What do you do with spiders at this time of year?

[Mygardenandme]

I've just caught 2 disco spiders in our shower. It's too cold to put them outside so I just released them into another room. We get a lot of spiders, I dont really want to be keeping them but equally I dont want to kill them by leaving them freeze outside.

Disco spider - cellar spider. They spin and jiggle if you get too close so they look like they are dancing.

I leave them alone. I can't imagine picking one up without hurting it as they look quite fragile. Probably if they were in danger in the shower I'd do what you did.

There's only two choices really - leave them alone or kill them. I guess putting them outside amounts to killing them. Even in warm weather this might well be the outcome? Scoffed by a bird? Deprived of appropriate territory? Beaten up by spiders already resident?

EDITED TO ADD: I love the thread title, BTW. Made me think of perhaps taking them Christmas shopping or buying them an advent calendar.

I put them outside in the sure knowledge that they’ll find their way back in again 😂 It’s like Spiderville in my house 😬 🕷️🕸️

Cellar spiders I leave as they kill the bigger house house spiders.

The big black scary spiders I kill - or rather DH does (and anyone who puts them outside, especially in the cold weather, is also very likely killing them. They are indoor animals.)

Straight out the door, or window if that’s closer.

Give them names and leave them be.
I tidy their webs up a bit. Hoover up their discarded food and clean up their poo.

plan to take them with me when I move

I leave them alone unless they're in my way. If they're in the bath I normally put a bathmat or towel over the side that they'd be able to reach when they found it and have my shower another time.

Why do you need to kill them?

Those cellar spiders also live in sheds and stables. I think it would have to be much colder than this to kill them.

Depends on the spider.

House spider- fine, it is a useful friend.

Those long legged ones - fine, too fragile to move.

False wolf spider - leave it alone, it's shy, it means no harm.

False widow spider - immediate death. Pernicious little bastards.

Edited to add: execpt the false widow in our downstairs loo, who is fine, just pops in and out from behind a pipe, doesn't rampage around.

Have you any idea how big and scary you are? Why the need to kill a useful creature that does you no harm?

I ensure they are up to date on their rent payments and invite them round for a cuppa.

Had a very large visitor in the bathroom yesterday. Gently evicted. Disco spiders I just leave alone, they are usually in the corners.

Usually I just leave them. If they're in the bath I move them to a dark corner somewhere else.

They come in from outside. They can go back out

Big scary ones get carefully caught and released outside. Smaller ones and daddy long legs etc get ignored. Never killed!

Cellar spiders (love the term 'disco' 😂) I leave because they're doing a good job. Large house spiders are taken out with the spider catcher. They've plenty of other places to shelter out there.

This year I have noticed an odd thing, I think it's just happenstance these guys are indoors. I've 3 small outdoor spiders in my kitchen (which is by the back door so not a stretch as to how they got in). I think they are young garden orb spiders. All three are high up, in some webbing, although not a formal web you'd see outside. They have been very still for a couple of weeks. What are they eating? Do they need to eat? Are they hibernating? I thought perhaps they had died so I gently blew on one, it scrunched up its legs, so clearly not dead! Next morning it had moved higher! I've no idea what they're eating though and I will leave them be for the time being. Normally during winter I never see garden orb spiders outside so I presumed they died then young ones appeared the next spring.

Nothing, unless they're in the sink/bath and will get drowned, in which cause I move them to another surface.

im not scared of spiders but live in a house that everyone else is.
I usually ignore them and leave them be, unless one of the family spot them scream at me to move them out of their room.
Exception is the ones appearing this time of year …huge big things (and I swear this year bodies are bigger than ever) they get caught and released back outside .

I do put them out.. never thought they’d feel the cold but maybe they do!

Cellar spiders are allowed to live here. They eat the big bastards.
There's one in the bathroom, two in the kitchen, one behind me in the living room, one in the bedroom. I don't have a fly problem in the summer or a big bastard spider problem in the autumn.

This (although I don't have any plans on moving at the moment). They help keep the mosquitos in check.

We do generally leave them be. We had a load of baby spiders in the corner of the ceiling and it was fun watching them (much to MILs horror). Then another spider ate them.

My son has 2 spiders in his room called Articus and something else.

I was more talking about when they are in the way and need catching, like in the shower.

Sooooo glad that so many people respect them. 😊

We get tarantulas here. They get a bowl put over them and then get moved at night when it’s not so hot and the birds have gone to bed. However, as someone said up thread, some of them are so bloody big I should be charging rent.

@Mygardenandme I will move the big ones Lol anything else they can live rent free. 💞🕷️