Can I move a spider?
June 17, 2022 12:05 PM Subscribe
A nice spider is taking up too much space in my garage, is there a way for me to convince it to relocate, and optionally prevent other spiders from taking its place?
I have a small workbench in the back corner of a mostly-finished garage. It's only about desk-sized, so I need every inch for my various stuffs and battery chargers. I don't use it every day, maybe spates of daily use, sometimes weeks of inaction, so a perfectly peaceful Daddy Longlegs (spider tax) has reasonably concluded that the very back corner is a good place to homestead. I don't blame it, it's dark most of the time, I am not there all that often, and there appear to be plenty of insects on which it can nosh.
Unfortunately, it's in the way. The web is extending to about half of the width of the space, the body of which is just above things I need to be able to use, and the extents are well into the normal working space.
I don't see a lot of other webs in the garage, so I imagine it can be just as happy up in the rafters or someplace where I won't get chills when I sweep my hand through part of the web. I read on the internet that they don't like the smell of vinegar, so I tried spraying some not on it or the web, but the adjacent wall, but it didn't have any effect.
Anyway, can I glue a trail of flies on the wall to lead it to its new favorite place in the world? Spider pheromones? Just pick it up and put it somewhere else and it'll just shrug and start rebuilding in that location? Surely it came from some distance to the place it is now, so I just want to avoid the dog who found its way home after being left at a rest stop on the other side of the country.
I have a small workbench in the back corner of a mostly-finished garage. It's only about desk-sized, so I need every inch for my various stuffs and battery chargers. I don't use it every day, maybe spates of daily use, sometimes weeks of inaction, so a perfectly peaceful Daddy Longlegs (spider tax) has reasonably concluded that the very back corner is a good place to homestead. I don't blame it, it's dark most of the time, I am not there all that often, and there appear to be plenty of insects on which it can nosh.
Unfortunately, it's in the way. The web is extending to about half of the width of the space, the body of which is just above things I need to be able to use, and the extents are well into the normal working space.
I don't see a lot of other webs in the garage, so I imagine it can be just as happy up in the rafters or someplace where I won't get chills when I sweep my hand through part of the web. I read on the internet that they don't like the smell of vinegar, so I tried spraying some not on it or the web, but the adjacent wall, but it didn't have any effect.
Anyway, can I glue a trail of flies on the wall to lead it to its new favorite place in the world? Spider pheromones? Just pick it up and put it somewhere else and it'll just shrug and start rebuilding in that location? Surely it came from some distance to the place it is now, so I just want to avoid the dog who found its way home after being left at a rest stop on the other side of the country.
Just move it. Tear down the web. It'll be ok. If it returns, move it again. Repeat.
I have an old canoe paddle I keep by my basement stairs. Any time I open the door to get outside I swipe the paddle around to remove any invisible spider webs. If I go out the next day I have to do it again. There is never, ever, ever any lack of spiders after I take down their webs.
posted by bondcliff at 12:11 PM on June 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
I have an old canoe paddle I keep by my basement stairs. Any time I open the door to get outside I swipe the paddle around to remove any invisible spider webs. If I go out the next day I have to do it again. There is never, ever, ever any lack of spiders after I take down their webs.
posted by bondcliff at 12:11 PM on June 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: I know I'm overthinking it; it was all I could do not to give it a name. I see that most spiders in webs are female, so let's call her "Joan."
posted by rhizome at 12:16 PM on June 17, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 12:16 PM on June 17, 2022 [5 favorites]
Best answer: You sound like a very nice person. Joan can rebuild her web in under a day. (Re-read Charlotte’s Web in her honour!)
posted by nouvelle-personne at 12:53 PM on June 17, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by nouvelle-personne at 12:53 PM on June 17, 2022 [5 favorites]
You are kind. Good for you. A glass and paper work well. Be gentle. I believe spiders like to put their webs where a breeze can help those little critters fly into them.
Sigoth catches crickets, spiders, and centipedes when they show themselves in the house. The spiders are cute little jumping spiders; they don't build webs and seem happy to patrol the wall and ceiling. Did you know they can jump while crawling across the ceiling? Amazing.
She lets the spiders loose at the window by her loom. She puts the crickets and scorpions over the wall in our backyard.
She flushes the centipedes down the toilet. I'm pretty sure that's the right thing to do.
posted by mule98J at 1:33 PM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Sigoth catches crickets, spiders, and centipedes when they show themselves in the house. The spiders are cute little jumping spiders; they don't build webs and seem happy to patrol the wall and ceiling. Did you know they can jump while crawling across the ceiling? Amazing.
She lets the spiders loose at the window by her loom. She puts the crickets and scorpions over the wall in our backyard.
She flushes the centipedes down the toilet. I'm pretty sure that's the right thing to do.
posted by mule98J at 1:33 PM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Many web-building spiders will rebuild their web if it's destroyed only once or twice, then give up and try a new location. However that may not be true for your spider. If it's indeed a pholcid spider, Wikipedia suggests that it relies on its web's "irregular structure" for trapping prey, and so rebuilding the web may be a low enough investment that it doesn't have the behavioral propensity to relocate if it's destroyed too often. Anyway, I'd give just destroying the web a few times a try. Don't worry about Joan; I'm sure there's enough to eat that having to rebuild a couple of times won't stress her too much. Physically moving the spider to somewhere you'd rather have it is also not a bad idea.
posted by biogeo at 1:59 PM on June 17, 2022
posted by biogeo at 1:59 PM on June 17, 2022
If you don’t mind a little more overthinking, daddy longlegs do not spin webs — and are not even spiders (which I didn’t know, either!).
posted by jamjam at 2:01 PM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by jamjam at 2:01 PM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Glue a trail of flies to the wall and show us all the picture!
posted by cakelite at 2:03 PM on June 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by cakelite at 2:03 PM on June 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
PSA: "Daddy longlegs" is a common name for at least three completely unrelated animals! Craneflies (true flies in the insect order Hemiptera) Harvestmen (non-spider arachnids, Opoliones), and Cellar spiders (spiders, Pholcidae).
This cellar spider will appreciate you taking the time to move it with a cup :) If you see little egg-sacs, you can put them in dark corners of your yard too.
posted by SaltySalticid at 2:31 PM on June 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
This cellar spider will appreciate you taking the time to move it with a cup :) If you see little egg-sacs, you can put them in dark corners of your yard too.
posted by SaltySalticid at 2:31 PM on June 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
I agree with others that you should just move it to another basement-y or shed-like location. While it's not like I've done the experiments to prove this, I very very much doubt a pholcid spider has much of anything in the route-finding skills department. When you take it out of the web, you'll see how ridiculously awkward they are at traveling anywhere. I also seriously doubt there's any way at all to lead it somewhere.
posted by polecat at 2:33 PM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by polecat at 2:33 PM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
And your garage sounds perfect, unless you think there are never flies or moths in there.
posted by polecat at 2:36 PM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by polecat at 2:36 PM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: It looks like Joan is a Pholcid, so an actual spider, but that's true that she doesn't make a spiderweb so much as cobwebs. Gossamer, but also a disgusting source of biohazard litter, from Wikipedia: "When finished feeding they will clean the web by unhooking the remains of the prey and letting the carcass drop from the web." Ew.
posted by rhizome at 7:24 PM on June 17, 2022
posted by rhizome at 7:24 PM on June 17, 2022
also, to not have it reoccur, you'll need to change the habitat: lighting, water, food availability, and airflow.
posted by j_curiouser at 7:38 PM on June 17, 2022
posted by j_curiouser at 7:38 PM on June 17, 2022
What a cutie - I'm glad you're looking out for Joan. I used to occasionally see a similar spider in the top corner of the shower in the basement when I was growing up. A little light flicking of water droplets in that direction would always encourage them to make their way out of the shower, and it'd be a while before one reappeared. As other have said, either a manual move or making the space just a bit unpleasant will probably do to get her to find a more hospitable place to live.
posted by past unusual at 8:05 AM on June 18, 2022
posted by past unusual at 8:05 AM on June 18, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by epanalepsis at 12:09 PM on June 17, 2022 [11 favorites]