h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

NaJoPoMo 2014 Day 9 - Spiders

My outhouse is full of spiders. I know it is because I put them there.

I remember reading on here years ago a posting where someone had an agreement with the spiders in their house (was it Robyn Hood?). They stayed away from the risky areas and she allowed them house room. I've done that for a while now, no spider gets chucked out unless they're somewhere threatening like over the sofa or near the bed. I prefer them out of sight but if they're on a wall across the room, or on a bit of the ceiling which isn't over a doorway or piece of furniture I need to use, they're fine.

If they're in an area I consider threatening, they're scooped up in the spider catcher (Best. Gadget. Ever.) and moved to the outhouse. I'm not quite sure why I put them there and not just up the garden, some misguided sense of their creature comforts probably .

Last summer I went to lock my back door (from the outside) and disturbed a web of hundreds of babies. It was weird, it was like the web just exploded. Anyway, I scooped up as many of them as I could catch in a plant pot and moved them into the outhouse. A day later they were all gone from the pot and I spotted a couple of colonies up in the corners.

My niece & nephews don't like to go in there. It's a great place to hide

It's easy to be tolerant of spiders in the UK, I think. I'm so glad I don't live somewhere like Australia

My agreement with the spiders was upset somewhat recently, however, when I heard on the radio that they don't naturally like being in houses and they'll maybe miss the opportunity of finding a mate if they're stuck indoors. So my spider catcher may be put to more use in future and my outhouse will probably end up relatively free of

Deb

Ooo...

I used to be really scared of spiders at home with my parents, but most of the ones I encountered were not much bigger than money spiders (apart from one very weird day when I was in the bath and a tarantula leg floated past )

Now in my flat, the average size is 2 inches, so the "tiny" 1 inch ones are not that scary any more, but I don't see that many of them as the majority are bigger than that so I'm still scared...

What's your spider catcher like? Mine is a hoover type thing, which isn't that great at sucking up 2 inch spiders as they have quite a strong grip so it's more by accident than design if they go in there. I do have a spider in my catcher at the moment, though, and I just need to work up courage to decide how to eject it without it escaping on to my wheelchair (my dad usually ejects them for me, but typically this one arrived the day after my parents went on holiday - to Australia... I'm glad I don't live there, too )

I remember last year, Icy North mentioned spiders, and the different types - some of them are house spiders and prefer being indoors, whereas others prefer to be outdoors. Most of my spiders let themselves in through the front door, so I can't work out whether they prefer indoors or outdoors, but I prefer them outdoors.

That last bit is particularly interesting. I talk to my spiders, they are the sort that don't scurry, they are just laid back like me, and sometimes will just ease themselves further round the ceiling. Not that I tend to do a lot of easing round the ceiling myself, but you know what I mean.

I think I am being kind to them, but now I worry that they are just living lonely unfulfilled existences because of my selfish need for intelligent conversation.

Sasha, this is my spider catcher

http://www.primrose.co.uk/product_thumb.php?img=images/sp0270spider2.jpg&w=337&h=500

It has a nice long handle and is so easy to use. I use it for flies & wasps, too. I don't know anything about the supplier in the link, it's just the first one I saw with my particular catcher - there are loads of them out there!

Pebblederoom I'm sure the spiders would leave if they really wanted to!

Deb

Spiders have a grand life. They don't even have to pay to be on the web.


Ok, I'll get me coat now.

Ti8ny little spiders are kind of cute, but not when they're descending from the ceiling right over my head . I rarely kill spiders, but when I do, it's because they've grown so large that I worry about being bitten. I figure that they've had time enough to grow that large, and have probably have a full life anyway.

Other things being equal, I just shoo them away if they'll go. if they won't I have a dilemma on my hands.

Ah, thanks deb - I've seen that type of catcher before, but didn't know if they were any good, so that's handy to know

I like the long handle on it - my hoover sucks the spider quite close to my hand so it is a bit more scary. I was good today, though - I managed to move the hoover carefully out of the front door, then I had to take the lid off and I sort of sang to keep me and the spider calm, then I gently shook the tube over my balcony until the spider fell out

[Amy P]

I heard a spider expert on the radio once who got very defensive if a caller reported having been bitten by a spider. The expert wouldn't believe that anyone had been bitten by a spider unless someone saw the spider actually biting. He was very touchy about it, I remember. While I resent the expert's disbelieving-ness I am less likely to call something a spider bite since I heard that.

I take it you don't use the outhouse often? We have several poisonous spiders here. I've never seen one in the house, but I have seen black widows on the patio. We don't use the patio that much and I just leave them alone.

I've heard reports that the advent of suburbanites in Arizona with lawns and water sprinklers has resulted n millions of black widow spiders. The spiders are attracted ton the insects that breed in the lawns. With the watering systems, the area would not support lawns.

Sorry, I meant *without* the watering systems there'd be no lawns.

I read somewhere that an instinctive fear of spiders is embedded into the human psyche. Yet it has always baffled me what people find scary about them. Ants on the other hand, while not being actually scary, are annoying and they DO bite. I find them all fascinating, quite honestly.

So if some people (like me) aren't intrinsically scared of spiders, what is it that bothers others, and where does this come from, as it is obviously not based on any experience? Same with snakes. What is it with snakes that people are so scared of? Or even mice?

Am I missing something?

HBFJ: I don't think there are any venomous spiders in the UK, apart from the ones you see on facebook, which tbh I'm quite sceptical about. My washing machine, tumble dryer and freezer are all in the outhouse plus the dog's stuff, so I'm in and out but never have to spend much time in there. And the spiders tend to inhabit the far corners and I rarely encounter one face-to-face, as it were.

TC, I think with spiders it's the way they move. There's something seriously disturbing about that scuttle. I'm not scared but they make me shudder if they're too close.

Deb

We need to empathise with spiders. Put yourselves in their place. If you wandered out of your front door and saw a 40 foot creature looming over you, how would you feel? You would undoubtedly scuttle.

I agree with deb that it's the way spiders move that scares me - one minute everything's fine, and then the next minute the spider is there

There is an element of inherited fear, though - my mum doesn't like spiders, and her reaction influenced mine to an extent, but she's not bothered by mice for example, and they don't bother me too much either.

I didn't know ants bite! I quite like them, as long as they're not building a nest in my house - one or two are fascinating indeed.

I'd rather have spiders than ants, to be honest, but that might be because when you get ants it tends to be quite a few of them. As long as they're up the garden, I can live with them.

Mice don't bother me at all, but then I've never (knowingly) had one in the house. I would imagine the dog would go mad if I did!

Deb

I am not keen on spiders, but my son's fascination with animals means that we spend a lot of time watching them in the autumn - there's a row of really good spider filled bushes on the way to school.

This year they were having a particularly good year and we got to see them pouncing on, sucking and wrapping up lots of unfortunate flies.

As a result, when I see one in the house I am a lot less likely to stand on a chair and scream than I once was.

My husband, however, has not been won round to mice.

I have a very easy relationship with the spiders in my house too basically I just let them be... and they give the place a gothic look, and help catch any flying insects in the summer months this may change... of course... if I ever get to clean the front room, and get to the corners where I've not ventured for a decade

I'm happy with spiders. Flying moths, in the middle of the night I am less okay with

Seems to be a spider habitat somewhere in my bathroom - another spider appeared this morning, in the exact same place as the other one

Like the other one, it went into the tube quite easily, though which was lucky. Now I just need to pluck up courage again to eject it...