Thread about spiders (not for the arachnophobic!)

[Epona]

I just wish I could get a decent picture of her, but she is only active at night and I don't have a decent set up to get a photo.

I have what appears to be a bridge spider just outside my kitchen window. She's been there for around 3 months now, and I've watched her make her web, catch insects (including 3 wasps at one point), eat them, rebuild her web - every night. She sleeps during the day hidden right up in the corner of the window, all her legs sticking forward - first time I saw her I thought she was a dead spider! She comes out of the corner at dusk and starts to feed on the catches of that day, then goes to sit in the centre of her web.

I had slight trouble identifying her, because bridge spiders are usually found close to water so I discounted them early on in my first attempt. Also she is one hefty spider for any orb-weaver. But going back over it, I found out that the young use ballooning to move so can easily end up in a top storey window half a mile from the river, and that they prefer to live on man-made structures rather than vegetation - and in many urban areas where they live they can be found high up on residential or office dwellings. She has the distinctive inverted V marking that differentiates bridge spiders from garden orb-weaver spiders (which usually have spots in a cross formation).

She's hit onto a really good thing here - she's built a beautiful web across the outside of my kitchen window - which I can't easily open because I can't reach the handles of the windows, so she's not disturbed. I am night-blind, so leave my kitchen light (low energy bulb) on all night so I can find my way around if I have to get up in the night, making it the absolute perfect spot to catch insects in her web as they fly towards my window She has grown massive in the time she's been here, as the prey is good and she is undisturbed.

I just wish that I had some photos to share, but my camera doesn't seem to be quite up to that sort of shot, given that she's mostly nocturnal. I will try to get some this evening but can't promise anything.

Anyone else have any good spider tales?

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Great idea for a thread. Spiders are

That is a nice story - thanks! And what a clever spider to coopt your kitchen light to lure prey.

I've not got any spidey tales unfortunately as I don't see many in my flat. My resident spiders are shy and generally seem to hide which is a shame - but I do have to hoover up old dusty webs in the corners quite a bit. But I'm always happy to share accommodation with my eight legged friends.

 

[Epona]

Wasn't my first thread/post on Urban about a spider?

A brown recluse that must have traveled home in my luggage from North Carolina where I had been visiting friends. I like spiders, I didn't know what it was, tried to make friends with it, it scuttled off behind my mirror. Looked it up online because it looked unusual, turns out it can have quite a nasty bite! Don't worry, it didn't get loose in Hackney (which is where I lived back then) - it crawled into the light fitting in the bathroom and died

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Spiders are certainly a good topic for a first post.

I know Fez909 had a spider encounter recently, and no doubt others have a good tale to tell.

I'm going to be pulling out furniture tomorrow to try and find my resident spiders.

 

[Epona]

Spiders are certainly a good topic for a first post.

I know Fez909 had a spider encounter recently, and no doubt others have a good tale to tell.

I'm going to be pulling out furniture tomorrow to try and find my resident spiders.

You know the US is all in a flap about one of the European native Tegenaria sub-species (which exists in a part of the NW of the US, it's been recorded there since the 1930s and probably arrived on cargo ships) because they think they are hugely venomous with necrotic toxins as bad as a brown recluse? Based on one report of a woman who was bitten by one and formed an ulcer - but she already had circulation problems or diabetes or something that could mean an ulcer would form out of a flea bite if improperly cared for.

Pest control companies in the US are raking it in good right now to get rid of completely harmless spiders that live here in abundance with zero verification of any ill effect from bites. Even US arachnid websites give the advice - "don't approach this spider, it's dangerous".

It would almost be funny if it weren't true. Don't get me wrong, I've been bitten by a UK spider and it hurts, but it's more like a wasp sting level of bother than an "Oh My Gawd I'm Going To Die" type thing, a bit of inflammation around the bite, nothing more serious than that. Of course some people have allergic reactions, I recently developed a peanut allergy but that doesn't mean peanuts should be banned worldwide, iyswim!

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Oh dear - a public panic based on one questionable anecdote, combined with naked commercialism. Sad but all too common. I feel sorry for the poor spiders and their baby spiderlings.

I love the word spiderlings.

 

[Epona]

Yep, spidlerlings is a superb word

Which spider species is it where the young all ride around on the mother for a couple of days? It's one of those things that I know I know, if that makes sense, but has slipped my mind right now

 

[Epona]

.....and the sun has come up, and my spider friend has gone to bed. She is only active at night, it's going to be really difficult to try to get a picture of her with my digital camera. I could try with something else out of my non-digital camera collection as I have more options available, but you could be waiting a decade for me to get the film developed

 

[story]

What a great thread

I think gentlegreen has spider friends in his house and especially his bathroom?

I love spiders, but don't know much about them. What spider is it that would like the roof slates on the top of the bay beneath my bedroom window? Four legs forward, four towards the rear, and they'd jump. Mostly black-and-white, or greyish, kind of oblong shaped, small, about the size of my thumbnail, and they'd leap, to one side or forward, as well as walk about. Sometimes I'd find them indoors, but I'd help them back to the windowsill, cos they seemed happiest on the slates. Never saw their webs.

And the ones who live in silk-lined tunnels in the brickwork, with their legs pointing outwards?

And I love wing-mirror spiders. I see how they hunker down during long car journeys, and then quickly make a web when we arrive at our destination. I don't clean my car when I have wing-mirror spiders, or at least very carefully.

 

[gentlegreen]

I love spiders - especially the ones that make the fancy webs - I always apologise to them if I have to walk through their webs and try to move them intact if I can.

My house has been full of daddy-long-legs ones over recent years - I watched a whole family hatch on the low ceiling over my computer and I still get the odd one belaying down in front of me.

I confess I'm squeamish about the ones that look like black widows - I have one of those on the ceiling over the bath, and I put a bog roll escape ladder in the bath yesterday to let a big hairy one escape so I didn't have to touch it.

 

[gentlegreen]

One of my bathroom spiders :-

 

[Chick Webb]

I have a lot of harvestman spiders in my flat. They're alright even for the arachnophobic (which I am not) because they tend to stay in the same place and not run around in an alarming fashion. I never put them outside because it's obvious that the flat is their territory and they must get food in here. I'll put centipedes or earwigs outside if I find them because I'm worried they'll kill the bathroom silverfish, which I love.

 

[8115]

I really like spiders too. Not much spider action where I'm living now.

 

[Callie]

I have a big fat round bodied spider living in my lean to. It lives in a hole near the roof. I have no idea what sort it is butit looks quite dark coloured and a bit shiny. I thought it maybe looked a bit like a black widow style one but Im rubbish with IDing spiders.

I did have a spiderling infestation in the lean to too which may have been the spawn of that one?

How long do they live for? I dont want it to go all Charlottes web

 

[Cid]

What a great thread

I think gentlegreen has spider friends in his house and especially his bathroom?

I love spiders, but don't know much about them. What spider is it that would like the roof slates on the top of the bay beneath my bedroom window? Four legs forward, four towards the rear, and they'd jump. Mostly black-and-white, or greyish, kind of oblong shaped, small, about the size of my thumbnail, and they'd leap, to one side or forward, as well as walk about. Sometimes I'd find them indoors, but I'd help them back to the windowsill, cos they seemed happiest on the slates. Never saw their webs.

One of the (many) jumping spider species... I think the most common in the UK are the zebra spiders, but they're tiny.

 

[Cid]

It's a right sod trying to clean the grimy corners of a workshop when you like spiders.

 

[Epona]

I have a big fat round bodied spider living in my lean to. It lives in a hole near the roof. I have no idea what sort it is butit looks quite dark coloured and a bit shiny. I thought it maybe looked a bit like a black widow style one but Im rubbish with IDing spiders.

I did have a spiderling infestation in the lean to too which may have been the spawn of that one?

How long do they live for? I dont want it to go all Charlottes web

Well we do have false widow spiders in the UK (mostly in the SE/SW), so if it looks a bit like a black widow it could be one - they are venomous but nowhere near as bad as a black widow (in most cases no worse than a bee sting), and they're shy, they'd only bite in an emergency (so if it is that, check your wellies/gardening gloves before putting them on!) More likely it is a common garden spider, the females have large round bodies and they are the typical round spider shape that we think of when spiders are mentioned. They're quite large in terms of the body, but the legs are fairly short in comparison, they don't move around on the ground much. If there's a web that will help to ID it - false widows build very messy irregular webs, garden spiders and their relatives build the typical 'halloween' style webs with strands coming out from the centre and spirals or circles going round them, very regular and pretty.

If it is a garden spider, I'm afraid it will be a bit Charlottes web, they typically lay eggs in autumn then die. My bridge spider (which is of the same type as garden spiders, and Charlotte herself was probably based on a bridge spider) likely doesn't have too long to go But eggs will hatch in late spring if you don't disturb them.

 

[twentythreedom]

Pleasing lack of pics of monstrous angry arachnids on this thread so far! More stories of nice lady spiders killing nasty wasps please, but keep the pics behind spoilers, ta

 

[Fez909]

My house is full of garden spiders at the minute. I made a thread about it because I had one that looked a bit too big to be one, but I think it was just a giant of its species.

I like the look of them. Quite exotic looking with their yellow stripes. Not such a fan of them being in my bedroom, though, and hanging off the beam above my bed

I disturbed a small specimen yesterday which did that shaky dance thing they do to warn people off. It was going crazy!

 

[Epona]

Pleasing lack of pics of monstrous angry arachnids on this thread so far! More stories of nice lady spiders killing nasty wasps please, but keep the pics behind spoilers, ta

Don't worry, despite the warning in the title I had already planned to put any pictures (if there ever are any, I failed this evening ) in spoiler tags - I'm ok with spiders but have something of a beetle phobia so I do understand.

 

[twentythreedom]

Don't worry, despite the warning in the title I had already planned to put any pictures (if there ever are any, I failed this evening ) in spoiler tags - I'm ok with spiders but have something of a beetle phobia so I do understand.

Cool, nice one I'm interested in knowing more spider stuff, but the occasional pic or gif, when unexpected, can be a bit scary - there was a couple on bandwidthz thread fairly recently - made me go a bit WOOOOEEEEYUURRRWAAAH FUCKING HELL FUCKSAKE YA BASTARD sorta thing

 

[twentythreedom]

*expects a comedian to post gratuitous angry monster spiders without spoiler tags*

 

[farmerbarleymow]

*expects a comedian to post gratuitous angry monster spiders without spoiler tags*

* googling *

 

[twentythreedom]

* googling *

Was going to 'like' your post, but decided against it

 

[barney_pig]

When I lived in the nurses home during my rgn training (I quit in my second year) I had a spider that spun a web across my open window. I thought this a perfect situation, as spider got fed and my room remained fly free.

However, the brazen hussy then laid a number of eggs sacs and I drove her and her arachnobrood out.
Harsh, but fair.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Was going to 'like' your post, but decided against it

Spiders are fluffy and cuddly.

And it is a thread for spiderphiles so no need for spoilers.

 

[Fez909]

Spoiler

A spider I found recently when browsing. It looks like it's wearing a Mexican wrestling mask. And it has googly eyes.

Cute.

 

[twentythreedom]

Spiders are fluffy and cuddly.

And it is a thread for spiderphiles so no need for spoilers.

Can't blame me for trying though

*runs away and hides*

 

[twentythreedom]

Spoiler

A spider I found recently when browsing. It looks like it's wearing a Mexican wrestling mask. And it has googly eyes.

Cute.

I had look, you're right about the mask - 'El Arachno Loco'!

 

[Callie]

Well we do have false widow spiders in the UK (mostly in the SE/SW), so if it looks a bit like a black widow it could be one - they are venomous but nowhere near as bad as a black widow (in most cases no worse than a bee sting), and they're shy, they'd only bite in an emergency (so if it is that, check your wellies/gardening gloves before putting them on!) More likely it is a common garden spider, the females have large round bodies and they are the typical round spider shape that we think of when spiders are mentioned. They're quite large in terms of the body, but the legs are fairly short in comparison, they don't move around on the ground much. If there's a web that will help to ID it - false widows build very messy irregular webs, garden spiders and their relatives build the typical 'halloween' style webs with strands coming out from the centre and spirals or circles going round them, very regular and pretty.
.

the web around the hole it hides in is just a tangled mass of fibres all around the corner, i think i may have disrupted an earlier web on the other side of the lean to which looked similar - that was some tough web

just went out to get a picture but couldnt see it