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Hello!
I have been looking through the spiders on your site, and believe my house is being overtaken by the jewelled araneus? I am sending pictures along, and the only reason I am not sure, is by your description of the web and breeding times. These spiders love the windows on our house, (eating moths, like you mentioned) but the webs are fairly small and quite messy. Not very "orb" like. They have stretched over large areas in some areas, like in my husband’s garage, from an engine stand to the bench. It ends up being almost hammock-like. Also, right now, almost everyone I have seen has about 3 egg sacks, some of which are "hatching" already. This doesn’t seem to match up with your description of them doing so in fall.
We’re not very worried about them, as they are adept bug killers. We live in Charles County, MD and we’re kind of out in the woods. We see plenty of different spiders! I have enclosed a picture of an adult female with egg sack, and the second is a younger one. I would appreciate your input, and would also like to know if having as many as we do is a problem. (they’re everywhere!!) Thanks for you time! (they also don’t seem to mind being in close proximity of each other)
Sincerely,
Debra

Hi Debra,
You have a Domestic Spider, Theridion tepidariorum. Comstock writes: “Of all the spiders that inhabit our dwellings, this is the most familiar, and consequently best merits the title of the Domestic Spider. Its tangle of threads can be found in almost any neglected room, throughout the length and breadth of our country; and the species is not limited to our country for it is almost a cosmopolite. This is an exceedingly variable species in colour and markings. … The egg-sacs are brownish and pear-shaped with a dense outer coat. They are suspended in the web, and several of them are made by one spider.”

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