How does a spider know where to make a web?
 

My apartment building has a glass door, so at night all the moths and bugs fly around the door. Last week, a spider built a web on the bottom of the doorhandle and seems to be living large.

This got me thinking, how does a spider decide where to put up its hunting web? Does it just pick a random spot and hope to get food, or does it have some way to identify better spots?

tl;dr

Spidey Sense

I would guess its a numbers game. That is the typical method of trap hunting. Do small traps in each area and when one area gets results you focus and expand your traps.

When spiders make a web in a spot that doesn't catch much or is disturbed often they (usually...depending on the type of spider) will recycle the web material (usually by ingesting it) or abandon the web entirely and move to a new spot. When they find a spot that "works" they will stay there. Therefore you often see spiders with webs in spots that generate a lot of food and are unlikely to be disturbed. They really aren't that smart or intuitive they are just persistent.

I just made all that up.

I bet spooky would know. Or Jeremy.

He just knows man... he just knows.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...nting_food.jpg
They are smart. Too smart.

We have Doug though, just a matter of time before he sees this thread.

It's also possible that god created Aliens, who then came and engineered our earth and taught spiders their uber ninja skills. I'd say that's a lot more probable than just straight up god, since if I were god I'd definitely make a race that could create planets (both because it's cool and because it's less work for me).

Lol. Spiders are insane though:

http://thepirata.com/wp-content/uplo...g_spider01.jpg

Spooky tells them where to do it. All of them.