I was checking on the Argiope female in my backyard, and discovered that she has a little friend, in a web about 10cm away.

It’s true that the female of the species dwarfs the little males, but look at the gigantic, pendulous palps hanging off the boy. He’s all male.

Is it possible to have too many baby spiders?

No, it is not. Just ask their mother.

Mary and I thought our yard Argiope was looking lonely, so we visited a local breeding ground and snatched up a couple more. This is a new female, already adapting to life in our yard.

We also grabbed a couple of smaller Argiope, which might be males, or are simply too young to have the markings. They’re lurking somewhere in the underbrush.

That you can use your home computer as a spider incubator?

I keep several containers of Parasteatoda on top of my Mac Mini, where they thrive in the warmth and provide endless hours of entertainment while I’m working. All four of these contain egg sacs, and three of the four have hatched out this morning!

Time to party!

That isn’t the only clutch to emerge today. Here’s another:

These little guys are popping out everywhere — we’re surrounded by a cloud of little baby Parasteatoda.

We found another Argiope down the street. She’d made a spectacular catch.

Her web is in a great location, because she had a second dragonfly trussed up and awaiting consumption.

These are top predators in their community, except for the birds. But the birds don’t want to stick their beaks in a sticky web.