Spiders have silk spinning glands called spinnerets at the rear of their abdomens. Spider silk is a thick liquid that hardens as soon as it is pulled out of the spinnerets. Spiders may use their silk for other purposes than building webs; they also use silk to catch prey, store food, escape from danger, make egg sacs, wrap themselves to survive cold winters, send and receive vibrating signals, truss up prey for storage, or for transportation in the form of silken ropes, parachutes or balloons – often powered by the wind. This special way of traveling is called ballooning, when spiderlings float through the air on a strand of silk.

Spider silk can be five times stronger than steel, and may be stretched as much as one-fourth its length before breaking! The silk of Nephila spiders is the strongest natural fiber known, and South Sea Islanders use the silk of these spiders to make tote bags and fish nets.

Usually, female spiders are bigger than male spiders. Female spiders are dutiful mothers and are often seen tending their egg sacs – which can contain up to 300 spiderlings or more. All spiders hatch from eggs which are protected in the egg sac. Spiders molt, or shed their skin, occasionally as they grow. After the first molt the young spiders are totally independent from their mothers.

Warning! Never pick up a spider without talking with an adult. Some spiders are poisonous and can hurt you.

Spider Web Basics

Different spiders weave different types of webs. Spiders can get caught in spiderwebs, sometimes even their own webs! However, you won’t see it very often because they’re careful with their feet. The tips of a spider’s legs are oily. That helps keep them from getting stuck on their sticky webbing. Also, a spider’s web has two different kinds of silk on it. One kind is sticky and one is not. The spider avoids walking on the sticky webbing.
Take time to observe how your spider goes about making its web. After the web is formed, take note of what types of insects become trapped in the web, and watch how the spider handles the trapped insects.
After a night’s use, a spider’s web may become damaged. The spider then removes the silk in the morning, leaving only the first bridge line. Sometimes they eat their old webs to conserve silk and to make use of the nutrients of any tiny insects caught in the web. After a daytime rest, the spider constructs a new web in the evening. If the spider’s catch was low and the web was not heavily damaged, the spider may reuse the web after making repairs. You may find one of the following types of webs in your spider-observations. But remember, like snowflakes, no two spider webs are ever the same!

Triangle Web
Triangle webs are three-sided. Spiders that weave triangle-shaped webs wait for their prey at one end of their web. When an insect contacts the web, the spider shakes the strands to better catch the insect.

Orb Web
Orb-web weaving spiders do not have sharp vision. However, they can build beautiful and complicated webs. These spiders weave their round webs in open areas. Threads of dry silk extend from an orb web’s center like the spokes of a bicycle wheel. Lines of sticky silk connect the spokes, and serve to trap insects. The spiders discover food by feeling vibrations in their webs. Orb-weavers cut any inedible debris or insects out of the web with their fangs and drop them to the ground. Orb-weavers include the argiope, garden spiders, orchard spiders, and wolf spiders.
Some orb weavers lie and wait for their prey in the center of the web. Others attach a trap line to the center of the web and then hide in a nest near the web, and hold on to the trap line. When an insect lands in the web, the line vibrates. These vibrations act as a signal to the spider to dart out and capture the insect.

Sheet Web
If you live near woods, there’s a good chance that you’ll see one of these hammock-like webs. Sheet-web weavers spin thin sheets of silk between blades of grass or branches of shrubs or trees. These spiders also spin a net of crisscrossed threads above the sheet web. When a flying insect hits the net, it bounces into the sheet section. Often, an insect will fly directly into the sheet. The spider, waiting beneath the web, quickly runs to the insect and pulls it through the webbing. Sheet webs last a long time because the sheet is thick, and when the spider repairs any damaged parts, the sheet gets thicker still.