To burn my house down TRiGGER WARNING spiders

[moleymoley1]

As of last week I’ve been finding little black spiders everywhere in my house mainly by my back door and bathroom. They are tiny like money spiders but I literally have loads. I picked up my kittens bed and there was about 3 under there. I’m now worrying there was a mummy spider somewhere and has hatched eggs into my house 🫣 I’ve attached a picture for context

I currently have a village of spiders in my kitchen. 2 above my window, 1 in my toaster, 1 near the edge of the window and 1 was underneath a piece of artwork pinned to a Cork board. I also have 2 in my dining room and at least 2 in my hallway.
They just hide and come out in the early hours of the morning to admire the view. They leave my bedroom alone, which I'm truly grateful for.
I've only ever seen false widows and cellar spiders.

I didn't say they couldn't bite (in fact I did say they could) - and I have been bitten by both a false widow and a garden spider...

In the process of proving to someone that they indeed could and would, if provoked, bite. Yes, a very stupid thing to do and not very nice for the spiders, what can I say, I was a pretty irritating teenager.

Both hurt a bit less than a wasp sting or horsefly bite but more than a mosquito.

Both resulted in a slightly raised red, slightly itchy (not like a mozzie or flea bite though) lump that faded after a few days.

To get both to bite, I had to hold them firmly and poke my finger underneath at their mouth parts, they were extremely reluctant to bite so it took several goes.

Oooh I am jealous - only ever found cave spiders in canal tunnels (and not caves which I am quite familiar with and have definitely been in more caves than canal tunnels!) Yes they're a very different make and model (a much prettier spider in my opinion!) to the cellar spider!

Really enjoyed this post, thanks for taking the time!

I mix some peppermint essential oil with water and spritz around all windows and doorframes regularly (it smells so nice as well), but having LOTS of cellar spiders around (the only ones that don't bother me) helps more than anything.

Ok so we have had massive ones this year and hardly any last year which is not helping my fear but can someone clear this up for me?
house spiders are in your house all the time and only come out to mate? I see people always say oh it’s because it’s cold and they want shelter or something but I was always told they just live in your house all the time and therefore it’s cruel to relocate outside as they die?

I keep the spindly ones as I can just about put up with them out of the way and I have seen them eat the big house spiders with my own eyes!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spiders-Spider-Creepy-Crawly-Aerosol/dp/B01H3U6HF6/ref=asc_df_B01H3U6HF6/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2640866708226759478&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007077&hvtargid=pla-2281435177578&psc=1&mcid=3bb553b9475932cc9d2f6aaf9bb6d511&hvocijid=2640866708226759478-B01H3U6HF6-&hvexpln=74&gad_source=1

@WiddlinDiddlin Awesome info! I'm Australian so I'm guessing the species here differ somewhat?

Most common here are Huntsman's which can be quite some size!! but are regarded as harmless. Also you don't typically get more than 1 or 2 in the house at a time for some reason? I tend to leave them to it, or sometimes do the trick of putting a tupperware container over them and sliding a magazine under it, to trap them and take them outside.

'Daddy Long Legs' are common, we were taught that they're poisonous, but their fangs aren't strong enough to bite you. Seems to be a total myth!

Then of course there's the red back, highly poisonous. I've never seen one inside, only ever found them in the garden when lifting up rocks, wood etc.

And of course the funnel web, highly poisonous, never seen one in 50 years. As kids we were taught to shake our shoes out before putting them on 😃

Sorry to derail OP, I do understand your concern about "Where is the Mummy spider??"

Whilst spiders fascinate me, I do not think I could cope with the Aussie Huntsman, they are a bit large and quick for my liking! I have a very jumpy 'reactive' nature that I work quite hard to suppress!

Redbacks would bother me far less, like most orb weavers, they would rather stay put in safety on their web (unless males in breeding season) and mind their own biz.

There are so many myths about daddy long legs and the three species commonly referred to as that.

Craneflies - can't bite anyone (often in teh US they're called 'skeeter eaters' though they actually don't), many have no mouthparts at all and do not feed as adults.

Pholcus sp. - too small to bite humans, venomous but only the same way most spiders are ( think theres just one species that isn't).

Opiliones - have little lobster claw like mouthparts, great for disassembling dead things and leaves and stuff or eating colembola, but zero use for biting big things, and no venom. Yet often said to be hugely venomous! Weird!

@WiddlinDiddlin Thank you for all the fascinating information. I always have lots of spiders in autumn but this year has been exceptional - loads all summer - I think because of the wet weather. Parts of my house are like Miss Haversham's and the seem to particularly like to spin webs on my car.

I don't mind them at all but I don't really want one crawling over me - hence an exhausting 20 minutes with a glass and cardboard trying to rehome the giant that had taken ownership of my bed. By goodness they can sprint.

I don't know if UK spiders bite but, fun fact, ladybirds do if provoked. I got a right nip on the finger from one. But to be fair I had just been bashed by me as I didn't know it was there when potting up a plant.

Not all spider haters kill them. I can't stand spiders, but I do my best to relocate them with a plastic cup and piece of stiff cardboard. I may not like them but they're only trying to live out their lives.

@WiddlinDiddlin , you should have your own spider programme on tv! You are so knowledgeable and you plainly find them fascinating.

I'm a bit of an arachnophile, too, so I never do anything that will harm them. And I feel sorry for the arachnophobes, as this year seems to be a bumper year for them. I've never had as many in the house as I have this autumn.

I was bitten once by some critter when I was sitting on grass with bare legs, likely a spider but I brushed it off so fast I didn't get a good look at it. Ended up with an abscess on the back of my leg.

Interestingly, the doctor who cut/drained it said that sometimes with spiders, it's not the venom that causes problems but the bacteria on their fangs. Maybe it's an Aussie thing LOL

Edited to add- most hospitals here have anti-venom for the poisonous ones. Some people actually earn money catching them to donate for this purpose. True!

Spider Venom Program - Australian Reptile Park | Visit our website

This was not far from where I live- fucking hell I'd keel over if I saw this out the back window!

‘Spider apocalypse’ hits Australia as clouds of cobwebs blanket landscape | The Independent

No mouse season, you say?

<glares at cat>

'So, is this pathetic spectacle <gestures at squishy gummed corpse on the kitchen floor> every Sunday morning through every October for the last ten years your version of Trick AND Treating and not a seasonal Mouseageddon, then?'

Fascinating post! Thanks for sharing I now want to know more about spiders 🕷️

I am terrified of spiders but this was a really interesting read, thank you @WiddlinDiddlin . Will try and keep all this in mind - succeeded in using a spider catcher with fronds to relocate a huge one for first time ever this year so hoping this is progress?!

I have cellar spiders all over my house. The only reason it is a pain is when it comes to cleaning because I don't want to kill them, so I just leave them be and clean when they leave that area.

@WiddlinDiddlin do you know if relocating the cellar spiders to the shed could kill them? I'm in the UK so it can get cold in the shed.

Spiders on the whole will just find shelter if relocated.

All these 'house' species are capable of finding other shelter. Whilst some of them have moved here (along with the movement of people and goods) from warmer climates and this has been helped by us providing loads of shelter in the form of houses, sheds, barns etc and perhaps wouldn't have survived at earlier points in our history, the cold isn't the biggest risk out there - predators are (blue tits are savage spider predators, as are many other birds).

Chucking a house spider or pholcus or whatever you've found under a hedge or in the shed will be fine, and sometimes we find species that are better off outside who have accidentally wandered in.

The only thing you really shouldn't do, is if you find a non-native spider say on your bananas or grapes, don't whizz that outside. Instead if you go on FB theres a British Spider Identification Group and posting a photo there, someone will take it off your hands. Pop it in a plastic tub and you can post it to a spider nerd. (It is incredibly unlikely to be harmful!)

@Dustyblue - this is pretty much the risk with all biting insects, the bacteria introduced into a tiny puncture can be an issue. That may be from their fangs or from the saliva with blood sucking insects, it may have been on your skin and brought in with the bite. And of course anyone can have an allergic reaction to a novel allergen.
Most people tend not to take tiny puncture wounds seriously, and yet they can be a far bigger risk of infection than larger, freely bleeding wounds, and this makes the risk higher as people only tend to notice and do something after they see signs of infection. If you have a big wound you clean it, but no one cleans an insect bite until it starts to look icky!

Those sheet webs are impressive, and actually very rarely caused by spiders. It is much more common that these huge bush/grass/ground covering webs are made by one of various species of caterpillar. (THe ones in that article are made by spiders but thats a rare phenomenon caused by very wet weather forcing the tiny spiders up further out of the vegetation).

WiddlinDiddlin · 08/10/2024 20:42

A lot of our spiders (really, all of them barring the jumping spiders which you've probably never even noticed as ours are small and fairly dull) have really shitty eyesight, seeing just light/dark and movement.

Thanks for your excellent and highly informative posts! We get zebra spiders in the back yard and can watch them for ages. It's great if we can catch one in the magnifying pot, my daughter loves them and will try to keep one as a pet... She's got no fear and will catch them with a glass and paper.

We often have house spiders behind the cistern of the outside loo and she will catch houseflies to feed them; they come out like Mike Tyson.

We don't get wolf spiders up here in the Northeast, but we saw a few a couple of years ago, when we were in Hertfordshire, on holiday.

I used to see hunting spiders, about the size of a house spider, all black, with a shiny thorax, but not since I was a kid. I've never been able to identify them.

Big black shiny spiders -tube webs (segestria sp.) and steatoda grossa could answer that description, S. grossa is often such a dark brown as to look black, but isn't really quite as big as a house spider.

The mouse spider could answer that description too, Scotophaeus blackwalli, the abdomen is really a very furry satiny grey/black but in some lights would look like shiny black - they are chunky, and are speed hunters rather than web-makers. I have only seen one here (west midlands) twice.

I love jumping spiders, they are absolutely adorable and we have quite a few species but the most strikingly marked is Salticus scenicus, the zebra jumping spider - the rest are generally rather brown, some a bit fuzzy, and very small. They do love a sunbathe on a warm sunny wall or fence and are very entertaining if you get to watch them hunting.

I have pet rats, snakes and spiders 🤣

They will probably die. They are indoor spiders, they are always with us, under floorboards and in the walls but we see them as they are mate seeking missiles at this time of year. They don't come in from the cold.

Just going to fact check this with @WiddlinDiddlin who is fount of all spidery knowledge.

I am thinking about Karcher peppermint spray, even if its a placebo. And I do have piles of stuff aka lady spider hidey places. Oh dear.

This is my Plan also ^^ I have had 2 large ones in so far but yet to try peppermint spray.

oh bugger. Got a cat so can't use then?