Georgia's latest invasive species - the Joro spider

[borwish]

I saw one about a month ago, but wasn't able to take a picture. I went back to the same location yesterday and found it again a few hundred feet away from it's first spot. It didn't take long to find with that huge web and large body size.

They make a three layer web, so it took some contorting to get this belly pic. I wasn't able to get a pic of the back without destroying the web. I usually dispatch any invasive I come across, but left this one alone. So far they haven't seemed to have a negative impact and they do eat the invasive stink bugs.

 

[Toothpick]

Not venomous to us, no negative affects on the environment (yet?), eats pests. Might be invasive but sounds like a good one to keep around.

 

[hairless wonder]

Speaking as someone with a touch of arachnophobia, that's nightmare fuel!

I found this guy (girl?) staring at me when I was preparing for my last shave (I don't believe it's an invasive species). I believe it's a brown recluse spider. I debated letting it live, but then it skittered on to my bathroom floor and I stepped on it. I figured if it got loose, invaded my bedroom, and climbed on to my bed, it might end up biting me in my sleep.

 

[njpaddy]

Not a big fan of spiders, but as long as they're not black widows or brown recluse, I leave them alone. I'd rather see a spider in my house than carpenter ants. Until last year, we owned a home for almost 20 years and had carpenter ants. I probably stepped on more ants than the pest control company that charged me $500 killed. A year later we still had carpenter ants and they wanted more $$. I called DoMyOwn.com (based in Georgia) and sprayed our outside foundation with the Thermidor they recommended. Bug problem solved. I sprayed the outside foundation every 2-3 years. I didn't want the inside bait and sprays that the exterminator used that didn't work.

 

[luvmysuper]

I have a working relationship with bugs.
If they are outside, I go out of my way to avoid harming or disturbing them in any way.
If they set one tiny little foot inside my house, truce is off and they are history.

I am certain that I would make an exception for anything that kills brown marmorated stink bugs.
Two years ago, never even saw one, now they are EVERYWHERE.

 

[borwish]

I have a working relationship with bugs.
If they are outside, I go out of my way to avoid harming or disturbing them in any way.
If they set one tiny little foot inside my house, truce is off and they are history.

I am certain that I would make an exception for anything that kills brown marmorated stink bugs.
Two years ago, never even saw one, now they are EVERYWHERE.

I'll go out my way to save a mud dauber. They're just so cool with that beautiful blue color. Everything else that makes it into the house is fair game.

30 years ago fire ants were just making themselves known. Now I've got four or five mounds in the yard that I need to kill. You've just got to accept that you're going to get stung a few times a year. Once I was playing paintball and drove to the ground for cover. Yup, right onto a fire ant nest. And yes they do all bite at one time. No, they don't always make mounds. I probably had around 150 stings.

About 15 years ago the Asian ladybugs started becoming a pest. Kudzu bugs showed up in 2011. I'm not sure when those stink bugs showed up, but I've been fighting them for years. All three create a stink to rival Arko. Hopefully these spiders will make a dent in them.

Just last week I saw a coyote right outside of the city limits. My personal best count is seeing 13 wild hogs at once and 5 coyotes running across the field a few hundred feet away. A large boar was making trouble for my parents about 3 years ago, but luckily a neighbor was able to shoot it.

Let's not even talk about my life long enemies of kudzu and wisteria. That's 2 of the 3 things that scare a southerner.

 

[AZBronco]

I see the Joro spiders all over in my neighborhood. They're non-venomous to humans and they don't like to go indoors--so I leave them alone. There's one in a tree in my front yard that I've left alone (my wife wanted me to kill it). It's been there for a few weeks and has gotten huge! But I haven't had any issues with yellow jackets in the yard this year, so I guess it's eating pretty well. I started referring to it as my pet, but they're supposed to be gone by Thanksgiving.