If you’re walking in Arkansas nature this month, be sure to watch out for the webs of orbweaver spiders. It’s not pleasant to walk into an orbweaver’s web at face height, but you probably won’t see its creator, because most orbweavers hide during the day time.
In the evening, many will eat the old web and then spin a new one, with both sticky and non-sticky silk. Orbweavers use their third claw to travel over the nonsticky part of the web. They stun their prey, which includes flies, mosquitoes, and ants, with venom and wrap it in silk.
All night long, the orbweaver waits in the middle of the web. They live for a year, dying in early autumn. After hatching in late summer, the spiderlings use small silk strands as balloons, and float on the breeze to their new home.