The Golden Orb Weaver or Joro Spider has invaded western North Carolina. In the last five years, these giant spiders have spread to multiple counties in north Georgia and now are being found in South Carolina and North Carolina including Henderson County. Reported sightings began locally in the fall of 2024 associated with tourist sites. The fall of 2025 reports have been received from Saluda, Flat Rock, Hendersonville, Pisgah Forest, Edneyville, Dana, and Etowah in Henderson County.

Slide from NC PDIC presentation

Where they have established themselves these enormous spiders make walking outdoors in the late summer creepy, to say the least. The fall is when these spiders are the most noticeable because this when they achieve their full adult size. Outdoor recreation is seriously hampered by the robust webs when they are blocking hiking trails and near fishing waters. Fly lines will get tangled in these webs. Hikers and bikers are going to be unhappy about running into these enormous spiders and their robust webs!

Golden Orb Weaver

The Joro Spider is called the Golden Orb Weaver because the silken threads they spin are gold colored. The spiders spin huge webs using silk as thick as fishing line. Walking into a web as big as a person that houses a spider as big as your hand is unnerving. Fortunately, these spiders do not bite people or pets.

Personal Experience

This author experienced these spiders on a camping trip to Northeast Georgia. The sheer number of spiders was incredible. I counted a half dozen of the webs and spiders within 50 feet of each other. Their presence was noted every 20-30 feet down trails and along woodland edges. Walking around at night was a harrowing experience trying to avoid getting one of the spiders in the face. Power lines in the area were covered in the webs for miles.

Where Do Joro Spiders Live?

Jor spiders have been reported near ponds, on the sides of houses, in the tops of trees, in power lines, field edges, home gardens and in forests. Wherever there are vertically parallel power lines, there are hundreds of spiders. Tree climbing arborists report the spiders infesting tree tops. I have received dozens of reports form home gardeners about the spiders in landscapes.

Controlling Joro Spiders

Joro spiders can lay 1000 eggs per female. To prevent the spiders from establishing populations on your property, use insecticides to kill each Joro spider you see. Avoid killing native orb weaver spiders as they are beneficial to humans and the environment. Insecticide sprays that include pyrethroids such as wasp sprays or flying insect sprays have proven to be effective per research done at UGA. Learn more about the Joro spider from this UGA publication.

Report Joro Sightings

If you do see a Golden Orb Weaver/Joro Spider in Western North Carolina, please let me know by emailing me at steve_pettis@ncsu.edu . These spiders are distinguishable from our native orb weavers by their golden spider webs, the webs being high off the ground, and their coloration. Joro Spiders have distinguishable yellow stripes across their abdomen.

Protect Native Spiders

There are many wonderful native spiders here in western NC. Let's do not mistake these for Joros. Here are just a couple of our native orb weaver spiders that we should protect:

MORE PICTURES OF JORO SPIDERS