this is an orbed weaver,or zipper spider,she died a little while after laying her eggs which should hatch sometime next spring.ill post a pic of her egg sack when i get a chance.
nice thread, bettagurl. I had a "pet" black widow in my garage that I named "Cassandra". I watched her grow to a huge size, her abdomen was all big (about 3/4 inch in diameter) and shiny. She also laid several egg cases. One day, I decided to clean house for her and vacuum up her old webs that were all littered with dead, wrapped up bugs. Well, I guess I went too far and she got offended and left I was so sad to lose her.
I really think she helped keep the bug and spider population in my garage down, because after she was gone, I got tons of little spiders and daddy-long-legs everywhere. Come back to me, Cassandra!
lol my grandparents' porcupine fish and lion fish LOVE spiders, especially the little jumping spiders and the brown ones you find sometimes around your house