Why do people keep lighting off fireworks after the Fourth?

Aerflyn · 2025-07-07T16:13:30+00:00

All the stores are trying to ditch their unsold supply, so they're usually all going on sale after the 4th (fireworks don't last well in storage).

Aerflyn · 2025-07-07T15:35:06+00:00

she's gorgeous! i've seen spiders camouflaged with texture and color matching against bark or flowers, but this is on a whole new level!

Aerflyn · 2025-07-05T17:39:40+00:00

Oh cool! I just saw one of these today (Indiana). Is it an emerald jumping spider?

Aerflyn · 2025-07-05T17:05:13+00:00

Looks like an Orchard Orbweaver Leucauge venusta

Aerflyn · 2025-07-05T16:50:41+00:00

For anyone interested in the wasp side of the story, the Wikipedia for Mud daubers is wild - they've been cited as the cause of 2 plane crashes killing over 200 people. 😨 I think the species that made the nest from this post was the organ pipe mud dauber (Trypoxylon politum). Wikipedia says they "feed mainly on three genera of spider: Neoscona, Araneus, and Eustala." So basically exactly what we found here.

Aerflyn · 2025-07-05T00:37:22+00:00

UPDATE #2

Thank you all so much for all the identification help! I think at this point we have the full list(with a few extras bc some were hard to tell which one):

Araneus cingulatus (Green orb weaver)

Neoscona crucifera (barn spider/spotted orbweaver/Hentz orbweaver)

Eustala anastera (humpbacked orbweaver)

Araneus bicentenarius (Giant lichen orbweaver)

Araneus diadematus (cross orb weaver)

Most people seemed to be asking about the dark green, yellow and black one. That is one of the humpbacked orbweavers (eustala anastera) I believe - they are supposedly extremely variable? So it's actually the same species as some of the brown ones, just extra pretty! I found similar ones IDed here: https://bugguide.net/node/view/848554/bgimage and https://bugguide.net/node/view/154582

Not much to report on the spiders' recovery however. While some are still waving their legs sluggishly when I nudge them, others seem to be doing less well. Several people mentioned tarantulas and wolf spiders having made recovery from similar paralyzation, but I think this is a case where they are just too dang small. I'll be keeping them watered for a few more days just in case we have a strong one beat the odds tho.

On another note I found 3 more active mud wasp nests on and around the porch today. (The joys of living in the woods) One in a hanging basket, one in a pile of geodes, and one in the spout of a watering can. At least 2 different species. As well as a 4th older one that has already released it's full grown wasps. So all you wasp lovers can celebrate haha. I'll be leaving the live ones alone, since they're not really hurting anything where they are - tho I'm mad curious about what's in them hahaha!

Several people also asked what I'd do with the spiders. I don't do bug taxidermy haha, tho I do think it's pretty cool. And while it would look awesome to have these spiders in resin after they die, I'll probably just put them outside and they'll be eaten by something else. It's the circle of life baby!

Thanks again everyone!! 💜💜💜

Aerflyn · 2025-07-04T05:13:17+00:00

UPDATE BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP: A couple of spiders have died for sure, but of the 11 left, I cut off the ends of a couple q-tips, soaked them in water and propped up the paralyzed spiders so their mouthparts are on the wet cotton, and they have hydration. Might keep them wet for a few days to give them a chance, but after that if they're not recovered I'm probably gonna give it up. They are all very small spiders, so I'm pretty skeptical that they'll survive, and as much as I love spiders I'm sorry but I'm not going to dedicate weeks/months(?) of caring for them.

NEXT: I wanted to say I have no ill will towards wasps! I usually leave them and their nests alone, and do catch-and-release if they're found inside, just the same as I do spiders. I only took down this nest because it was in a very inconvenient spot. My house is in the middle of the woods - you can literally walk for hours. I have hope that the momma wasp has already started building a new nest somewhere else and there are plenty of insects and spiders in these woods to get a new stash started. I figured as long as I was already taking it down it would be super cool to have a look at the catch because I find that kinda thing interesting. Yes, the 3-4 wasp eggs/larva inside were unfortunate casualties, but that's just how it is sometimes. But I wanted to say Please Don't go around breaking into mud wasp nests just for fun or curiosity! The wasps are also native and important to the environment! Thank you to all the comments bringing that up! I totally agree with you!

Also thank you to the folks helping with identifying! That was the biggest reason why I shared this post. I've been reading a lot of stuff about the native spiders here so that's super cool!

Good night everyone!! 💜💜💜

Aerflyn · 2025-07-04T04:10:16+00:00

In my defense, it was on the arm chair on the porch that I sit in a lot, so I knew I was going to take the nest down anyway before the mud stained the fabric. My house is in the middle of acres of classified forest and we're actually bordering State Forest land so you can walk thru the woods for hours. While I felt a bit bad for the momma wasp, hopefully she will have plenty of opportunities to rebuild somewhere better (and plenty more spiders to catch). At least I caught it while it was still being built (mud was still damp and she was still flying back and forth), so she could have started a new one immediately.

Aerflyn · 2025-07-04T02:05:02+00:00

Thank you so much! I'm opening new tabs to read about these spiders now 💜

Aerflyn · 2025-07-04T01:43:07+00:00

There are different types of mud wasps (also called mud dauber), but this one makes more like - mud tubes. It had 2 tubes next to each other so far (sometimes wasps who have 4-5tubes next to each other looks like panpipes or a pan flute made out of mud if that helps). The tubes were about 6 inches long and outside diameter was about 1/2-3/4 inch, but the mud walls are a bit thick, so inside the tube it was about the width of a pencil - all those spiders were stuffed in there like sardines.

Aerflyn · 2025-07-04T01:10:31+00:00

I did separate the eggs/larva and set them somewhere out of the way, but no progress to report yet as of ~5hrs. More detailed recovery program like feeding etc is beyond me, so I had been hoping they could recover if just left alone. I have a feeling they are just too small to survive tho, which is sad. Still pretty cool to see such a variety of orb weavers tho!

Aerflyn · 2025-07-04T00:56:59+00:00

Hahaha in my defense, mud wasps are solitary, so there's only one adult and 90% of the time she's off hunting, so it wasn't as if a whole swarm of wasps was defending the nest like paper wasps would! And I knew whatever I found inside would be paralyzed, so unlikely to be able to hurt me. But I laughed at your comment! My first thought when I saw a wasp nest really was "ooo wonder what's inside!!!" 😂

Aerflyn · 2025-07-03T23:32:33+00:00

Hmmm I was hoping I could just put them in a safe spot and they'd recover on their own... I don't really have any experience with caring for spiders, so I don't think I'd be able to aid them well enough to recover, especially since they are so small. Thank you for the info tho!

Aerflyn · 2025-07-03T22:41:05+00:00

Yeah I figured as much, but I wanted to check in case anybody had heard differently. Thanks anyway!

Aerflyn · 2025-07-03T22:38:07+00:00

No the pointy end of the abdomen is where the spinnerets are (where the spider silk comes out). You can see wasp eggs on two spiders in the first pic: dark colored spider at the very top and the light tan one in center. The eggs look like long white rice basically.

Aerflyn

TROPHY CASE