Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Will the cellar spiders eat the other ove?

57 replies

BunnytheFriendlyDragon · 01/10/2021 18:24

Two of the spindly spiders on the bathroom ceiling the past couple of days. I leave them as I believe they eat the others.

When I last went to the bathroom there was another spider. Not huge but a thicker one 🤮 Will the other two eat it? They were all on the claiming. Each of the soundly ones a bit away from the other one which was in the middle?

I have done raid but thought I might let nature take its course!

AIBU to assigns they'll eat it??

OP posts:
Original poster
BunnytheFriendlyDragon · 01/10/2021 18:30

Help

OP posts:
FateHasRedesignedMost · 01/10/2021 18:30

Yes they will most likely eat any other spider that comes near. They throw sticky web at prey so can catch even the big hairy ones and the false widows.

FateHasRedesignedMost · 01/10/2021 18:31

The spindly cellar spiders will eat it I mean

BrutusMcDogface · 01/10/2021 18:32

I don’t really understand your op to be honest, but I also had no idea that spiders ate other spiders! Thought they just ate flies.

ffsgivemestrength · 01/10/2021 18:32

Ooooh I like the big brown ones, I think of them as friendly neighbours. I don't like the spindley ones, I feel that they're quite mean.

SickAndTiredAgain · 01/10/2021 18:34

@BrutusMcDogface

I don’t really understand your op to be honest, but I also had no idea that spiders ate other spiders! Thought they just ate flies.
Yep, the spindly cellar spiders eat the big black ones. It’s why I keep them around.
MrMeSeeks · 01/10/2021 18:34

I love the spindy ones! Only ones that don’t scare me Grin

ThinWomansBrain · 01/10/2021 18:35

yep, they'll eat each other, get bigger and bigger and then eat you.

Failing that they'll just munch up any number of other insects.
Just move them out of the bath when you want to use it.

LadyTiredWinterBottom2 · 01/10/2021 18:38

They will attack each other if they enter each others' territory

MakingM · 01/10/2021 18:39

Yes, this is why I keep all the spindly ones around too, but I read the other day that they can actually bite hard enough to break human skin and even though it’s only a minor irritation I’m considering returning to my previous “zero tolerance die spider die” policy.

EvilPea · 01/10/2021 18:39

@ffsgivemestrength

Ooooh I like the big brown ones, I think of them as friendly neighbours. I don't like the spindley ones, I feel that they're quite mean.
I leave the wolf / house ones, give them names etc

Always kick the cellar ones out so they don’t eat the resident house ones.

AngeloMysterioso · 01/10/2021 18:40

I fucking HATE spiders but I leave cellar spiders be- I like to think of them as my little eight legged bodyguards, keeping the big hairy fuckers away.

Spodge · 01/10/2021 18:56

The spindly one I allowed to stay in my bedroom didn't eat the big fat one. Had to kill the big fat one and tell the spindly one it was on borrowed time. Next day the spindly one had scarpered. Can't get the staff these days.

BrutusMcDogface · 01/10/2021 19:21

I think I’d be utterly traumatised if I saw a spindly spider chowing down on a big hairy one!! 🤢 🤮

Autumngoldleaf · 01/10/2021 19:24

Making m

One fatal night when I was a young teen I was awoken by a bite!
Jumped out of bed, lights in etc and it was a spindly.

But... They just don't scare me like the others and I never see them in my space eg like the huge ones running straight for uiu

lockdownalli · 01/10/2021 19:25

How do the spindly ones actually eat and store the big hairy fuckers though? Where do they put them? Confused

FreeBritnee · 01/10/2021 19:29

Just get a hoover and hoover all of them up. I don’t get it by people keep some to kill some. Just get the vacuum and lose them all!!

ButterflyAway · 01/10/2021 19:31

I had 5 spiders (of varying types) in the bathroom this august. Not one of them ate any of the others, the lazy sods. It made bathing my youngest a nightmare, he hates spiders! I was too terrified to get rid of them myself though Blush

Original poster
BunnytheFriendlyDragon · 01/10/2021 19:33

They're not in the bath, they're on the ceiling. Black one in the middle and two spindly ones either side around 30-60cm(?) away - not really sure of the distance - and there's also a spindly one in the hall outside my bedroom, which is opposite the bathroom.

I would just do pray Raid on them all (though never actually tried that) if not for also thinking of the spindly ones as bodyguards against the others.

But doubting it now!

I did spray some repellent in the bedroom before coming to bed in the hope that it won't come in here...

OP posts:
Original poster
BunnytheFriendlyDragon · 01/10/2021 19:35

@FreeBritnee

Just get a hoover and hoover all of them up. I don’t get it by people keep some to kill some. Just get the vacuum and lose them all!!
It's because the spindly ones are not as scary as the big fat ones and worth minimising the risk of avoiding the big fat hairy ones.
OP posts:
Original poster
BunnytheFriendlyDragon · 01/10/2021 19:37

I thought the cellar spiders couldn't bite. Made the mistake of googling it and saw some horrid things I don't need to see before bed

(Yes I'm in bed. Have a 3 month old and tend to go to bed when he does)

OP posts:
SummersOverSeasideTown · 01/10/2021 19:38

@ffsgivemestrength

Ooooh I like the big brown ones, I think of them as friendly neighbours. I don't like the spindley ones, I feel that they're quite mean.
They are and FYI they are all called Steve and they eat the poor maligned house spider. House spiders are endangered
EvilPea · 01/10/2021 19:45

@Autumngoldleaf

Making m

One fatal night when I was a young teen I was awoken by a bite!
Jumped out of bed, lights in etc and it was a spindly.

But... They just don't scare me like the others and I never see them in my space eg like the huge ones running straight for uiu

The ones running across the room are just boys trying to find their girlfriends. It’s a scary prospect in case they get eaten. So they often take a meal with them (like bringing in a takeaway). The females tend to just lurk in one spot waiting for dinner and men to come to them.
GianaSister · 01/10/2021 19:48

@lockdownalli

How do the spindly ones actually eat and store the big hairy fuckers though? Where do they put them? Confused
It’s their webs. Pholicidae Spiders are amazing spinners and completely light on their feet. They can immobilise their prey (including big scary hairy house spider fuckers Grin) just by laying a web and leaving them to be entrapped in them. Sometimes they encroach onto other spiders webs and then vibrate to make other spiders think they have caught some prey and let them get entangled in their webs. Once they are entangled enough and the spindly one bites its prey and the venom is administrated, it’s game over. I guess at that point, it doesn’t matter if it eats it in one go or leaves it to keep coming back to for a week long feast? Grin
EvilPea · 01/10/2021 19:50

@FreeBritnee

Just get a hoover and hoover all of them up. I don’t get it by people keep some to kill some. Just get the vacuum and lose them all!!
Why would you do that? Just put them outside if you don’t want them.

What a way to go, all your limbs sucked off