Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with spiders

I need to kill one pest while protecting another.

mecran01 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:43:25 -0800

We have spiders and pill bugs in our basement. I want to spray for them, but I also have pet rats that I like to let wander around on occasion, and don't want them to get sick. Is there a natural bug spray that is rodent safe? (I know, our basement sounds like a fun place) My nine-year-old is sleeping on the couch until I take care of the bugs. I also need to figure out how all of the pill bugs are getting into our basement bathroom.

If they're hobos, shouldn't they be outside?

ga$money — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:38:17 -0800

I think there are hobo spiders in my house. How freaked out should I be? Time to call the exterminator? We moved into a spiffy new house, the only down side so far being the large, brown, long-legged spiders that have come to join us in the basement TV nook three times in the past two weeks. I'm not normally squeamish and am happy to trap them and throw them outside. But these little bastards are brazen, seemingly unconcerned at our presence, even when I started making moves to trap it. One dropped directly onto Mrs. Ga$Money, also not a squeamish person, which made her move astonishingly fast. They seem to be coming across from the walled off, unfinished portion of our basement. A little google-fu suggests they're probably hobo spiders based on appearance. Sorry I don't have a photo, but I was too busy crushing the last little bastard with a plastic water bottle after it crawled across my Rock Band guitar strap. Anyway, long story short, how worried should I be? The websites I could find are inconclusive, but I'm mainly worried about a nasty bite or my adventurous Bengal cat getting ahold of one.

Help me identify my new spider friend.

not that girl — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:42:49 -0800

Help me identify this black spider. My kids and I been identifying the spiders we find around the house, for fun. I only have one field guide, and need a decent magnifying bug box, which makes things hard.

Right now, trapped under a glass in my kitchen, I have a round-bodied black spider a bit more than 1/4 inch long (body, not including legs). It was hiding in a vacuum cleaner's crevice tool that had been lying undisturbed on the basement floor for awhile.

The Black Widow in my guidebook is the closest match: the spider has a round body, long arched (rather than flattish) legs. In profile, it really does resemble this Black Widow , but it either has no markings on its belly or a very very faint dark reddish-brown stripe, which I might be imagining.

When it feels threatened, it rolls into a little ball. For awhile, it was hanging by a thread from the bottom of the upturned glass, with its legs pulled in tight. It seems very shy.

I've googled around, but can't find any images of other all-black spiders besides the Black Widow, except the False Black Widow, which isn't supposed to appear in my area (I'm in mid-Michigan).

I was not able to get a decent picture with my point-and-shoot camera. I'd like ideas about what it might be, though.

Any thoughts, from more experienced arachnophiles?

Arach No Phobia

Xurando — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:41:21 -0800

Help me to find a way to be compassionate to people with a fear of spiders. Today in the work place someone started jumping up and down and screaming when they saw a spider. My wife and daughter are also very afraid of them too. My mind tells me that such fears are totally irrational and I want to tell them to "get over it." My gut tells me there is something more going on but I don't no what it is. Educate me.

Too many spiders!

pdb — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:26:24 -0800

I need spider control options, please! We have a backyard that's almost completely deck. In the middle of the deck is a very large evergreen tree, that predates the house and around which the deck was built. It's a great tree, but it's also, not surprisingly, a haven for bugs and things.

The tree has a ton of spiders and those spiders build webs that come down off it and join up with our table and chairs - and if we get rid of the webs, they're back the next day (I am not surprised by this, I know that's how they work, I'm just stating the facts). it's to the point where my wife refuses to use the deck, even on these beautiful Portland summer nights, because there's too many spiders out there.

I understand that spiders are part of the outdoors, and I know I'll never get rid of them, but I still want to try to thin their ranks as much as possible.

So, my question is, how do I control the spiders? I know this is a very anti-Portland thing to say, but I'm not looking to coexist with the spiders and their webs - I want them gone, as much as possible. I'm also not opposed to using noxious chemicals if necessary - I'd rather not, but if that's what it takes to make our great deck usable by my wife again, that's what I'll do.

Not so itsy bitsy.

thisisnotkatrina — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:21:47 -0800

Where (online) can I find a toy camel spider or something that looks remotely similar? Can't believe I'm wasting a question on this.

A friend is currently stationed in Afghanistan. He's expressed the desire for me to find a big plastic spider (as big as a baseball, he specified) to send to him to play jokes on people with. He said if I can't help him scare people over there I'm going to have 4 months of being scared to put up with when he gets home. Eek!

I have looked everywhere imaginable and googled every possible string of words I could think of and I'm coming up empty handed.

The best I can find is this. It's about the right size but a little too dark, (I'm guessing), I'm afraid to look at more pictures of camel spiders to check their colors though, haha, so I'm not sure if they vary.

Any leads would be greatly appreciated!
Just think, by helping you are really and truly supporting the troops. Haha, well, one of them, not the unlucky victims of his jokes.

natural indoor spider control suggestions?

foxinthesnow — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:03:00 -0800

What are some natural spider repellents I can use in the house? Google searching leads me to believe that there are a number of essential oils that might be effective, but do you have any first-hand experience? With which ones? How to apply? Any other natural cures that I won't mind putting around my house? Also, are there certain things that attract spiders that I should avoid having around? I know they are generally harmless, but they make me so uneasy.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Spiders

bitteroldman — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:48:06 -0800

during the wintertime, what is the kindest way to get rid of a spider? So in the summertime, whenever I find a spider in the house, I pick him up _{(using a ton of tissue paper, the wuss that I am)} and throw him outside.

Lately, I have been finding spiders in the house and after I threw one outside as I normally do, I realized that I probably sentenced the poor critter to death by freezing (it is still below freezing up here!).

Does mr. spider have a chance out in the cold, will he not feel it, or would it be kinder if I flushed him down the toilet?

Are you really only ever six feet away from a spider at any given time?

birdlips — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:05:42 -0800

Are you really only ever six feet away from a spider at any given time? I was watching Law and Order the other night and on there one of the characters said, "You are only ever six feet away from a spider at any given time". I was wondering if anyone knew the validity of that statement? I don't particularly like spiders, I wouldn't go as far to say I am afraid, but I just don't like them.....my wife, however, now that is a different story.

Thanks!

What kind of spider almost killed me?

rybreadmed — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:01:27 -0800

A spider landed on me in Hawaii. It was very big (almost palm sized), and black with yellow and blue splotches on it. Is it poisonous? I went on a horseback ride in Hawaii over a year ago. In particular, it was in Kona pretty much between North and South Kona by the Kealakekua Monument. As we walked along (obviously the horses did the walking), I enjoyed the flora and fauna of the Big Island. I saw spiders--big spiders. They were were big (not quite like a Buick), and black with yellow and blue splotches (UCLA colors). As we walked, I saw a spider descending on its thread. As I got closer, I thought, "That thing's going to land on me." And sure enough, it landed on my shoulder.

I felt a great sense of panic that can't even be described by using the word 'panic.' I thrashed, yelled (okay, screamed), and hit at the spider. I yelled, "Get it off me! Get it off me!" as well as a variety of expletives. I hit it off onto my leg. It crawled up my leg, and I kept hitting at it. It landed on the saddle, climbed up on my leg again, and I finally knocked it off. I lost my sunglasses during the struggle, but that's besides the point.

The trail guide asked what happened, and I told him a spider landed on me. I described it, and he said, "Oh, those? My little daughter plays with those. They're harmless."

So for a long time, I thought, "I'm such a dork. I wasn't in any danger." I recently told someone that story, and they said, "I don't know...Brightly colored spiders are usually brightly colored for a reason. You know, because they're poisonous and their colors are supposed to warn predators." We all feel pretty smart after watching the National Geographic channel, but maybe there was some truth to that.

I got to thinking that maybe the trail guide was saying that the spider was harmless to calm me down, and perhaps make me think I was over-reacting, when in fact I had been in grave danger. It wouldn't help business any if word got out that his horseback rides were potentially fatal.

So based on what happened and the description of the spider, can you help me figure out what kind of spider it was and if I was about to die?

Archnid Attack!Help me rid my house of them without chemicals.

pazoozoo — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 07:52:08 -0800

My wife, new baby and I just moved into a house that we love. The one problem is that it has spiders of every type, everywhere, indoors and outdoors. We even have these small spider webs all over our lawn. With the new baby, I am hesitant to go ape with the chemicals. We vaccum regularly, including ceiling corners, closets etc. and have moved vegitation back from the house a bit, though there is a ton of flowers and ornamentals. Any ideas for dealing with the critters without dousing the place in insecticide?

Delicious. Of course, I don't really eat them. I drink them - drink their blood. I love blood.

snailer — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 05:16:07 -0800

How do spiders construct webs between two distant, separate points? Good Day, Brave Answerers of Metafilter.

Just how do spiders connect a line of thread between two separate points, e.g. between the middle of two tree trunks or posts, with nothing joining them above ground level?

Our theories include the spider floats out on a line of thread (which some spiders do at birth, I believe).

Or, that they anchor one end, drop down, walk across, then up the other structure, then anchor the other end.

I don't think the latter is plausible as I don't think a spider could either retract the excess thread (like a power cord in a vacuum cleaner), or that it could pull up the excess in loops and use it for the rest of the web. I'm assuming that the stickyness of the web silk would prevent it being re-used.

The former would be quite hit-and-miss as the spider can't control where it floats to.

Additionally, how does it know that the two points it starts and ends at are going to make an efficient web?

Black widow spiders want my blood

sdis — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 23:46:43 -0800

Black widow spiders are coming to get me; what do I do? What do I do about any of the following:

1) My house is starting to get a large number of black widows (I've killed 3 in the garage and 1 just now in my bathroom window in the last 3 months) (I'm in Los Angeles)

2) I am totally arachnophobic and this is freaking me out

3) My insect spray just seems to make them mad, at which point I need to find some sort of device that I can flail at them to make them splat, which is plenty traumatic for both me and the spider.

Why does a spider's legs curl up when it dies?

unmake — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 05:35:52 -0800

Why do spider legs curl up after death?

The Adventures of an Australian Spider...?

tpl1212 — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 07:26:54 -0800

A few weeks ago as I was cleaning pots, I saw what appeared to be a bit of cabbage zipping around in the bottom of a big ole crock pot...which turned out to be an unfamiliar-looking spider. Here's a picture of it (and a huge, grosser version). What kind of spider is it? I'm really just curious what it is. We live in a suburb a bit north of Boston, MA (USA)...and we get our fair share of wolf spider, daddy-long legs, jumping spiders, etc...but in all my life in the area I have never seen a spider with such markings.

Random research indicates it looks most like a red-back spider...but the abdomen is a different shape (and it seems they only live in Australia...though a Flickr commenter mentioned it could have hitched a cross-global ride to end up in my dirty pot).

The end of this story is I captured the spider (who was really crazy and active) in a glass and released it out in the back of our yard. So no dead spiders (though the thought of a potentially non-native poisonous spider roaming our yard is...kind of not-comforting).

Any thoughts?

Also, at one time, there was a site linked somewhere off of Mefi that had submissions of big bug pictures for identification...but my search-fu is failing me. Anyone recall this?

Spiderphobiafilter

sholdens12 — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 15:09:49 -0800

My wife is afraid of spiders. We just moved to Portland, Oregon, where the spider population seems to be higher than that even of slackers. I would like to not have to go on spider patrol every night, and I'd like my toddler daughter to not grow up with an irrational fear as well. Is there a way to cure her fear of spiders?

YEARGH!

Drunken_munky — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 20:14:50 -0800

Gah!Filter: Today I woke up, and there were bugs. Everywhere. I live in the basement of an old house and I guess there are cracks in the walls, but I don't know where.

For the last couple of days, I've been catching spiders every time I wake up from a nap/nights sleep or return home from being out for a while. Typically, I turn on the lights to find 4 or 6 or so hiding on the ceiling or in cracks. Sometimes I'll find the odd ant or potato bug meandering about on the walls, but nothing really too gross.

But today... today when I woke up from what is likely to be the last nap I ever take in this room, I found about 5 of these delightful fellows camped out on the walls by my head. They were big one's, too. Apparently they react to light, because when I turned on a lamp, they scattered. I managed to nail one with a book, but the others are somewhere under my bed. I know they're there. I can feel them. Watching me.

But I doubt these will be the last I see of these things. Have any of you guys ever dealt with an infestation like this? Is it going to get worse, or better, as the weather becomes warmer? And what am I going to do, save from sleeping will all the lights on? Do I have to move?

What the hell kind of spiders are these!?

mph — Tue, 03 May 2005 20:24:48 -0800

I walked out to my car and came across a big cluster of little yellow spiders (240kb jpg of the whole disgusting mass or a little 8kb detail of just a few of them). They seem to have little, black smiley faces on their abdomens. I can’t identify them online. Since I understand spiders that look alike differ by region, I live in Portland, OR. Are they dangerous? How should I deal with them? I hosed some of them off the car, but more have gotten inside!

Spider Identification, please?

Civil_Disobedient — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 07:14:36 -0800

Here are two pictures of a kind of rather large (1" long body), nasty spider that I'm finding all over my apartment [scary pictures warning]. Please help me identify it. Geographic info: I'm in the woods in Maine, not far from the coast. I know they say there are something like a million spiders for every square mile on earth, but I think we've got at least that many just in the garage. I want to know my enemy better, so any help would be appreciated.

Fear of Spiders

normy — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:31:31 -0800

PhobiaFilter: I'm an arachnophobic. How does one conquer an irrational fear? [more] As long as I can remember, I've hated and feared spiders and I don't know why. Even other creepy crawly things don't bother me at all. I've slept with scorpions in my tent and in cockroach infested huts - not a flinch. I've tried to identify what it is about spiders in particular that might cause this reaction, with no success. Hairiness? Nothing else hairy is a problem. Lots of legs? Why wouldn't I be afraid of caterpillars, then? Webs? Actually, that part doesn't bother me, either. Biting and poison? But I have no fear of bees, wasps, mosquitoes or other bitey stingy things. I've tried forcing myself to go to websites and look at books with lots of close-up pictures of spiders, thinking that familiarization might work. Nope, just ended up feeling ill and having bad dreams.

This isn't ruining my life or anything, but I'd like to get past it. There's something psychological going on that it's obvious I don't understand. How does someone get over an irrational fear? Is it even possible? Rationality doesn't seem to work.

Where do cobwebs come from?

stupidsexyFlanders — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 09:46:39 -0800

Where do cobwebs come from?

I need to find a method/product that allows me to analyze the contents of a website.

smcniven — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 07:24:47 -0800

I need to find a method/product that allows me to analyze the contents of a website. [More Inside]

Scary spiders in my bathtub

Mossy — Mon, 20 Sep 2004 02:02:11 -0800

Spiders and bathtubs. Great big hairy jumping spiders keep magically appearing in my bathtub. How do they materialise thus (given the windows are shut etc)? Spontaneous generation?

Spiders!

FunkyHelix — Fri, 03 Sep 2004 16:49:28 -0800

Attack of the Spider Monsters! What seemed like a normal amount of spiders in my apartment has turned into something more horrible. Since they're all very tiny right now, I'm assuming an egg sac opened up somewhere. ick. I have a small child and two cats. What can I use to get rid of the spiders, that won't harm my family? Besides buying a dozen wooden shoes, and hiring a team of clog dancers.

Does Whatever a Spider Can

kenaman — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 18:49:22 -0800

Should not Spiderman's web not shoot out his arse?