Reply With QuoteGet yourself some glue traps for a little peace of mind.
It's that time again when these 8 legged t**ts start invading our homes. My wife's on permanent spider patrol and every night we have the full pull back of the bed sheets and wall inspections.
We've only had 2 so far but that's enough to spin the missus out.
There's only one thing worse in the house than a big hairy spider and that's a lost big hairy spider.
Get yourself some glue traps for a little peace of mind.
What are they?
Same here - 'nuke the room from orbit' has been demanded several times. Being neither a fan of the idea of living amidst radioactive fallout, nor of unnecessarily sending spiders to meet their maker, I've opted for spraying likely entry points to the room with a peppermint and teatree oil concoction reapplied every few days; a few weeks in and it seems to be working.
Thanks, never knew there was such a thing for spiders
Get a cat, spiders don't stand a chance. Get used to other half having a new thing to freak out about, cat crunching on spiders and walking around with the odd twitching leg sticking out of the mouth!
We already have a cat but she's not great at catching spidersOriginally Posted by Madness
Place a few conkers around the house, spiders hate the smell of them.
I have a good few spiders in my house all the time, never caused an issue.
You leave them alone they leave you alone.
I would never pick one up or handle one with my bare hands
I quite like catching movement out the corner of my eye in autumn as the house spiders appear and run across the carpet or somehow end up in the bath.
Last edited by Franky Four Fingers; 23rd September 2017 at 23:00.
My first cat loved catching and eating them, until one outwitted him. The spider played dead, and carried on playing dead until the cat grew bored. He never hunted another spider.
Honestly you big girl Dudley! You're 6 ft something and they're 3 inches at most. Just pick them up and put them outside. Try a thatched house if you want spiders. I can see a couple now but they'll stay put and there is George in the bathroom. Mind you 5 cats keeps the excess down. The loft gets a bit cobwebby this time of year.
Fortunately they don't bother swmbo obeyed or me that much!
They're all female coming in to mate and hibernate. I believe they don't eat during this period.
Yup, this. Cats are amazing spider finders and hunters.
Get another one, or two. I find that one going nuts to find a spider to tends encourage another who might not bother on his/her own.
Interesting, never heard that.
Depends on species, I think(?).
The large Tegenaria (i.e. non-web spinning houses spiders) that typically run across carpets at high speed at this time of year are mostly, I am told, males seeking females. I am pretty sure that some common Tegenaria species are in fact resident in houses all year round but usually hidden in out of the way places. Where the females are to be found, I have no idea!
The occasional Tegenaria gigantea (or Eratigena atrica as we should now call it), or giant house spider, is very impressive indeed. Happily still rare but seemingly increasing in numbers. Also happily, these spiders seem to prefer the tops of walls to floors. If they do come down to pouncing range then the cats always seem to find them.
In my house, false widows (mostly Steatoda grossa but a few nobilis) are now very common. These mostly sit tight in their webs. I have two in the corners of a window on the stairs that have grown large through eating a good supply of flies and moths. However, I have also observed that they occasionally go for a wander away from their webs. In this case I presume it does appear to be the females that go for a wander, presumably looking for males.
6ft 3 David and I still hate the bloody things. I'm nowhere near as bad as the wife who can't even look at them. I can glass them no issues but never be able to pick one up.
We're talking about the same ones right......the big thick brownish hairy ones with massive fangs at the front and not the big spindly ones that shake and throw a wobbler when you touch their webs as I can deal with that sort?
Mostly this is so but very occasionally I have noticed that Tegenaria can appear to be be aggressive. I.e. Making a definite attempt to pursue individual humans. Perhaps they think that some humans are spiders of the opposite sex!
There is also a species of smaller, web-using spider that seems prone to lowering itself down from ceilings on a thread onto people's heads. It has a small body and a fairly wide leg span for its body size with thin legs (although less than 1cm width overall) and often spends a lot of time walking around on ceilings, sleeping in corners. All of a sudden though, you'll notice that one has come down on a thread and this almost always seems to occur right over a human being sitting still. I have observed what I thought could be the same species doing this in a forest in Surrey.
Unfortunately I'm not sure what the above species is and they seem to have been out-competed in the last couple of years by false widows in this house. Notably, it would often use its legs to stabilise itself as it came down on its thread, sticking them out to slow down rotational momentum. It's not the only species to do this but it was very notable how they almost always did it. Does anyone have any idea about what this species is?
I have noticed that hey are back too, I am popular in the house again as the cry of "dad quick spider" rings out, I was scared of them as a kid, but strangely love them now. I have a rule, do not kill them, I pick them up and introduce to the outside. ( for them to enter the house again I expect ).
Cat just used to catch them, now just watches them. Slow worms are his thing, catches them, brings them in unhurt and alive, let's them go. Have to rescue them and release in the garden and repeat.
Happy days.
Wow, lucky to have slow worms. Whereabouts are you?
Devon, got adders too acording to neighbour but neither I or the cat have seen one, so he might be exaggerating.
Last edited by pastrana72; 24th September 2017 at 09:53.
Timely thread,
Seen the first couple of house spiders this week, I'll take a photo next time, moved one from the dining room into a store room, we all need somewhere to call home.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Ah, nice rural area. I'm in NW London so reptiles are a rarity.
I'm sure you do have adders as well as grass snakes.
I'm another in Devon, in an old cottage that seems to be home to half the spiders in the county. Even my wife, who was once terrified of them seems to have mellowed and often chats to one that's been living under the fridge for a good time now. The only one's that I'm really wary of are the Steatoda Nobilis and they get put back outside should they wander indoors, I've already had one painful encounter from one of them and don't want to repeat the experience.
My small garden though is a haven for wildlife as a result of not using chemicals and having a pond and is home to slow-worms, snakes, newts, hedgehogs and a few varieties of Dragonflies and Damselflies and is also visited by bats and a particularly noisy Tawny Owl that keeps us awake at night at breeding time.
I'm grateful to see the other things that share our space, I'm not sure why anyone should be so intent on removing them by fair means or foul, live and let live I say ...
I'm with Mike 👏👏👍👍
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Well said.
I used to pick up any spider and put them outside. No problem. I encouraged the children to, too. Only Mrs AO was reluctant to do so.
Then about five years ago we had false widows in the garage. It's completely changed my attitude. Apparently, they can give quite a bad bite. Now, if I'm not sure of the type they get squashed in short order.
one on their travels with the kids.
I was not to sure what one of those false widows were until recently, I went to visit a mate who caught a interesting spider in a clear tub from his garage, seen them in my shed before, a quick google later, we let him go in his garden.
This was a cool one, no idea what it was.
Cool, look forward to meeting them.
Old cat brought in a small Lizard once, it was fine once we enticed out from under the fridge freezer and let him back in the garden.
My friend was getting me to move some rocks near where i live, under the last one was a huge, I assume grass snake.
Did not have my camera, and it was soon on its way.
My friend who was a elderly Farmer who has sadly since past away (not related to finding the snake) was well chuffed to see it.
Was a bit of a shock at its size for me.
Back on Topic, if my wife or kids find a big spider, they make a lot of noise and I have to catch it in a cup, show them that I have caught it before I release it outside or they will not accept it has gone.
I may have just poked it gently in the past so to it runs back under the furniture, or mostly they are just too fast so you can not catch them.
I may have then said that they have gone, for the Spider to reappear 5 minutes later. That causes chaos.
I fear they might kill them when I work away from home and they appear. My Mum has been known to keep a spider in her sink or bath for a couple of days, for me to take it out, as my dad has passed away now.
I had a patient once who had a very large collection of Tarantulas in his house, not loose but still they were a bit scary.
Big Hairy things.
Last edited by pastrana72; 24th September 2017 at 10:42.
Thanks. My wife immediately made a purchase!
Ive noticed a marked increase over the past couple of weeks. For some reason its in the evening that they are at their most active.
I'm petrified of the damn things.
A swift final journey up the hose of a Dyson and through the macerating gubbins is the best plan in my book. They scare the crap out of me.
I don't mind the bigger spiders it's the ones with long spindly legs as well as crane flies that scare the hell out of me. Tarantulas no problem - they kind of seem like a different species to me (like 8 legged hamsters). But crane flies and daddy longlegs i can't cope with. Wierd and irrational I know
We get adders around the Tors (westward ho!) which I love nearby. They stay away from humans and I can't remember anyone being bitten by one for years. Think it's quite rare.
As for spiders, I sleep with a window open most nights until mid winter so spiders come in. Have a few times woken to find one of the little buggers running across me in the night and always been harmless apart from once. Last year I woke and felt one running across me and instinctively I brushed it off me in the dark as I jumped up. Turned the light on and saw it on the floor. One of those really fat body types (you know all gut and no legs). Took it out of the room and went back to bed. A minute or so later I could feel a slight itch. Turned the light on and the little sod had bitten me! Had a bit of swelling for a few days and felt a little pain for a day or so, nothing major but it was visible and not particularly nice.
Was that in the UK? It looks like a huntsman spider which, as far as I know, do not normally occur in the UK.
one on their travels with the kids.
Dunno. Never seen one quite like that.
Hehe
Ick!
The UK only has piss weak spiders, now this is a proper spider at work :)
https://www.theguardian.com/australi...ing-impressive
Yes we've had quite a few so far in the last couple of weeks, I normally catch them and throw them over the neighbours fence :-)
This is the wife's reaction when one is spotted
These are the ones we get, this one was in the corner of the ceiling, I think it's a common house spider?
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Not dissimilar to mine.
Jeez, the Malteser didn’t stand a chance
Why post something like this for all us cowards, even worse was happily reading the thread and then BAM you started to add photos of them, if this was later on in the day I would need a drink to steady the nerves, I am absolutely terrified of them in the house, yet at work ( plumber) I don’t seem to mind them when under floors or in attic spaces I just like to believe that I am magically protected by the bright torchlight lol
Well said Mike, we have some right nancy boys around here.
Cheers,
Neil.
Yes in the UK, in my back garden. This was on the garden fence.
Interesting, thanks. I wonder what species it was.
I meant to ask: How large was it?
Last edited by markrlondon; 25th September 2017 at 02:53.
Same reactions here.
To add to this: the garden is filled with spider webs. On a misty morning a beautiful sight, but that's in the eye of the beholder... Finally: the Honda gets filled with sailing gear every weekend. Sometimes the boom, spar parts or pouch with the sail has been put on the ground. We must have taken a stowaway-spider on board. For the last week it's been busy building a web between the rear view mirror, the edge of the sat nav and the gear knob. I remove the web when I get in the car, but the next day it's back! Perseverance.
Menno
It is not that big, just under a Inch I reckon. :)
http://www.eurospiders.com/Pisaura_mirabilis.htm
Nursery web spider
Last edited by Franky Four Fingers; 25th September 2017 at 22:30.
I was told of this a few weeks ago. I'm stunned; just one spider in the last two weeks since I've placed conkers around the house. It appears that these old wives knew a thing or two!
I need to get rid of them if my daughter sees them.
Some of those ones in here look a decent size so maybe they're bigger in England.
I've never come across any aggressive ones as yet.
Watched some nutcase redneck guy have a black widow fight against a scorpion on youtube the other day.
Scorpion owned it.
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