Do you think spiders are surprised when people are kind to them?

[bemorebernard]

I found a fairly large spider in my bathroom sink tonight and he played dead

Only when I popped him into a beaker to put out did he show signs of life

He did a pretty good job of acting , I felt sorry for him

Do you think they just anticipate that people will try and kill them so they play dead to try and circumvent that? He seemed surprised when I put him out

And when he was curled up in a little ball he seemed a lot smaller . I really think he was a thinker .

I hope you reaffirmed whatever small faith he had in humanity.

i've wondered about this! Especially with larger animals too. I saw a video of someone rescue a baby squirrel and the mum looked confused and hurried away with the baby.

Today my grandmas rescue dog who hasn't warmed up to anyone in the last 3 years came and sat on my lap. I met him for the first time and he just trusted me, it was so beautiful and I felt so touched

😂

I hope so

They're an important part of our eco system. Of course he could go tell his mates.

I think unlikely - if they’ve been killed by a human before then they are dead. I don’t think many spiders have survived multiple attempted murders to the point that they expect it from any they come across.

I stopped killing them since my 5 year old niece looked at me with this incredible look at disappointment when I by default, squished one that was running over my suitcase while away.. she looked shocked and asked why I didn’t just put it outside.. and I didn’t even have an answer for her. I apologised and said I would never kill one again. She made me feel awful but that’s just how I’ve been brought up to manage spiders. I felt shamed by my niece and have now learnt a lesson 😂 now I cup, capture and release.. I could still never touch one though!

🤣🤣🤣👍

Well it’s basic survival isn’t it? I doubt the spider was playing dead, but more froze in place cause it was scared.

yeah i dunno how spiders perceive giants like humans

Facebook has nailed me with videos of animal rescues. All the nasty terrified or just plain wild critters being helped by humans, where the animals starts out very aggressive &/or terrified. Even wild big birds of prey end up just relaxing while someone takes 20+ minutes to cut fishing line off them, or whatever. It must be a 'Oh I'm not dead yet, so I guess something else is happening here' moment. They also get too exhausted to fight, or at least need a rest from resistence.

Playing dead is just instinct. Anything that is preyed (ie 99.99% of the animal kindgom) is probably thinking "please don't notice me" or eat me. He/she probably moved when they felt a different temperature or air pressure.

BTW putting house spiders outside will kill them. Mine go in the garage.

I once had a dopey bee in my house (not sure if it was the rain or if it had hit the patio window) it couldn't fly and I saw a spider trying to eat it. I shooed the spider away. I put some paper in front of the bee. It climb on and i transported to safety. I like to think the bee trusted me because I saved it's life.

It's fine to send them to their death as long as we don't do the squishing.

Well you're just a big animal to him, so I'd assume spiders treat any (comparatively) massive animal as a potential threat and act accordingly.

I don't think spiders have the mental capacity to think "oh she's putting me outside, that's a surprise".

Why will putting a spider outside kill it? This summer we put a net up over the back door and had a lot fewer flies about. The spider that set up shop in the corner of the kitchen didn't catch anything and starved to death. I should have put it outside really. 😔

I give them names and chat to them reassuringly as I put them outside, and explain they should not come inside my house. Not sure how they feel about that...

I don't know whether it's actually true, but I've always heard that house spiders can't survive outside, and so if you put them out they'll come back in if they can, and if they can't they'll die.

It would be different for the spiders you often see outside in webs on bushes for example. They don't want to be inside, and if one came in accidentally (maybe carried in on something else) and you put it out it would be fine

I’m so worried for this spider season because my toddler puts anything in his mouth :(

I think you need a reasonable amount of speed and dexterity to pick up a spider with your fingers and not drop it as it wriggles. It will be fine.

My DD once put a snail in her mouth - gross but she survived (and I fished it out).

Well your DD at least has class, snails are a delicacy 😂

Does anybody else just leave spiders where they are? We've must have a couple of dozen in the house at the moment, all up in the corners of the rooms. I've never really understood what the issue is.

@@letmesailletmesail Some people have phobias. I don't mind the small ones or spindly ones but the big ones have to go.

@letmesailletmesail i do if they're either small or the skeleton thin ones. The bigger fast as lightening one's go back out.

I should Google house spider, because i mostly see them during time when i leave windows open. So are they there because they've spidey sensed the window is open and therefore food might fly in or are they there because that was their front door?

I also like your idea op, "hey, hey, what's happening here?"

I pretend I haven't seen them

My spider guests are the uninvited party ones that hide in the curtain folds and yell 'Surprise!' When you close them.

I leave spiders where they are here but when living in Australia i get my mum to come over to remove them. [shudder]

FWIW I'm 50 and she is 75 but I'm not going near the bastards. Neither will my dad.