Spider Season—Wonder Wedneday

Photo credit: Cross Orb Weaver by Michael Gabler

It's WONDER Wednesday!

This week's WONDER is spider season! The damper, cooler weather tends to bring out our eight-legged friends. This is not because there are more of them, but rather because their young, which hatch in the spring, have had a chance to get bigger and more noticeable. We chatted with TOPOnexus' very own arachnophil, Margie Marks, and read up on these insects to bring you a few wondrous facts.

ARACHNOPHILIA—It’s a thing! 🕷️

(Or, love of spiders) Margie loves that they are constantly in a state of building and rebuilding. They're quiet. They come in a variety of colors and shapes. They're more or less visible depending on light quality. And each spider can spin up to 7 different kinds of silk, matching the type of silk to the job it's doing. Now that's a pivot!

SPIDERS GALORE 🕷️

We have 45 species of spiders in Michigan, with such exotic names as the tiger wolf spider, nursery web spinner and shamrock orb weaver. Margie's favorite? The daddy long legs, having watched them for hours in the woods as a child. Check out spiderid.com or the app Bug Identifier and know your spiders!

NATURE'S PEST CONTROL 🕷️

Before you squash a spider, consider this! Spiders feast on insects like mosquitoes, cockroaches and flies. They also munch on garden pests and protect your plants. When Margie's husband finds a spider in their house, he calls on her to deal with it. She gently scoops it up, observes it for a while and takes it outside where it can keep doing its spider magic.

FOR THE ARACHNOPHOBES OUT THERE 🕷️

(Or, folks afraid of spiders) We hope you can take comfort in the fact that there are only 2 poisonous species in Michigan–the black widow and the brown recluse–and they're extremely rare. Word to the wise: they like dark spaces like old stumps, hollow logs and wood piles. But 9 times out of 10, you're going to find a friendly, non-poisonous species just doing its spidery thing.