To ask if it's only my garden that's suddenly become spider central??

[Cantthinkofanythinggood]

Literally LOADS of webs have appeared around my garden with menacing looking spidees in them! I'm frightened to walk round have to check I'm not walking into their webs - has anyone else noticed this in their garden this week?

Its the time of year!

We counted about 50 spiders on our 15 minute walk this morning (walk along a very residential road with lots of front gardens)

Autumn is fast approaching (and is arguably coming slightly early this year) and that be spider season! If you're seeing them in the garden then they are an outdoor species (commonly known as, wait for it.... garden spiders!) so they won't come in the house and are completely harmless.

It's also time of year for the Giant House Spiders but seeing as you were talking about outdoor varieties I won't go into that unless you want me to :)

Spider afficionado :D

I had a giant housespider recently which was like a thin tarantula. Terrified me. DH hoovered it with a dyson and apparently when he emptied the barrel outside it walked out.

We haven't had any giants in yet (which is unusual). I'm hoping they've all gone to the op's house! Sorry, op.

They are cute, with stripey legs and come every year. They are busy catching the last of the summer insects so that they can get fat, and lay eggs, then die. They are not like the giant housespiders that gallop around the living room trying to find a mate.

However, it is wise to carry a stick before you if you want to get to the bins. Otherwise you get a face full of web, and if you are lucky, spider too.

The worst ones are those spindley things that make messy webs horrible webs everywhere. They seemed to some out of nowhere a couple of years ago.

Flyingelbows that's soO mean! Haha. They're those nasty stripey things that look pretty mean & knarley... frightened of putting my washing out!

Pleased to hear they won't come inside tho.

Had a giant house spidee t'other day. First reaction was to throw my shoe at it but read somewhere recently 'spiders are like ppl caught in terrorist attacks - just in the wrong place at the wrong time' so I made DH save him & escort him off the premises...

We had an absolute whopper turn up in our sink. It's getting to be that time of year!

OP,

Definitely nothing to worry about with the spiders. I assume you are in the UK? We have no dangerous species of spider here. Technically they're all venomous but they are totally incapable of harming a human as the toxin is milder than a fairies fart.

Good analogy with the terrorist attacks, I quite like that one!

With the giant house spider, I hear this quite a lot (I'm a bit of a spider guy) escorting them off the premises, unless you put them into alternative accommodation means they will perish very quickly. House spiders (including the giant) have evolved to live indoors and can't survive outdoors. Of course it's up to you if you can or can't tolerate them being in your house, but again they are completely harmless.

Sometimes people say "I try not to kill the house spiders, I just put them back outside" - thing is, you can't put something "back" outside that was never outside in the first place.

My best advice is to just wave as they pass by, you only really see them in the autumn, the rest of the year they're just doing spidery stuff where you can't see them. They appear in autumn to mate, 90% of the ones you'll see are the males on the hunt for some saucy spidery action!

If you find them in the bath/sink/wash basin they are in there for one of two reasons, either they saw a droplet of water (spiders do drink water) or they just wandered in and can't get back out. Leave a bit of bog roll hanging over the side of the bath and come back in half an hour - spider will most of the time be gone.

Not trying to convert you or any readers to liking spiders, just saying they can't hurt you and there are actually many benefits to letting them get on with their autumnal blasting around :)

I have arachnophobia, I mean panic attack level arachnophobia and a massive house spider appeared in my sink earlier. I was on the phone to my friend at the time and I was so upset that her dad raced round to sort it for me. I have to up my anti anxiety meds at this time of year because of sodding spiders. I know they can't hurt me, I know it's totally irrational, but I am terrified of them.

We have no dangerous species of spider here. Technically they're all venomous but they are totally incapable of harming a human

All of them? I had a false widow spider in the house the other day.

Mine has too!

Stripy massive spiders! With massive amazing webs?

Love them.

Father

Yeah sorry I should have said no truly native species are dangerous to humans. False widows are present in the UK, I think there are either 3 or 6 (forgot) different types of false widow now considered native (because they've been here so long) but they are reluctant to bite.

I'm sure someone will be along shortly to link to some very isolated incident about how "I nearly lost my arm/leg/head to a giant poisonous spider" article!

Focusing on the garden spiders and giant house spiders, which are very very common and both native they are nothing to worry about.

For the PP who suffers with arachnophobia, it's fine, I understand and I'm not trying to convert you or anyone else to being a spider fan. My mother suffers with the same, an ex of mine who I'm still friends with even more so!

Fallingorbit you are not making me feel better!! 😂😩

Lol (very rarely use that!) OP - honestly, there is nothing to worry about :)

Spiders are remarkable creatures, although I realise not everyone is going to want to have anything to do with them :)

You don't sound like you're completely terrified of them, so little by little you could overcome your fear if you wanted to. I think you and spiders will get along fine!

I don't have any problem with spiders normally, but finding a false widow in the door frame of my garden office about a two feet from my desk freaked me out a bit, particularly because I didn't want one of the cats trying to play with it. OH is arachnophobic, though, so any medium-large house spiders have to be shown the door.

Glad to see a spider advocate on here!

I think they're fab! Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want the house to be crawling with them because that would just be weird but I don't mind the odd one or two turning up this time of year. It's normal. We have to share space with other creatures all the time without even realising it.

So far I've only had one small house spider show up, usual place - the bath. I just scooped it out and plonked it on the hall window sill, brushed my teeth and checked and it had vanished. It'll still be here, probably found it's way into some unused area waiting to pop back out again :)

They just don't bother me, never have, and their lives are hard too. It's remarkable that they even manage to mate at all!

I love spiders, they are awesome little critters, however I really did not love the black widows my dc found in their wooden toy box. Environmental health id'd them but apparently can not do anything about them as unlike rats and fleas infestations the UK does not have a spider policy .

Black Widows? Did you take any pics? E/H identified them as black widows?

it is wise to carry a stick before you if you want to get to the bins. Otherwise you get a face full of web, and if you are lucky, spider too.

That's what happened to me playing in our garden when I was 8, went too near the coal bunker and have been keen to avoid ever since. Must have made a reasonable job of hiding squeamishness from the DCs though as they are very adept at kindly removing them when I see one indoors.

Seems as tho I've accidentally stumbled upon a spider appreciation society 🕷❤️ is join if only they were less fury & leggED

I'd not is

OP haha :)

Come on take a pic for us! Wander around until you find a good one!

Only kidding, I'm not taking the piss out of you, the only point I wanted to make was you are in little to no danger at all with spiders, and that they are kinda cool. They eat flies! Now that's one creature I cannot abide...

It's that time of year. DD (21 at the time) found a large house spider and convinced herself it was a poisonous import she had brought back from her holidays

Being generally pro-spider and anti-fly I got called out to my arachnophobe friend late the other night as she couldn't go to bed until the spider was removed from her bedroom. Bonkers.

We have loads of false widow spiders. Their bite hurts! I got bitten and it still hurts in that area one year later when im feeling under the weather!

2 morning in a row one of these buggers has been found in my sons bedroom 😑😫