How do you get rid of those skinny spiders?

[sparklyIsPretty]

I have a few in my house at the moment. I don't mind them whilst they are small. Dc don't like them though. I've removed a few in a bit of tissue and then blow them into the garden but just wondering if there is a better way. Especially for the bigger ones that I don't really like touching!

Oh my. I had no idea the skinny ones killed the fat ones. My son keeps making me evict them. I’ll renew their lease instead.

Yep keep the cellar spiders, I hate spiders but don't mind these as they move slowly, don't freak me out as much.

I haven't seen a house spider for ages until the other day, one was on the stairs and my spider catcher broke and the spider actually ran at me. I screamed the house down, cat wasn't interested, DP laughing at me and spider I'm afraid had a grizzly end, took me ages to calm down.

So not happy with cellar spiders at minute but due to lack off house spiders previously I believe they are mostly doing a good job.

I've also seen a big one & a medium sized get murdered by a skinny one (I call them see-thro ones)

The big one VS the See-thro one was fascinating to watch, they were on opposite sides of the lampshade in my bathroom, & ever so slowly, biggy was trying to back away, & ever so slowly, see-thro was moving around the light, towards it. I stood there transfixed, thinking 'Maybe I will see if what they say is true'... Then see-thro charged! Wrapped biggy up in seconds. It was so quick, it made me yelp & jump backwards!

(& Then I felt sorry for biggy. Don't hate me!)

I sent my mum a txt saying 'That thing about the See-thro's eating the Biggy's is true!!!! Don't ask me how I know...

Yes another cellar spider fan since I learned that they eat the big bastards. I will happily accommodate them as they’re far less alarming and I actually feel quite kindly toward them.

Am I the only person who has an infestation of cellar spiders? They appear in every corner of every room if I let them. And cupboards. I hate them, find them really creepy. I've literally just looked up and there's one above me 😭😭

Ive just counted 3 at a quick glance and I know for a fact there'll be more in this room 😭

I've seen it too. I'm such a fan 😀

Yes it is! I was dumbfounded. Saw it in action, a spindly guy was approached by a big, hairy one and - well let's say it didn't end well for the latter. He was soon neatly wrapped up in the spindly one's larder!

Ever since then, the spindly ones have a free pass, although at times there are a few too many so they are gently placed outside, but I always like to see a few around.

Noooo keep them!

This is one of the most important things I ever learned on Mumsnet - they are cellar spiders and will indeed eat the big bastards.

It was very timely because we were on holiday in an old building, with millions of them and I could tell the DC about them so they didn't freak out.

One ran past me when I was in the toilet at work today and I just went "oh hi there" in my head 😅

Oh interesting, I didn't know that. But, not to worry, I have plenty.

Yep same!

Those fuckers are fearless.
They’ll be on your bed during the night wiping their willies on your duvet.
😉😁😁😁

Another one who enjoys the anti-big hairy spider qualities of the spindly ones.

I have never seen one actually confront a big hairy house spider, but they can certainly truss them up efficiently if that does occur as I have seen the aftermath. They do a really fast spinny thing, shaking their web around, if disturbed, which is supposedly something like a distraction technique so a predator has less chance of getting a grip on them.

100% true.

I curate these in every corner of our house. Pholcadae or something similar is their latin name. They hunt the bigger spiders down by following their scent trails when sunlight is weaker. So from about 6pm to around 5am in English latitudes they are on the march. Hunting. Chomping. Leaving just the thick legs behind which you would never notice.

Yes cellar spiders are brilliant. I don't like spiders at all but I will leave these as they take care of the terrifying hairy ones.

Ive never seen a cellar spider but omg I would love a couple in my house. We get the huge growling, panting big feckers scuttling across my floors and I freak each and every time. The bastard cats just watch, despite their homicidal tendencies with all other living creatures.

Is Scotland too cold for them?

We have two - Cyril in the bathroom and Graham in the hallway.

I am petrified of house spiders and I am trying not to pass on this fear to DS. Because I'm okayish with the spindlies, I thought I'd name them so DS sees them as welcome friends and doesn't pick up on my anxiety.

That said .... if I do see a big hairy one, I will probably want to burn the house down 🤣

I have got to stop reading this thread

I'm another that's grateful I read on a MN thread that spindly spiders eat the chunky house spiders.

At that point, about 3 years ago, we srarted leaving the spindly ones alone - and the change was dramatic. I've seen one house spider since, just one in THREE years!

@Newgolddream70 Ours have always been Reginald (all of them, for several years).

I thought that the spindly spiders that look like wingless daddy long legs were female spiders and the big fat hairy ones are the males. In the autumn the big fat hairy males come indoors looking for females to mate with.

Obviously my research was incorrect according to everyone here, I was evicting the spindly ones so as not to attract the scary male ones - and I thought it worked as I rarely see a big one in the autumn now. I’ve never seen a spindly spider make a web, in fact, I don’t really see any webs indoor but my cleaner does go round with a long handled fluffy duster evert fortnight!

Im off to Google cellar spiders now!

What I really need is advice on how to keep slugs out of my downstairs bedroom, I’ve caught three baby ones so far this week on the skirting board. They are coming from the void under the floor by squeezing between a minuscule gap where the floorboards meet the skirting board. They void is designed to take excess water as my bungalow is built on low lying land that used to be mossy but as it’s not rained for a while, it will be bone dry under there.

Just hopped on to say that Cyril and Graham (my two spindlies) have not been seen for 24 hours - does that mean they've 'found something'? 😱😱

Have they run off into the sunset together??

I hate spiders but the skinnies can stay.
I need them to eat the big bastards.

@RightWhereYouLeftMe 🤣🤣