Our pet spider

Isn't he just so cute.
He's not the spider though!

We have a pet spider here at our house. It is called a banana spider. They are really interesting looking. I read up on them to make sure they aren't poisonous. They are the second largest spider in North America. Only the tarantula gets bigger. Isn't that fun? This gal hangs outside our dining room window. She started about the size of a dime and is now bigger than the palm of my hand. If you click on the picture you can see a small brown spider above her. That is the male bananna spider (or golden orb weaver). He's tiny and dark brown, and doesn't get any bigger. They get the name from the yellow banana shape of their bodies, and the real name of golden orb weaver comes from their web. It is a faint gold color, and it is in an orb shape rather than flat across. They are known to make webs more than 30 feet across! How would you like to walk into that? Or next door neighbor has one for a pet too and it's bigger than ours. Their silk is stronger then steel that is the same thickness. All in all a pretty cool little (big) spider. All in our own backyard!