For a few years in a row, my back porch was a nursery for spider babies.
In early June each year, I’d discover hundreds of spiderlings crawling around a budding plant or, one time, the handle of my grill. And by hundreds, I mean somewhere in the 300-800 range. That’s how many spiderlings a yellow garden spider typically produces.
They seemed to appear out of nowhere – I never spotted an egg sac, even after the first year when I’d actively look, wondering if I’d have the pleasure of welcoming these fresh arachnids to the big wide world once again. But there must have been one, a small brown sac, no bigger than an inch and in the shape of a tear drop.
Mom laid them there with care months before, sometime in the late summer or fall. They hatched from their eggs not long after, but remained in the sac all winter, huddled en masse in their insulated sac until warmer weather arrived.
By the time they broke free into the spring air, they were full of energy and ready to venture off to see the world. And they do. They produce strands of silk that catch on the wind and carry them away, a behavior called “ballooning.”
Here’s a video of the sprightly spiderling class of 2020:
Female yellow garden spiders generally live about a year. The males usually die spontaneously after mating, and the female sometimes eats him. She might even attack before they mate. It’s a risk every male yellow garden spider takes when he steps onto a female’s web.
I didn’t have the heart to tell any of the spiderlings I encountered that their mom probably ate their dad months ago. I knew they’d be off spinning big webs all on their own before I knew it – so I chose to simply treasure the moment.
More wildly interesting tidbits about yellow garden spiders: savvygardening.com/garden-spider/
