What do you do with the spiders in your house?

my cat just ate one for a mid-morning snack

 

Most spiders die when placed outside. Spiders that you find in your house are usually species that have evolved to live indoors. I usually move them into a dark corner when I find them.

I do kill black widows; the bite risk is too high for my young child.

When cleaning spider webs, I usually shoo the spider away, then clean out the web. The spiders usually spin another web at the same spot.

By the way, I do this not out of kindness to spiders, but because we share common enemies: Mosquitos, houseflies, gnats, etc. My house is free of these pests, and the spiders don't go hungry.

A few years ago, I killed every spider I found. We suffered an insect invasion as a result, there was always some sort of winged something flying around, and ants would crawl into the kitchen. I have no such problems anymore.

Nate

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Aug 22 2007, 11:38 AM) [snapback]500333[/snapback]</div>

For a few weeks this summer, I had a rather large spider just outside my back door that would weave a web late every afternoon that covered the space just outside the door and overlapped the top of the doorway about 12% or so. Prior to this spider showing up and building his web, bugs attracted by the lights in the house would fly in when I let my dog in or out during the evening. The number of bugs that made it into to house was drastically reduced while this web was there. Each morning when I woke up, the web was always gone, so the web wasn't in the way when I wanted to use the door during the day. The spider eventually moved on (or was eaten by some other creature?). I wish I could get another spider to build an evening web like that.

 

I leave 'em alone. I'd rather have the spiders than what the spiders are eating in my house.

 

Scott Carey recommends a pin.

 

Depends on the spider.
The ones that look like Daddy Longlegs, that hang out in the upper corners of the rooms, they can stay.
The ones that look like garden spiders, found crawling on the floor or wall, get ushered outside rather gently.
The big, ugly, hairy ones that show up in the shower or tub, or that move WAY TOO FRICKIN' FAST, get dispatched to spider nirvana by my Dear Hubby.
We also have had a lovely little spider spinning her web over the upper corner of our front door. We tend to not disturb them much.

 

Well, I like in a 100 year old house, surrounded by a big yard with lots of big bushes, surrounded by fields and orchards. There are lots and lots and lots of spiders. If i let my porch go for 2-3 weeks, you can't see the roof. I kill them, if only becuase there is no other way to keep them out of the house, short of spraying toxic chemicals which I don't do.

Oh, and those "indoor spiders" sure look exacty like the "outdoor" ones....

 

I leave them alone, unless they are a type known to be dangerous. I've even moved nests of them when I was painting - dozens of cute little guys all sitting in a web.

We get them on our boat too. I leave them there, but they do make a bit of a mess with their shellac like droppings. I wish they would eat the birds that poop on our deck.

Tom

 

the harvestmen get to stay, they hang out way out of the way. occasionally we get a wolf spider, and they're huge and scary looking so i dispatch them with a shoe. or, if DH is home, i'll make him do it

 

I have no idea what my wife does with the spiders I find.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny Hamilton @ Aug 22 2007, 11:49 AM) [snapback]500350[/snapback]</div>

That sounds like an Orb Weaver. Makes a large, symetrical circular web. Sorta the classic spider web used in scary movies and artsy photographs. I've got one right now attached to my trashcan and fence. The very large Orb Weaver spider is there also. Kinda scary looking but perfectly harmless. I leave them alone. I like what they eat and prefer not to have to use more toxic means to eradicate unfriendlies if the spider can do it.

In the house it depends. I leave Daddy Long Legs alone. Whatever they're eating I don't want in the house.

Any black widow I find anywhere is history.

 

I like them and leave them be, we do get the occasional bug that may fly in then its curtains for them...

I always wanted a house like the munster mansion


Or something like this:


And let it get some what grown over, and let the spiders make webs everywhere..

I could turn into a hermit and scare kids away!! hee hee hee hee hee :lol:

Oh that would be the life, have the hycam in the 4 car garage along with the tundra, mustang & a hearse for effect..

The Spookier the better!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny Hamilton @ Aug 22 2007, 11:49 AM) [snapback]500350[/snapback]</div>

I've got one of those this year and it is pretty amazing. Every night it builds an impressive web and in the morning, we ussually get to see it complete with wrapped up flies and such as the spider is having its breakfast. It then usually dismantles the web and rebuilds at night again. It has 2 white spots on the underbelly that look like eyes, and a brown top of the body bigger than a pea. I looked it up and found it is a garden spider called an orb weaver. My wife is nervous about it laying eggs, but hasn't made me kill it yet.
Inside, I let them go unless my wife sees them, but I do vacuum up the eggsacks.

 

Scream and call Terminix.
(Seriously, I am so spider-phobic that when I was a little kid I couldn't even open volume "S" of the encyclopedia set my parents bought for fear of that full-page tarantua.)

 

Since establishing the prairie outside my house I get loads of insects and the spiders comprise a pretty significant percentage. Some, like the wolf spider, take up residence in my house. Any spiders I find in or out of my house are welcome guests. The earwig population has decreased significantly since the spiders (and paper wasps) showed up. When cleaning our gutters, there used to be thousands of earwigs crammed in there. Ick. Much better that I have spiders than those things. My neighbor complained that the earwigs would make their way into her linen closet and take up residence in her sheets and towels. Am I grossing you out enough yet?

The orb weaver is my favorite. This is the first year we have more than one of these.

The only insects worthy of killing are mosquitoes. All others will usually exist in balance if you manage your land correctly. Insecticides aren't the answer as they also dispatch approx. 90% of the beneficial insects that will naturally rid your space of the more pesky insects. Those night time bug lamps don't attract mosquitoes and also kill beneficial insects. Spiders seem to be an obvious, usually harmless, solution.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darwood @ Aug 22 2007, 12:40 PM) [snapback]500415[/snapback]</div>

Orb Weavers are your friends. They don't like inside the house. They like the garden. Convince your wife that this spider is what you want in your garden and you should encourage it's presence. They eat all sorts of things you don't want in your garden or your house. It's very difficult, especially if you're arachnophobic, but if you can learn to tolerate any spider at all, this is the one you want.

Their webs are absolutely gorgeous. If you like photography, try getting some pics of them with the early morning dew on them and the sun shining.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Aug 22 2007, 11:38 AM) [snapback]500333[/snapback]</div>

My friend said she was looking for a natural solution to her ant problem and read that bounty dryer sheets will get rid of ants. Place it in their pheromone trail and they will gradually reduce to non existence. She said the smell got to her too but it was an effective tool at getting rid of the ants without toxic chemicals or the ensuing massacre, had they remained a problem.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Aug 22 2007, 01:33 PM) [snapback]500472[/snapback]</div>

Agreed.

 

As far as spiders (and any other insect) are concerned, they only get killed when they annoy me. If i'm chilling on the couch and one starts crawling up my leg, it usually gets smacked and killed. If it's just hanging out in the corner minding it's own business, i leave it alone (for the most part).

As for any that i see crawling on the ground... my dog loves them

 

Wolf spiders do look formidable, but they are mean on other bugs!
Personally, I kinda like their faces, especially when they are on the OUTSIDE of the window, and I'm on the INSIDE!
I see them, occasionally, stringing HUGE webs in bushes in the Autumn.
I've seen snow-white spiders on my rose bushes, occasionally. I assume that they are happily eating aphids or something.