Spiders

Post by **Mick F** » 12 Sep 2020, 9:54am

We can spend half an hour clearing the cobwebs from corners and ceilings and within a week, we have to do it again.

What are spiders actually for? Why aren't they outside?
We have flies in the house and need to spray fly-spray to kill them off.
Why don't the spiders catch them?
What do our spiders eat?

fausto copy · Post by **fausto copy** » 12 Sep 2020, 10:14am

All my life I've had an aversion to spiders, especially those massive ones that come into the house around this time of year.
The ones Mick mentions lurking in the wall / ceiling corners I've not been too bothered about.
However, since taking up macro photography I've got a new found love of the corner creatures.
Apart from the odd fly, it seems they even kill the 'horrible big spiders too.

Warning..........
don't scroll down if you are an arachnaphobe

And Mick, for goodness (and your lungs) sake, stop using the fly spray; just buy (or make) some swatters!

Pebble · Post by **Pebble** » 12 Sep 2020, 10:16am

they mainly eat other insects that you also don't want in your house, without the spiders you would be living with a lot more creepy things, just cause you can't see them dosnt mean they are not their, you home may well be healthier because of them. (I must add we evict them too, I don't kill them like I do with flies)

As for spiders globally, entire ecosystems would collapse without them. they are sort of the opposite of humans that are causing entire ecosystems to collapse.

rotavator · Post by **rotavator** » 12 Sep 2020, 10:21am

Mick F wrote:We can spend half an hour clearing the cobwebs from corners and ceilings and within a week, we have to do it again.

What are spiders actually for?
To reproduce, to make more of their own, I guess, like all life forms.

Why aren't they outside?
They invade our houses in the autumn every year. May be they are looking for a cosy place to spend the winter?

We have flies in the house and need to spray fly-spray to kill them off.
Why don't the spiders catch them?
I suppose they catch a few, may be you should leave their webs a bit longer to see if they are successful.

What do our spiders eat?
Insects when they get the chance. May be they are starving to death because you destroy their webs! The very long legged ones (harvestmen?) eat other spiders. Do you have any of them?

thirdcrank · Post by **thirdcrank** » 12 Sep 2020, 10:29am

It's the time of year. After 53 years married life, I discovered yesterday that my wife thinks that spiders come into the house via the plugholes. Yesterday morning, she announced there were two big spiders in the bath. A couple of minutes later when I went into the bathroom there was only one which I returned to the garden. My wife assumed the other had left by the drains. A bit later, with time on my hands, I splashed a tiny drop of water into the plughole, and out shot Incy Wincy to be returned to the garden in its turn.

I do wonder why they end up in the bath. Are they running about all over the place unobserved, only coming to notice when they cannot climb out of the bath, or are they looking for a drink?

Most Winters we get a large one - presumably a different one each year - which seems to live under our TV table.

gaz · Post by **gaz** » 12 Sep 2020, 10:50am

thirdcrank wrote:I do wonder why they end up in the bath.

It's because they want to have a laugh.
[youtube]LD_WvcLi95I[/youtube]

mercalia · Post by **mercalia** » 12 Sep 2020, 10:54am

Pebble wrote:they mainly eat other insects that you also don't want in your house, without the spiders you would be living with a lot more creepy things, just cause you can't see them dosnt mean they are not their, you home may well be healthier because of them. (I must add we evict them too, I don't kill them like I do with flies)

As for spiders globally, entire ecosystems would collapse without them. they are sort of the opposite of humans that are causing entire ecosystems to collapse.

+1. Useful residents. I used to have a big one dont know where it went as I havent seen it for some time.

If you have spiders then there is food for them to eat, figures? whoch would you prefer the spiders or the other critters.

The only thing about spiders, their webs can create dust that people with breathing problems can have problems with.

None of the spiders in the UK are poisonous like some places in the world

windmiller · Post by **windmiller** » 12 Sep 2020, 11:19am

All spiders have a venomous bite. In the UK only a few species - for example the Woodlouse spider, False Widow and large house spiders have fangs powerful enough to pierce human skin.
None of of them are particularly aggressive and the bites are usually of little consequence.

simonineaston · Post by **simonineaston** » 12 Sep 2020, 11:37am

Spiders are brilliant - they are my second favourite animal after rats - blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth... they will do a far better job of it than we did.

thirdcrank · Post by **thirdcrank** » 12 Sep 2020, 11:39am

gaz wrote:
thirdcrank wrote:I do wonder why they end up in the bath.

It's because they want to have a laugh....

All now explained.

colin54 · Post by **colin54** » 12 Sep 2020, 12:34pm

I spotted amazingly long legged one outside my front door a couple of days ago (not a Daddy-Longlegs)
A few years ago I woke up one morning to find a tiny spider attached to my finger-tip, it had managed to bite me but couldn't get itself free.

I don't know if this urban myth or not, but I heard or read somewhere that most people have swallowed spiders whilst asleep. Sweet Dreams!

peetee · Post by **peetee** » 12 Sep 2020, 1:19pm

I had one of these in my garden about 20 years ago. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I didn’t even knew that wasp spiders existed.

mercalia · Post by **mercalia** » 12 Sep 2020, 1:23pm

simonineaston wrote:Spiders are brilliant - they are my second favourite animal after rats - blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth... they will do a far better job of it than we did.

nothing meek about this one

https://www.livescience.com/48340-goliath-birdeater-surprises-scientist.html

Post by **Mick F** » 12 Sep 2020, 3:35pm

Sorry, been out since leaving my OP.
The spiders we have don't seem to be about generally, but just their webs everywhere.

We used to see spiders in the bath, but since redecorating the bathroom, they've all gone from there.
I get/got the impression that they found their way into the bath and couldn't get out. I would scoop them out over the sides and off they'd scuttle.
Now, not a single spider in the bathroom and not a single web.

This then begs the question ................ if we decorated throughout, would all the spiders leave the house?

jimlews · Post by **jimlews** » 12 Sep 2020, 4:01pm

Mick F wrote:What are spiders actually for?

I believe this attitude is called Anthropocentrism.

Viewing the world in terms of Human values and experience.

You might with more justification ask what are Humans for? After all, it's not spiders that are degrading our(in the broadest sense)environment.

Never mind. When Humans have destroyed themselves, SPIDERS will still be here.

It's just a matter of how many species we destroy before we 'do for' ourselves.

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