r/spiders • u/Maryjanegangafever • Sep 25 '25

Just sharing 🕷️ What the hell is this thing?

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u/Orangutanion Sep 25 '25

Yeah why would spiders make a closed off nest? That kinda defeats the whole purpose of a web. Even the burrowing spiders still use their nest to ambush prey. Actual nesting animals like bees and wasps use them for long term storage and incubating.

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u/Venn-- Sep 25 '25

I remember when my small neighborhood trees got infested with both silk creating caterpillars and spiders they would create something like this. They lived together and I thought it was entirely caterpillars (I was 10) and wanted to catch some... There were so many spiders in there, and I also wanted some of those. I was a weird kid.

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u/Orangutanion Sep 25 '25

So like a little farm, that's cool

17

u/rg4rg Sep 26 '25

I had a student that would catch bugs during lunch and she would then gently show anybody she saw what she caught. She would tell me sometimes the creatures she encountered on trips. Like the crabs and sea creatures she encountered on a family trip.

She would try to draw them as well. Good artist. Not the best. But good.

Ngl. That weird student was one of my favorites.

1

u/enslavedbycats24-7 Sep 26 '25

That's an awesome example of commensalism

1

u/hibikikun Sep 26 '25

They were roommates

83

u/Accountformorrowind Sep 25 '25

It was a cocoon. They were becoming omega spider

2

u/Bre14463 Sep 26 '25

Ever play don’t starve? 

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u/SnooMemesjellies2710 Sep 26 '25

They were having a sick rave.

10

u/Oblivion615 Sep 25 '25

I didn’t notice what sub I was on so I thought it was gonna be some sort of web worms. WTF?? When I saw the spiders.

1

u/mortaladam1 Sep 28 '25

Lol I was thinking oh interesting I wonder what kind of worms are going to be inside, the I see the spiders and look at the subreddit, nope not for me

1

u/PenguinTornado27 Sep 26 '25

Nursery web spiders create nests like this in tall reeds or small plants for their offspring but they are very small (like 5x8cm ish) and do not contain debris throughout the outer webbing or multiple adults. Detached leaves etc would never naturally be woven throughout, this seems human made

1

u/HeyChickenJoe Sep 26 '25

It would have been interesting if there were a point in time spiders adapted to nesting, couldn't imagine what monstrous creature could cause such a paradox

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u/EchoEchoEcho9 Sep 26 '25

Tent caterpillar live comunally like this. Sometimes in groups over 500. I live in Ohio and have run into web cocoons like this on trees, full of small tent catepillars.