies depending on species. Some species can live for years, while others only live a few months. Most garden spiders live for about a year. Some species may live for several years, depending on the climate they live in. The male garden spider usually dies after mating.
Female garden spiders store their genetic material in seminiferous tubules. In autumn, they deposit their offspring into the web. Their web has a distinctive zigzagging X pattern that may alert birds to their presence. However, the web is not toxic to humans.
Creating silk
If you have ever wondered how spiders create silk, you should know that they use strands of silk from their spinneret to construct their webs. The threads are twisted together to form a dense, thick thread. The silk used by spiders is varying in composition, depending on the species and its needs. Some spiders use sticky silk in the outer spiral of their web, while others use it as a defense by spinning a web over their prey. The venom that spiders use is harmless to humans.
Although all spiders can spin silk, not all of them rely on it for prey capture. Some spiders, such as jumping spiders, build their retreats in orb webs and use silk to capture their prey. Others build a funnel-shaped web from tangled threads and use it to catch falling insects.
Egg sacs
Garden spiders lay eggs in egg sacs that resemble brown paper bags. These sacs contain between three and six hundred eggs. The spiderlings emerge from the cocoons in April. The eggs are glutinous and vary in color from pearly white to green. Many species have up to 600 eggs per sac.
Garden spiders are commonly found in backyard gardens, parks, and wooded areas. Both the male and female spin webs that are attached to plants and trees. A female garden spider will mat with a male on her web, then lay eggs. After mating, the female will spin a brown paper sac that contains the eggs. These sacs are protected from predators. The female spider will keep the babies in the sac until spring.
Females
The female garden spider is a larger and brighter color than its male counterpart. It lives in tall grasslands or near houses and builds a web. It usually stays in the same place all season. The web becomes unstable when disturbed, making it difficult for predators to locate it. It also causes its prey to become entangled in its web.
Female garden spiders can be quite picky about their mating partners. They will approach potential mates cautiously, tapping their web strands to let them know they are interested in them. They may also attack potential mates before mating.
