Home › Forums › Open Discussion › More Spiders than “usual” this year?
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September 18, 2008 at 3:31 pm #639654
flowerpetalMemberAll spiders are poisonous, but almost none are poisonous to humans.
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/myths/2marks.html
And all daddy long legs are not spiders!
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/myths/daddylonglegs.html
Hope you have had your morning cup o’coffee. These thoughts were confusing even with a cup-a-joe!
September 18, 2008 at 8:19 pm #639655
nuniMemberI am so ridiculously scared of spiders that my husband constructed a “spider-getter” for me. He basically cut a hole out of the bottom of a Tupperware container and then taped it to a 3 foot long wooden rod which I use to trap the spiders (without getting near them, of course) and then release them back to the outdoors. When that is unavailable I usually panic.
September 18, 2008 at 8:34 pm #639656
SueParticipantnuni, we bought a bug vacuum at one of those “as seen on tv” stores: http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/bugwand.html (warning, pictures of a spider at that link)
You can keep your distance from the bug, catch it, and then release it outside. As a person also afraid of spiders, this item is my best friend.
September 18, 2008 at 8:43 pm #639657
GenHillOneParticipantewww…a “dislodging brush” ;)
September 18, 2008 at 8:47 pm #639658
CaduceusMemberThere seems to be a surge of hobo spiders this year.
In my house and a few of my friends.
At home depot you can get hobospider traps 4 for
4$. They are essentially a pad with sticky stuff on it, that release pheremones(spell?) and you can fold it into a little box.
September 18, 2008 at 8:57 pm #639659
hopeyParticipantA couple of tips I found while trying to combat spiders last year (my first summer/fall in West Seattle):
* Spiders that repeatedly build their webs in your way (like across a doorway) need to be relocated. I get a stick, catch the web and move the stick around until I also have the spider on the stick. Then I quickly go across the driveway or across the yard to a bush where their web will not bother me, and toss the stick there. So far it’s worked every time.
* Indoors, you can keep spiders away using Pledge lemon furniture polish. No, really. Apparently spiders “taste” using their feet, and they do NOT like the taste of lemon furniture polish! I kept getting spiderwebs across my basement stairs and doorway but could never catch the spiders to relocate them. So I sprayed it down with Pledge, and voila! No more spiderwebs across my doorway!
September 18, 2008 at 9:05 pm #639660
GenHillOneParticipantLowman Beach – I thought of you and your ants when I read this…maybe some things you haven’t tried yet?
September 18, 2008 at 9:18 pm #639661
WSBKeymasterthanks, GHO. Actually the only reason life is bearable is because we did find the “moat trick” a while back and it is now how we feed and water the cats. works like a charm. it’s just the annoyance of ants on the kitchen sink, ants occasionally turning up in places like the bathroom, I don’t even want to know where Ant Central is, there’s probably some massive humongous central ant HQ that would be worth videotaping (and then running screaming in horror) if we could find it. No money for professional help (and we don’t do toxins anyway) so we continue with a little cinnamon here, a little mint there, a bit of lemon juice over there, the bowl moats, and hoping against hope it’s a REALLY REALLY cold winter that kills off the ants. – TR
September 18, 2008 at 10:07 pm #639662
nuniMemberYeah that wand looks a bit close. Yes, I know I am completely irrational.
September 18, 2008 at 10:44 pm #639663
carrieannMemberWe had a break from the ants last Summer, but they were back in full force this time around. And there are definitely a lot of spiders this season. After having a little luck (though not enough for our temporary basement dwellers who moved in a couple months ago) with the traps I picked up at the Junction True Value, I finally signed up for a year-long plan with Orkin. In addition to treating for other creepy crawlies, the traps they use for the spiders contain peanutbutter and vinegar. Apparently this attracts spiders? (Attracts me, too. Mmm Phad Thai with peanut sauce.) Who’d have guessed!
September 18, 2008 at 10:48 pm #639664
carrieannMemberThe smell of Lemon Pledge reminds me of my childhood. I think I’ll pick some up and try that out, too. Thanks for the suggestion!
September 18, 2008 at 10:49 pm #639665
biankatParticipantHere’s one for the annals. I was enjoying the last swallow of coffee at work this morning and felt something flow in with the caffeinated goodness. I initally thought it might have been some grounds, and reached to my lips to remove. Nope – drowned spider, prolly slightly smaller than a dime with its legs extended. YUM! He had to have crawled into the cup at some point because I had washed it out before using.
September 18, 2008 at 11:12 pm #639666
credmondParticipantIn response to the original question: Are there more spiders this year. I actually think not. 2004 was a very, very big year in my yard for wolf and orb weavers (and the occasional hobo and other spindly types). 2005, not so much the orb weavers but lots of wolfs and a few new species I noted. 2006 and last year were somewhat less in overall spider population, I believe, and 2008 is a good year but not up to even 2005 standards. Anyone who moved here after 2005 might think this year was a big year.
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I’ve got this peculiar cove window area in my upstairs office with two windows which open full (more like glass doors) and spiders of all kinds find their way inside (as do moths, dragonflies, crane flies (I still call them mosquito hawks), bees, wasps and other flying insects and the occasional lady or sir bug (black wings with red dots). The spiders try and leave their egg sacks in the furthest-to-reach three-way corner of this area. On occasion I’m not overly vigilant and an egg sack will start hatching and dozens to hundreds of super tiny (and therefore super cute) little spiderlings can be seen marching across the ceiling at that area.
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I use a dustbuster portable vacuum to remove all these bugs. I figure the predators will eat the others inside my little vacuum terrarium and – in between cleanings of the vacuum case – live out a fairly natural life. The vacuum case now has about a dozen little webs inside it. The bugs can’t escape and I’m not actually killing them (well, so to speak). Maybe that would be a better solution – the vacuum actually sucks them in so you don’t even have to get that close with the nozzle.
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The bigger hymenoptera creatures I try and snare with a Kleenex ™ and release them outside. The lady and sir bugs I pick up with my fingers and the crane flies I grab with my hand (they fly so slowly and erratically that it’s kind of a game).
September 18, 2008 at 11:57 pm #639667
TraciMemberThis has become almost funny where I live, in the Luna Park apts.
THEY ARE EVERYWHERE.
In the shower, curtains, shoes, ceiling, hanging so that I run into them, all over the place outside.
I sprayed for them once and felt horrible about it, so now I just see them and say hi. If they’re talking trash to me I move them outside.
Also my cats are useless… “look lady, this doesn’t look like tuna to me so I’m not eating it.”
September 19, 2008 at 12:16 am #639668
JoBParticipantSeptember 19, 2008 at 1:45 am #639669
WSDesignMemberYeah, seems like more than last year…here, too…around Gatewood area.
Seems like relocating the webs doesn’t work too well…the little buggers seem to like rewebbing the paths and doorways most.
September 19, 2008 at 2:07 am #639670
GenHillOneParticipantugh, biankat, I was with someone who slurped up a bee once that had flown into her pop can…I still get the willies thinking about it (flying yellow & black critters of all types are my downfall)
September 19, 2008 at 3:59 am #639671
ellenaterMemberI also had a freaky spider incident: I took a shower and toweled off without opening my eyes and when i did open them, with the towel millimeters away from my face, there was a HUGE brown, hairy spider there. So they freak me out. But I did let my son hold a tarantula once at a pet store.
But I’m with Lowman on this: I don’t kill them. We don’t seem to have too many, though. Just the annoying ants…
September 20, 2008 at 4:57 pm #639672
carrieannMemberAs ooky as it is to repeatedly run into their webs, I don’t much mind them if they’re outside (in fact, my husband has shot some really beautiful photos of them, and there’s one that my daughter has named and says hello to every time we pass it on the front steps) But once they invade the house (like the one that had taken up residence under the blanket in my son’s crib. gah.) then all bets are off.
September 20, 2008 at 11:01 pm #639673
datamuseParticipantTwo of my friends have had problems with spiders in their house (they live down in Olympia) and finally they made a deal: the one that lives over the kitchen sink (whose name is Charlotte, they’ve decided) gets to live. All others are fair game.
I don’t mind them as long as I don’t find them in my bed, but my husband’s kind of squirrely about them so out of consideration for him, I relocate the ones I find indoors.
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