Body Language (Furrow Spider|Orb Weaver)

[CrowWing]

I have a female Furrow Spider (She is a type of orb weaver) who has finally laid her eggs sac.

I was just very curious, does anyone know anything about spider body language? She is very expressive.

There is one thing in particular that I'm most curious about...

When I hold her, she often does this thing where she looks like she will wave. She puts her two front legs up and down, but not as a defensive or offensive posture where she holds them up.
What could this mean?
Is she feeling/sensing, or is it something else?

Here's a picture of her and her egg sac

 

[Royalty]

While it might look like waving to you, it could be a defensive posture. It is hard to tell without seeing it. It very well could be her trying to feel around looking for somewhere to climb.

 

[ReignofInvertebrates]

Orb weavers are pretty clumsy spiders, so I’d say it’s probably her way of feeling out her surroundings.

 

[The Snark]

Orb weavers are pretty clumsy spiders, so I’d say it’s probably her way of feeling out her surroundings.

Not exactly clumsy. Their brains are highly sophisticated geometric computers that in turn operate their body functions. The computers require data input. ALL their data input in building and operating within webs comes from sensory feedback in their legs. An orb weaver configures and builds a web behind it - beyond it's field of vision.
So if an orb weaver is removed from it's web and acts strangely it's the same as how a human would act in a sensory deprivation tank.

How animals perform their normal lives in a native environment is directly related to their senses. At one extreme end is the orb weaver, at the eyesight extreme end, the raptors, at the sonic vibrations extreme, certain whales, in the middle that combines auditory, visual and scent senses as canis and felis. Hunting spiders like lycosids, sparassids and salticids combine eyesight with sonic vibrations detected in their setae.

 

[ReignofInvertebrates]

Not exactly clumsy. Their brains are highly sophisticated geometric computers that in turn operate their body functions. The computers require data input. ALL their data input in building and operating within webs comes from sensory feedback in their legs. An orb weaver configures and builds a web behind it - beyond it's field of vision.
So if an orb weaver is removed from it's web and acts strangely it's the same as how a human would act in a sensory deprivation tank.

How animals perform their normal lives in a native environment is directly related to their senses. At one extreme end is the orb weaver, at the eyesight extreme end, the raptors and hunting spiders like lycosids, huntsman and sparassids, at the sonic vibrations extreme, certain whales, in the middle that combines auditory, visual and scent senses are canis and felis.

Well put. I suppose I meant they are out of their element when handled, without any web to cling to.

 

[The Snark]

Well put. I suppose I meant they are out of their element when handled, without any web to cling to.

Just observe a blind person with a cane. They act identically to an orb weaver outside the web.

Spoiler

Or compare a horny male Atrax to a Trump outside it's social comfort zone, Threat posture time!

 

[Veles]

A spider cannot and will not consciously wave at you, its not a dog.