The common Garden spider (Araneus diadematus) is a common sight in gardens throughout Britain at the end of summer where it is seen suspended, head-down in the centre of its orb web. Also known as the Cross Spider it can be identified by the cross-shaped pattern of white spots on its abdomen. Colour varies considerable from pale yellow-orange through to dark grey and the legs are banded dark and light giving a striped appearance.
This is one of the UK’s largest spiders with the female’s body reaching 20mm in length. The male is much smaller which is unfortunate as he will occasionally get eaten after mating if he doesn’t make a quick enough retreat.
Every evening this species of orb spider eats its web (and any small insects stuck to it) spinning a new web in the morning. If disturbed in its web by potential predators the garden spider can cause itself to oscillate violently.
Araneus diadematus has been reported to bite on rare occasions but it is apparently difficult to provoke a bite. The spider’s bite is mild although some swelling and pain was mentioned in one case. Whether this was due to the action of the venom or an allergic response is unclear.
I have so many garden spider in the back of my house and i found this article to learn more about them.
Just walked into a garden spiders web, face full of web as usual, and got the spider in my hair, I live on a farm and have been around them all my life, -never give them a thought, however, about ten minutes later I felt the spider crawling in my hair and without thinking just pulled it out and threw it in the hedge,,,little bugger bit me! I had to check in disbelief that it was a spider -felt like a wasp sting, never in my life been bitten by a spider before, a feisty one! and definitely just a garden spider.
All spiders can bite
I’m going to Kew Gardens tomorrow and I understand it’s a good area for false widow spiders especially in the soft chalky arches near the bridge. Any comments.
What does the spider bite look like?
small red pockmarks
I got 3 Cross spider bites on my legs while cutting down dead flower stems. A few hours later I has hard painful lumps under the skin, the size of a conker, and 4 inch diameter red wheel on the skin; I have never experienced insane relentkess itching like with these bites! This lasted about 36 hours and the lumps about 72+ hours.
The chimney sweep asked me to check out a spider he had in his van here in Colwyn Bay last week. It turned out to be an impressive False brown widow, Steatoda nobilis.
I was bitten by a Garden spider Araneus diadematus last year as I hurriedly had to use my hands to rescue it from the middle of the road – understandably didn’t know that I was a friend not a foe!
Curious to read all these accounts of folk being bitten by Garden Spiders. My experience all my life has been that they seem to be the biggest scaredy-cats of all, scuttling pell-mell for cover at the slightest human disturbance.
Thankyou for this article.
My son caught one and was handling it a lot. He got a bite and sure enough there’s two tiny pin pricks. Doesn’t seem to be bothering him though but I’m keeping an eye on him
Down here on the Sussex coast I dismantled an old garden shed a few years back and I decanted into a jar no less than 60 large dark brown false widows…..quite a site all writhing together in the jar. Didn’t get bitten. I put them under my wife’s pillow, what larks!.
I was bitten by one some sixty years ago at the age of eight. I had picked one up and took a dislike to the tip of my thumb. Left two pot marks and my thumb swelled very badly. Hated spiders ever since!
I got 3 identical bites a couple of days ago while cutting down dead flowers. I saw a few cross spiders but ignored them. I should have known better! maybe I was unlucky but all 3 bites produced a hard swelling under the skin the size of a conker which was red & painful. The itching was insane. Next day there were 2 little blisters on each lump, I assume where I’d been punctured. I don’t know about the bites being “mild”, mine were waaay worse than bee or wasp stings and lasted more than 2 days.
All spiders can bite