Observing gasteracantha hasselti spiders while building their webs

Good night everyone 🕷️🕸️

tonight I want to share a very interesting moment about the life of a creature that is perhaps often overlooked but has its own beauty and uniqueness, this beautiful creature is a species of spider which is popular with the name "Gasteracantha hasselti" or some also call it the horned spider, but tonight I want to show another side of their lives that many people may not know about.

So on this occasion, allow me to show how they pull the web one by one until it becomes a nest and trap for insects, this is a rare moment, but you also need to know that the nest they make is not perfect because my presence disturbs these spiders and they stopped their activities, so I only had time to capture a few moments when they started pulling fine threads between the trees.

now let's see how they build beautiful webs.

The first photo shows these spiders wanting to connect their threads into one whole from one tree to another, from this I understand that these spiders don't pull the long ones all at once, but they pull the threads twice from different directions.

after they pulled several threads criss-crossed, and the white lumps that were visible were the result of the connections they had succeeded in making, and this showed they had succeeded in building the strength of the nest in the first stage.

this is when the spiders pull the web from right to left of me and they want to tie the ends of their threads to the durian leaves, and I noticed they just stick the threads on the durian leaves, but what's unique is that the nest is very intact and not at all carried by the wind currents and doesn't even break when the durian leaves move to and fro, this is truly amazing.

This spider uses its long legs to pull several threads at once, and this looks like a really great and brilliant attraction for a spider, and makes me wonder why these spiders when pulling their webs hang under the threads? is this to test the integrity of the thread or is this a natural behavior of the spider? do you have specific information about?

as I said, the nest they make is not complete so it doesn't look like a labyrinth, but the most interesting thing about this is that the threads that are connected from one thread to another are not only functional but also artistic, every spider definitely has its own way. a little different in building the nest even though in the initial stages of building the nest they follow the same basic principles, and of course I really want to see their nest in one piece, but what can my presence do to make them feel disturbed and stop their activities, I hope I can find them on another occasion.

one of the things I enjoyed the most when observing the Gasteracantha hasselti spider was how they live their days before night in a very different way from us, when we go to a cafe to enjoy coffee with friends while telling some horror stories Gasteracantha hasselti is actually busy build, care for and protect their nests from various potential threats, and they do it with great perseverance and natural intelligence, the process of building their nests shows how nature provides everything they need to survive and reproduce without much interference from the outside world.

so tonight I feel very lucky because I have the opportunity to share this experience with all of you, even though Gasteracantha hasselti looks scary for some people, there is no need to be afraid because these beautiful creatures will not harm humans, they are just creatures that are full of charm and uniqueness in everything aspects of life, thank you very much for reading & see you 🥰