About the spiders?

[BreadZeppelin]

Arrived on holiday today at an 18th century countryside cottage. All absolutely charming until it was time to go to bed and between me and DH we found 17 of those horrible skinny spindly spiders on the walls and lower part of the ceiling. Very tall sloping ceiling though and plenty of nooks and crannies for more of the buggers to hide in. My skin was crawling at the thought of sleeping in there so I'm relegated to the (thankfully low-roofed) nursery where hopefully all spiders have been evacuated by very patient DH.

Obvs it's nothing in the grand scheme of things but I have emailed the letting company to ask them to come sort it out tomorrow. AIBU given that we're in the countryside, or do I have the right to expect a bedroom that isn't dripping with spiders?

@Mumsnut @AfunaMbatata sorry to derail OP - but tell me more! We have LOADS of the spindly guys, I genuinely don't mind them, seem far less 'scary' than the big brown guys. Do they really eat them? They don't seem like they'd be up to much.

Hahaha obviously hadn't RTFT.

glad everyone else is thrilled at the thought

Question re spider husbandry; I've only ever seen one huge spindly legged cellar spider at a time (one lives in the corner of our hallway ceiling), yet every so often she has babies. Does Mr Spindly Legs hide most of the time, creeping out only when no-one is around to roger his missus, or do they self-procreate?
I have a vague recollection of something being mentioned about it in Arachnophobia, but I'm still freaked out from watching that film 27 years later.

They do need a mate, but it's quite possible that your female was impregnated before she arrived and that induced her to go looking for a new habitat.
When her offspring have matured they will very happily mate with each other.

Hurrah!!! I've just spotted a spindly behind my work desk. Lovely, lovely evil-big-one-eating spindlies.

Sorry OP. Your thread's derailed but the knowledge here is changing people's lives.

@GladAllOver, thank you for your reply. I had no idea spiders were incestuous!

Oh dear. Now that Big Mama spindly spider's babies have dispersed throughout the house, she has moved to above the bath, directly over where my head lays.

I think the time has finally come for her to move out. Her 31 babies will have a home with us (until they too grow giant and cross my imaginary line of how near they are allowed to be to me) but she needs evicting.

Harvest men? Fucking hate them. Why do they do that weird speeded up vibrate thing when you touch their crappy web? There are loads in my utility corridor, I keep evicting them. Ick.

I'm proper arachnophobic. Just thinking about spiders makes me sweat and tremble, but at the same time I think spiders are really fascinating. I'm trying to learn about them in the hope it well help my arachnophobia but it just seems to be getting worse . My husband gets annoyed at me and think I should "just get over it". I wish it was that easy!

Good to know about the spindly ones. I'll be keeping them around if I can handle it!

One of my fave vids on youtube is called 'versicolor slings first molt'. It's a bunch of spiderlings in a tank molting. But when they cast off their first black skins, the spiders are blue and fluffy. They are proper cute.

Lesseroftwoweevils my daughter had treatment for arachnophobia, one of the techniques was to give them funny accents and personalities. I guess a Monsiour Spid who ees seeting up heer on ze roof wid ees accent terribley is not as scary, non?

As another person on here also said, I too am wondering why there are more this year. I grew up down south where they were quite normal to see, but since I moved up north a decade or so ago I have not seen a single one. This year there are loads. I am so happy they eat the big black ones (though admittedly they failed me this week as we had a MONSTER in the living room

Why do they do that weird speeded up vibrate thing when you touch their crappy web?
It's a defence mechanism. Makes it almost impossible to find the little body amongst all those legs and web.

I'm ok with spiders if I know where they are and they stay there. And do not move. If they come into my space unexpectedly, they're done for.

This is a marvellous thread (ha ha).

I grew up down south where they were quite normal to see, but since I moved up north a decade or so ago I have not seen a single one. This year there are loads.
That's the result of our gradually warming climate. Lots of creatures and plants are moving north.

My husband gets annoyed at me and think I should "just get over it". I wish it was that easy!
That's unfair of him. Phobias can be very real. But spider phobias can be successfully treated. Several zoos do spider days. You can also get professional treatment.
Important point: Many phobias are learned. Never show fear of spiders in front of your children.