Hold the Spinybacked Orbweaver (Gasteracantha Cancriformis)
The spinybacked orbweaver spider can be a lot of fun. It is an innocent little spider that, despite its scary looks, is totally safe for your children to hold.
I know, I may be the strange mom who likes if my children find any safe, small insect to play with. The spiny orb weaver fits the description. My children now bring them to me whenever they find one. We house them on our front porch till they move on. From doing that, we have learned several interesting things through observation.
Names and Descriptions
Spiny-backed orb-weavers are from the species Gasteracantha cancriformis. While I don’t usually care about scientific names, you can check them out more if you are interested.
Here in Costa Rica they are often referred to as the “araña panadera” translated as the breadmaker spider as their spiny back could look like a baker’s hat. Sometimes in English they are called the crab spider as they look sort of like crabs too.
These spiders come in many different colors. They are sort of like the jewels of the forest, as they are bright little spots of color when you come across them. Here I have only seen them in white, yellow and red/orange.
They also can have several colors on themselves and usually have some white spots on their underside and black spots on the top.
Their backs are like a hard plate with six spines sticking out. If you squish them, those spines can poke you, but they are not dangerous at all in that they are not poisonous. I have read that they can bite (harmlessly) but in all my years of holding them I have never been bitten.
Life Cycle
While we haven’t had the opportunity to observe the orb weaver’s egg mass, I have been studying about them online. You can learn more here. I understand that the adults die soon after mating or laying the egg sac, in the case of the females. The egg case is a bunch of yellow fuzz, often with a single thread of green laid across the top, and then another bunch of tangled, yellow threads over top.
After a few weeks, the spiders hatch. Each tiny spider goes through several stages of molting and changing before becoming an adult. Someday I hope we can observe the process, and then I will be sure to update you all with pictures and more information.
Hold and Observe Them
Remember that the crablike spiny orbweaver is not as scary as it looks. Anyone can hold them. Like I mentioned earlier, when we find one we bring it to our front porch and put it among our plants.
The girls had one they called “Reddy” that we had the privilege of watching for several days. The interesting thing is that every morning Reddy would have taken down the old web and made a new web in a different spot. Talk about a busy spider!
Their webs are beautiful, carefully built orbs, or circles, which is where they get the orb weaver part of their name. It is fascinating to watch them build one. Truly God designed them well, because it would take math skills to get all those measurements right, and do them every night!
Frequently Asked Questions
They like warmer weather so they can be found in the Southern USA, and Central and South America almost anywhere. I have read that they especially seem to like citrus groves.
Yes, most certainly. They just have an extra hard case on their backs, but they are actual spiders.
No. They are harmless, with no venom. They rarely bite, but even then it is not harmful to humans.
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Learn More
Real-life observation is good for your children, and there is so much they can learn from the world. Get out with them, and learn about spiders, butterflies, praying mantises, and other creatures.
If you want to see more about how I teach my young children science, check out my tips and favorite curriculum for science.
You can also check out my resources page under “Insect Adventures” for supplies to help you on your observation journey.
I use to have one of these as a child, I was about 12 years young ((I am now 34 years old, lol)). But I didn’t know anything about them back then and I would hold Spike ((Spike was his name)) all the time!! My mothers friend had found him in his back yard and was able to capture him in a mason jar and brought him to me and I loved Spike but I didn’t feel right keeping him confined with such a big beautiful world out there that God had created just for him and all of us and I just felt it was his right to go explore it. That being said, I let Spike go after a very short week and I saw him for a while than he went on his way, off to explore the big world. Spike made a big impact on my life with his beautiful body that God had created. I haven’t been able to find another one that looked just like him either!! He had a very bright neon green back with about six black spikes all over the back, not just in one area, literally all down his back. He wasn’t like most that outline on the outside of the body. His six spikes went everywhere on his back, just gorgeous!! Spike is the only spider I have ever physically held and got near comfortably. Other then him, I’m beyond terrified of all other breads. But there’s really no need to be scared of this bread. Just know, God is an amazing Artist and Creator and He has created every single living organism and everything you can see. Isn’t that just amazing!! I must say, I strongly feel that Gods favorite color is also Green. Why? Because just about everything he’s created is the beautiful Green besides the big beautiful blue sky!! Just think grass is green, plants are green, most lizards and etc are a green of some sorts. Trees, shrubs, bushes, insects are green!! God could have chosen any color in the world to be the sky or to be the grass and the sun and moon and trees and etc but He chose the specific colors that He did and I strongly feel that God did a perfect job when it came to His choices. He’s just perfect and amazing!! Just soo giving and loving and forgiving. He’s perfect. He is pure. He is my everything. He is the reason why I truly hate killing any type of insects because regardless of what the insect may be, God created it. He chose to create each species for a specific reason. Just as He chose to make you and I. God Bless and thank you for sharing this with me. 🤟🏼✝️🦋🥰
Thanks for sharing your story with me! I will tell my children about it. And Yes, Green is my favorite too. We are so blessed that God made beauty just for our enjoyment.