Freddy’s Menagerie: Stella the Spider
Arachnophobe Warning: This article has close up pictures of a spider.
It seems that Freddy the Frog has various friends and acquaintances around our property. If I can get pictures of them I will share their stories. Here’s the story of Stella the Spider.
I only met Stella three days ago. When I woke up there was this fairly large spider building a circular web outside my bedroom window. She didn’t seem particularly shy. She allowed me to watch her up close and get some pictures through the glass.
As I got on with my day I forgot about Stella until I went for an afternoon nap. In the meantime, she had caught herself a fat fly that was all wrapped up in spider silk.
Apparently catching the fly had destroyed a lot of her web as there wasn’t much left. Or maybe Stella had simply repurposed it to wrap up the fly. Stella isn’t saying as she is peeved with me.
As Stella seemed to have gone, as she was nowhere to be seen over the next while, I removed the spider web and fly as it was a distraction from my morning view. Unfortunately, the fly was Stella’s food store for the next few days.
This morning Stella was back, building a new web. Oops!
I suppose I should have left her to deal with her fly in her own time. Unfortunately, she picked a bad spot. The window she chose is one that I open at night when sleeping, and as the window swings out, it tears up Stella’s web.
Today as Stella finished up her new web I got some close-up pictures of her. Her back has quite the fancy patterning:
Stella appears to be an Orb Weaver spider, possibly of the species araneus diadematus, as best I can tell from the online pictures. They are very common in North America.
How do I know that Stella is a female? Generally, Orb Weaver males either don’t make a web, or if they do they don’t sit on it very long. Like human males, they are driven by their hormones to mate and so spend much of their time searching for females.
The females like Stella, make a web and wait, both for dinner to fly into the web and for a male to find her. However, Stella could be intimidating for a male spider. The female Orb-weaver is about four times as big as a male.
Hey Mr. Spider! Stella is patiently waiting. Isn’t she lovely?
Sometimes the female will eat the male after mating.
Where are you, Mr. Spider??? Don’t be afraid.
Freddy and Stella are at best acquaintances. Definitely not friends. Possibly competitors. Nemesis might be a better term.
Both spiders and frogs will eat any insect small enough for them to catch. Frogs will eat spiders (run Stella!), and large Orb-weaver spiders have been known to catch small frogs in their webs and eat them (naughty spider!)
Both spiders and frogs eat a lot of insects. They help keep one’s yard somewhat in balance with the hordes of insects that would otherwise overrun the place.
Stella is, unfortunately, short-lived. Usually about 12 months. Once she mates and her eggs are produced she will create an egg sac and hide it in a safe place. And then she will die. Come spring her babies will hatch and lots of new Stellas will spread around the yard, catching and eating a whole new crop of insects.
Stella is definitely peeved with me! Today, just after she had finished her new web, I evicted her. She just could not stay in the middle of the window. Both because she was a distraction and because I want to be able to open my window without tearing up her home.
So I caught her up with a big chunk of her web and relocated her away from the window. I hope she finds a better place for her next web. Hopefully, she won’t come back. She jumped off her web before I could move her as far as I wanted, so we’ll see.
Sorry Stella!
Thank you for reading my article.
If you found this story interesting, here’s the first of the Freddy stories.
I am frequently inspired by other writers on Medium. Here are some I’ve particularly enjoyed reading recently:
Milli M. wrote this excellent piece about other insects that are critical to keeping nature in balance. If you can, plant bee-friendly plants in your garden.
If you ever have difficulty coming up with writing ideas, Martha Manning, Ph.D.’s article about finding inspiration in small things is very helpful. It was her article that convinced me to tell Stella the Spider’s story.
I wish to thank the following people who recently chose to follow me and my writing. Your interest encourages me to continue writing. I hope you enjoy this new story.
Man of Kent, Rip Parker, Saba Haider
Thank you for following me.
Finally, I would like to invite those that enjoyed and commented on my Freddy stories to share this story with me. If any of you would like to be excluded from my tags in future, please, please let me know!
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I wish you well!
