Sassy's Summer Science Project

This summer the children & I have been "studying" a Yellow Garden Spider that has spun her web just outside our sunroom/computer room/playroom door. The room gets used daily, but rarely the door (especially now) so this was a very smart place for our spider to build her home.

Sassy named her Charlotte. Aren't all spiders named Charlotte? All the ones around our house are. This is obviosly not our first garden spider, but she has been with us the longest & in a place where we can watch her every day. We are hoping to be able to see her egg sac & maybe even some babies, because her "husband" has been visiting alot lately. Thankfully we have not caught them "visiting". I couldn't begin to even wonder how spiders mate. I'm just glad they do it at night like decent folk!

In case you are not a spider expert like we are, the female spider is a lot bigger than the male. Charlotte is about 2 1/2 inches & Frank is less than 1 inch. Which also concerns me in the mating process. Also, unlike most things in "animal world" the female is the flashy looking one. My picture is not real clear, but Charlotte is yellow & black w/ a cool pattern on her back.

Sassy can't remember all her sight words, but at least we did something educational this summer. Now I'm going to Google the mating patterns of the yellow garden spider. I'm really curious about that.