The Barn Spider

The Barn Spider is one of the most common types of spiders encountered by many, defined by its yellow and black-striped or streaked body.

Nocturnal, they usually build their symmetrically designed webs in dark areas, thus the origin of its name since they’re often found building their webs inside the cool interiors of barns located in the Northern areas of the United States and in Canada.

Charlotte’s Web, a children’s novel released in 1952 and authored by EB White, with illustrations by Garth Williams, is hailed for popularizing the barn spider in mainstream media, telling the story of Charlotte, a barn spider, and how she had helped her friend pig, Wilbur.

The story proved to be quite popular as children’s story focusing on the value of friendship, so popular that is had inspired the release of a feature live-action film in 2006.

Though Charlotte’s Web defined Charlotte as a barn spider with friendly inclinations, the thing about real barn spiders is that they’re not exactly the most friendly creatures, known for keeping some distance from other barn spiders in the vicinity.

However, this doesn’t mean that they are likely to attack other spiders or attack anything or anyone that bothers them, as their natural nocturnal inclinations pegs them (somewhat) as loners, creatures who are at their best when left alone.

When talking about keeping them as pets, different exotic pet circles don’t particularly find them all that “interesting”, in the sense that they thrive best outside dedicated enclosures which are typically used in keeping pet spiders, plus the fact that they aren’t as active and exciting to view compared to other known exotic spider pet types.