Elvira and Skarlett

Well, a while back the big pretty spider I was documenting died.

Mrs. Skarlett left two big sacs of babies for next spring though, but I was intending to rescue her body after the first freeze to preserve it more intact. Instead it got washed up against the house by a storm and I didn't find her for a few days. She's still mostly intact but not as pretty as she was.

Fair warning, large dramatic spider, if you're scared of spiders go ahead and hit the right arrow now.

Ok?

Everyone left ready to see the last shot I have of her?

Wish it was better quality, you can see the storm clouds in the background.

Snapped it real quick while we were heading out to walk the dog. Early the next morning I was taking the trash out and saw her web was gone.

The backstory of her and her late lover Ret: http://imgur.com/gallery/NEDfZ

Still, with her gone we got another that moved in by the side of the porch and earlier I saw one walking around the front of the door, unable to climb up the slippery metal.

So naturally I picked her up to take pictures.

As I've said before many times, these are utterly docile spiders and will not bite you unless you're actively hurting them.

She just wandered around getting silk all over my hands.

Was kinda wobbly too, all fat with babies and such, not very good at walking around.

Didn't sit still for pictures well either, but she helped me make my point.

These spiders are not going to hurt you, and honestly I miss having Skarlett there, not just because I liked seeing her each day, and following her progress.

No, I miss her because the porch light is swarmed with bugs again, she did an amazing job cutting down on them.

Mrs. Elvira here is similarly big and dramatic, but as I've said before, the only reason I wouldn't handle one is for fear of damaging them if they fell, I was able to let her walk onto my hand at her pace and she was very chill the whole time.

Then I took her outside and had to coax her gently onto a bush because she was quite happy sitting there wrapping my hand in silk.