am I the only one who got super happy seeing a giant colony of friendly communal spiders? they're just out there enjoying eachother's company

Spiders really scares the fuck out of me, and Orb Weavers always look so intimidating in their giant webs, but seeing you manipulate it, I do found it really cute.

Hey there, just stumbled upon your channel. Great video. I'm ex-Army and have spent years of my life patrolling around Queensland (sometimes at night) and just hitting their webs square in the face. i'm almost 50 now and last year had a big female set up shop outside my suburban Brisbane house. over the months I used this opportunity to educate my young boys about the life cycle of spiders, how they build their webs, how they mate, lay their egg sacks etc. The gruesome highlight was watching her slay her mate who had been with her for a month or so. I know most spiders starve to death in the winter time but we kept her going with crickets from the pet shop. Amazing educational experience for my boys. Keep up the good work.

If I was brave enough to hold a spider like that, I would officially be afraid of nothing. I don't even fear death, but I do fear spiders. I currently have one (not nearly that big) right on the door to my house. I have to duck under it's massive web just to get in and out lol. I can't bring myself to disturb it though, they're so cute

Gorgeous. They are also incredibly mesmerizing to watch spin their web.

She's huge. I had a huge garden orb make a web across my driveway every night. Different species which I've heard can be a little aggressive??? and have a pretty painful bite similar to a wasp sting. The web was huge and beautiful. If she was too low I had to move her before driving out of my driveway. I'd collect her in a container and put her near her curled leaf every morning if she was too low. It was about 50/50. Sometimes I could drive under her. Either way, I started to set my alarm 10 minutes earlier to account for her. She made the most beautiful webs and I cringed when I had to drive through her web at 530am. Her web was about 3 metres wide and 2 metres high. She was enormous. Never seen one even close to her size again.

As someone with an irrational fear of spiders this video is fascinating and does help, but I've still got waves of prickles rushing over my body when I watch.

They’re so gorgeous! Spiders really get a bad rap, most of them are so sweet and gentle. I had a sling of these hatch in my garden a few weeks back, so now I have about 15 in webs all around my yard! Love the video, it’s clear you care a lot about them ❤️

She's stunning! It's my goal to see one of these as someone down in Victoria.

Beautiful girl. I had one that use to weave her web across my bedroom window. There was nothing insect screen so the situation was ideal for her. At times when the moon was going through it’s stages her web and her were beautifully vivid. By the morning she eats her web and starts again around sunset.🥰🥰

Great video!! I really like this type of content where you showcase a certain animal and give great info about them. I got to say that's a really lovely spider, didn't knew much about them. Glad to hear you fixed your sound issue!!!

Great information and video ! Orb weaver spiders are one of my favorite species of spiders and are great for overcoming your fear of spiders .

The Elenor Shonell bridge to UQ seems to be packed with these types of spiders and I had one living in the front hedge, too. Very cool, thank you!

She's lovely! There's a HUGE species of spider here in Australia that I've seen twice in my life. The Australian Bush Huntsman. A video on these would be great to see. 🫡

Loved the video and can't wait for the follow up videos you were talking about!

we get so many of them around our area. sometimes riding my mountain bike on the trails can be a challenge. i didn't realise they were so timid.

One of the most inconvenient spiders 😂 the amount of times I’ve walked through that insanely strengthened web 😂

Thank you for your fabulous video, excellent explanations and gentle handling of the spider. :) I love spiders, especially after reading the children's book "Charlotte's Web" many years ago.

Dang that’s a biggin 👍when I took my road trip to the Everglades with my wife we saw some huge orb weavers but none with that round rump definitely a stunning species. Really want to move to Australia for the spiders and monitors 🤘🏻

What a beautiful spider

Amazing video and great information!

Here in the USA we have Golden Garden Spiders (Argiope aurantia). Once we had one build her web across our front door. Needless to say, we didn't use that door for weeks! We let her be. She was beautiful, though she did freak out the postal lady a bit. Thank you for teaching people that most spiders are fundamentally harmless and amazing.

I currently have a massive Golden Orb as per your video in my garden. Even though I have basically a natural jungle in suburbia, she likes my washing line, we’re getting along, sharing what we can 😂. She’s spectacular! I like to lay under the spider milky ways too.

Fantastic video. I have what looks very much like the spider in the video. Great to know they are not dangerous. And it will always just stay in the same place on the web, rain, hail, wind, or storms.

Great vid. The golden orb weavers are probably the spider that evokes the most fear in myself. This vid has made me realise ho irrational that fear is.

High quality Content. Deserves more views and likes

I get orb weavers in my backyard in southwest Sydney. 3 different types 4 if you include St Andrews Cross spider, none are as big as the one you're holding, the webs are huge, strong and sticky especially if you walk into one which is a nightmare. I pretty much leave them alone and never deliberately kill them.

I have several Golden Silk spiders along the back of my house a few miles from the Gulf Coast in AL. The one closest to the door had a male in the web with her until the last day or two. My yard has lots of trees so I'm sure there are many more. I'd love to see a Marbled Orb Weaver spider. They're so pretty.

Love your passion and knowledge. Always been scared of spiders, which is annoying cause I do find them fascinating and beautiful animals!

I love these spiders. Though I must admit that when I was younger I had a nasty fear or running into a web & getting the spider stuck in my mouth. While non-aggressive, they can be a dangerous chocking hazard. As I read that last part to myself I realise I sound just like those fake nature videos lmao.

Have walked face first into quite a few of their webs. They panic very easily and scoot off as fast they can, usually aiming for the nearest tree trunk. Have handled quite a few landing on my lap or on my head riding a quad bike. I'm sure they will give you a painful bite if you squeeze them or sit on them by accident but they are the most docile spiders I have ever come across and just want to be left alone.

Sooo pretty 😍

She's gorgeous. Thanks for another entertaining and informative foray into our brilliant environs. A suggestion for a future video: the size disparity between sexes.

You're awesome

She's a beaut!

I'm a severe arachnophobe who knows rationally that these spiders are harmless, and I even love their golden webs, but walking into them when they've spun them across the footpath sends me into utter terror as my lizard brain takes over. It's hard living in Brisbane with arachnophobia but I'll survive, and it's nice knowing they are around even if I don't want to see them

Magnificent spider!

I absolutely love these guys! I’m from california and we get smaller ones here 😅 one has made a web across the entire front of my house! I’ve named it Orbert 💕

i dont care how many times someone says a spider is "harmless" or a "gentle giant" i will NEVER touch one....if i walked into its web, id probably pass out

Always loved these guys since I saw my first one in a vineyard as a kid and got my dad to identify it for me because I was in awe. It seems I won't see one for ages then all of a sudden they're freaking everywhere (in my travels, I don't necessarily go looking for them)

I wish our orbs grew like that here in Texas!! I have 2 on my patio and I find my Zen watching them. Such a beautiful creature

If you're a leg guy then these are extra sexy spiders

used to see these everywhere in brisbane in spring time. probably a few hundred in and around my backyard at points. there was always a massive colony of thousands across some power lines and trees a few streets down

We have these in Florida too .... or similar type anyhow... The pet shop in Ft Lauderdale was selling Funnel Webs too ...from Japan evidently

Hey left/right audio channels are fixed! First video I've watched since that had been a persistent issue and this is a cool one to come back to

That fruit it carries looks ripe as ever. Beautiful!

I have tons of golden orb weavers in my frount yard and wildlife reserve so beautiful and elegant

Nice video. How did she get on the Buggered List then? Habitat destruction?

Remember. This spider can bite.And its bite feels like a bee sting

Australia is like a place that time had forgotten to make an appointment

I was just thinking about this.... Spiderman's best ally, or nemesis? Maybe? An Orb Weaver. Food for thought... Spiderman is good, but an orb weaver, would be... like.. his mentor, champion.

Gosh, the characterization used to describe them as clumsy is so incredibly endearing 😅

He said don’t come for me, ok, I don’t control the wind

Very cool one. I have never been to places where there are these spiders but I definitly can say I knew this one on Jumanji x). You can bet those misinformed videos would put images from the movie to say that they measure around 1 foot long!

Living in Southern California, we had orb weavers a bit less than half the size of this female, legs and all. I never had any trouble with them, unless I face planted a large female at night. That usually made me scream like a little girl.

That's such a stunning spider, really wish they were native here in the UK.

Audio issues solved, and great video 👍

I would love to see the red back spider come face to face with each others in the web🕸️🕸️🕸️🕸️

I once had one on the back of a chair that I didn't notice, when I leaned back, it felt squished and bit me, it was a full venom bite, because it hurt more than any other spider bite, I've been bitten 3 times, only twice since I stated keeping them as pets, every sensation in my arm, neck and shoulder felt like pain until it all went numb and I no longer had fine motor control in that arm. The spider died, I think someone squished it after I yelped and ran out of the seat, so I spent the rest of the day in pain and knowing the poor thing died because I didn't bother to look at the back of the chair. My other bites were a dry bite from a pet redback and a bite from a wolf spider, while I was cleaning her cage and she decided she wanted the cricket I was trying to catch and remove since she hadn't eaten it, even though it had been there all day for her to eat.

That is absolutely beautiful. Is it possible to have as a pet?

There are many orb weavers of a particular species, Nephila fenestrata, in my area in Cape Town. Some local lady shared a few anecdotes indicating that their bite is very painful, and even left someone in urgent care.

Ooooh nah mate!! I found one of these on my neighbour’s fence and I thought it was a dinosaur 🥴 but I’m stoked to know they aren’t poisonous 😮‍💨

Jackson do you also keep Eriophora transmarina/biapicatta?

Is that a drop of venom at 0:46?

Looks like the spiders on Jumanji.

I think I would die if I ran into one of these.

During summer I find orb Weavers every at work during summer can’t avoid there webs so matter how much I try I live in south Sydney

I ran into a web aswell

Nice. I was bitten on the forehead by a large female Golden Orb Weaver while out on a 6km run at 9.30pm in Queensland some years ago. The fresh web being spun was obscured in the shadow of a kerbside council tree on the footpath. It was mid summer and I very hot and sweaty. I used to run 6km in 22 minutes, so my heart rate was high. I rowed competitively, played indoor and field hokey, indoor cricket, touch rugby league football and I ran marathons. My face, hair, neck and upper torso were covered in the thick, sticky, matted webbing of the fresh silk. It was disgusting. Now, out from the shadows and under the light of a nearby street lamp, I was frantically trying to remove the seriously aggravating, sticky mess of steel-like web that I had run through. Piece by piece. Strand by strand. Frantic. Disgusted. I pulled the sticky web from my face, neck, shirt and hair. My hair was last. I could see my shirt. I could feel the web against my skin. But my hair... I could only feel a mass in my hair. That's where the spider lurked. The Golden Orb Weaver. Just like your video. It was in my hairline, just above my forehead. As I reached up to remove the web from my hair, the spider bit me on the forehead. I felt the bite. Then I grabbed and felt the spider. I saw it in my hand before I cast it aside. It was a common female Golden Orb Weaver. Exactly like your video. Anyway, I kept running for a bit, but I started to feel strange. I eventually put my hands to my face and realised that my forehead had swollen up like the Incredible Hulk. My skin above my eyes was as tight and smooth as a football. I stopped to assess, but I was then 3km into a 6km run. I was 3km from home, whichever way I went. I turned back. When I got home, my entire face was swollen beyond recognition. From my hairline to my jawline. My eyes were just slits between the swellings. My lips were humongous. My family and I were concerned that the swelling might progress to my neck and throat. But it didn't. By midnight, the swelling was dissipating. I was very lucky that the bite was on my forehead. If the bite had have been on or near my neck, it could have been a different story. Just sayin'. Brett

Consuela

Never been bitten by these guys, discovered them like a week ago. I've heard the bites at worse can result in nausea. I keep walking into their webs because they weave on paths. I saw one today on a path in a busby area I like to explore and got jumpscared by a fucking fly.

I've just found out that handling spiders, if not trained properly can lead to them having internal injuries if they fall from a height 🥲 I've never handled one, but it makes them appear so much more gentle ❤

Was she secreting venom? Either that, or she was drooling like a very happy Feline.

Are they the buggers that leave those webs, like piano wire across pathways? lol

Is silk thickness dependent on spider size, or species?

These types of spiders are said to be the largest web spinning spiders

The ones I saw in Qld. had a much more elongated and colourful abdomen. Same legs though.

That’s a big spider

Now that’s a big handful of NOPE!

Wow, her chelicera are huge. And…she’s walking on her pedipalps? Is that common for spiders? (I’m not sure about using these to desensitize people, tbh. As a trying to recover arachnophobe, there’s something about the body shape and pointy legs of orb weavers that just… nope me right out. Jumping spiders, velvet spiders, and Brazilian jewel spiders (the trapdoor species) are where I’d start desensitizing folks!)

I've got about 10 of them in my back yard scared the shit out of me. Its good to know their friendly there's one spot in my back yard that makes me think of that one hobbit scene there's about 7 massive ones and a few small ones and the weebs are all connected into one massive web I stopped going to that part of the yard

The Insectory currently has some Beregama aurea, if you are interested

Can you give a hint as to who "our favorite drama queen" is so I can adjust as needed?

I actually have the golden orb spider at the front of my house

Think it was a different type of golden orb but just saw one of these at work (Airlie Beach) after walking into a web and then seeing the spider thinking a) damn that’s huge (size of my hand) and b) well that could of been worse 😂 (my college also walked into the web and didn’t notice the spider either until I pointed it out 🤣) I’m sure they’re fine but no way I’d think of touching it sorry haha

I think spiders are so cute 😂 am i weird?

Aussie here I make my husband go first that way he can walk into the orbs web first I’ve seen some MASSIVE ones and I like to keep my distance they’re amazing but my phobia gets the best of me 😰

These types of animals keep me away from sertain place's on earth like australia or trainforest's. I know they can't bite but the scale and shape just creeps me out

I'm in Australia I wanted a pet affter my rats have died so I found this I was so scared if I wanted to have one basically bc they have venom

Beautiful spider and video mate. You don't have to make a spider bite you to prove a point though. You're already spreading the truth by means of this video.

How does that thing not bite you?

Why the hell would want to get bit?

You're planning on letting yourself get bitten by one of these?? I mean, you mentioned their venom is weak, so I guess it wouldn't be too dangerous, but... will you be following up with bites from other species the way Brave Wilderness does? 'XD I've never watched one of his videos, but still, it sounds horrendously painful, the things that man does x'D

Anyone else walked into golden orb webs before? 🤣

I cant stand a ant on me how do u do this!!

Wait, which drama queen are we talking about here? By the way, great video as always.

No

Manual focus honey

"Construction of webs both adjacent to, or even conjoining with one another is fairly commonplace in Golden Orb weavers, both between conspecific and allospecifics." Wow, a spider species that has solved racism, if only they could solve sexism, we need to raise awareness for Spiderman's rights.

i wish i wasnt arachnophobic. i think spiders are so interesting but if one a hundredth of that size is within 6 feet of me esp in the school vans i drive (one of which had at least five in it) i scream like a baby chimpanzee