# What do you do with your house spiders?



## P.P.'s Mom (Jul 18, 2005)

I have a few true spiders in the house that have made their home in corners and closets.  They are just about as interesting to me as my T's.  I was hoping that I am not alone or crazy as my husband would like to think.  What do you all do with that web in the window sill or corner at your place?


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## Camberwell (Jul 18, 2005)

i caught a spider from my living room only the other day, its now in a little jar and has eaten 3 pinheads, hehe


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## Immortal_sin (Jul 18, 2005)

I pretty much leave them alone. They eat the bugs that get in, so they are doing me a favor. When my M-I-L comes over, she takes my broom and sweeps the cobwebs out of the corners, they drive her nuts! I don't let her do it unless there's no spider there


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## Lorgakor (Jul 18, 2005)

It really depends on what kind of spider it is. The big _Tegenaria sp_. that I find in the bath tub or running around on the floor I take outside. I figure they are safer there than in the house with the cats. Smaller spiders I just leave be. I don't mind them and they catch other nasties. Although I put some jumping spiders outside too, the cats tend to go for those as well.


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## MrFeexit (Jul 18, 2005)

Relocate outside. Some of the smaller ones I will place in a houseplant but mostly outside they go.


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## cacoseraph (Jul 18, 2005)

up until my collection passed around the 50 cephalothorax mark i had a decent collection of house/local spiders.  i still have the odd black widow, funnel web weaver, or whatnot, but mainly ran out of space 

They are indeed very interesting, with the added bonus of very different prey capture techniques for some of the web-catchers

now unless i see something particularily interesting (like the Yellow Sac Spider that made a sac-house and egg cluster in my A. seemani's cage) i just let them catch all my escaped crix for me


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## wicked (Jul 18, 2005)

I voted other. It depends on the spider and where it is. There is some type of garden spider with a web in my kitchen window (much to the horror of my aunt who was visiting this weekend). I leave her be since she doesn't wander or get in my way and I really hate flies (The spider not my aunt). 
Black widows get a first class ride straight out the door and away from the house. The roaming spiders like jumping spiders and wolf spiders usually get put outside too.
Spiders in the basement usually get left alone unless its a widow. My kids have even started catching bugs and feeding the spiders that are under our deck.


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## spydrhunter1 (Jul 18, 2005)

I leave them where they are, figuring they do their part in pest control. I currently have 2 very small ones living in the bathroom and 1 in the kitchen.


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## Code Monkey (Jul 18, 2005)

I leave them be, if I am messing with them it's to relocate them from a decidedly dangerous location like my shower to a better place in the home. I'll even feed them on occasion. One of the most dissapointing occurences was a large female tube web species that had a web in my old apartment kitchen, the web was easily 2 feet across, covering most of the window sill and extending to nearby shelf. She was there for almost 2 month and was fat as can be because I was feeding her left over roaches when I fed my Ts. Then the apartment exterminator SOAKED the window and window sill with bug spray killing her and everything else in the vicinity. I was so mad, it's as if they thought I hadn't noticed the nearly opaque web covering more than a few square feet. After that, I never let them spray again under the guise that I didn't want pesticides used near my infant daughter.

I'm thrilled that we're now in a new home since no pesticides were ever used inside and none ever will be barring something serious like termites. The spiders do an excellent job of controlling the invaders.

This is a jumper that showed up about a week ago that I've been having a blast seeing where it shows up next. It's quite the mover showing up in different places on the main floor of my house as it hunts.


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## Silver.x (Jul 18, 2005)

Feed them off to my spiders.


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## nightbreed (Jul 18, 2005)

I normally relocate them but thats more for my wifes sanity than anything else. 

Code Monkey, that jumper is so cute  how big is it?


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## ta2edpop (Jul 18, 2005)

I dress them all up like clowns!---Send in the clowns. I would much rather have them in my house than the bugs they are eating for me. Plus I think it is much more amusing to watch a little jumping spider on the window rather than a roach eating a turkey leg!


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## Cirith Ungol (Jul 18, 2005)

I've either given them their own little makeshift tanks (if the spiders are large) or I've put them in the pillbug container. Because as long as they live there they'll get an unlimited ammount of food and I get to see them once in a while. If they die they'll become food.


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## Code Monkey (Jul 18, 2005)

nightbreed said:
			
		

> I normally relocate them but thats more for my wifes sanity than anything else.


My wife lacks my manic passion for spiders, but she doesn't mind them at all and is warming up more and more as the years go by.



> Code Monkey, that jumper is so cute  how big is it?


She's about 3/4"


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## Tescos (Jul 18, 2005)

nightbreed said:
			
		

> Code Monkey, that jumper is so cute  how big is it?


Why am I having problems with looking at your avitar and then imagineing you saying the word cute?


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## nightbreed (Jul 18, 2005)

Code Monkey said:
			
		

> My wife lacks my manic passion for spiders, but she doesn't mind them at all and is warming up more and more as the years go by.


My wife started as a complete arachnophobe, shes getting better though, especially with the Avics, but house spiders running around loose are still a major no no  




			
				Code Monkey said:
			
		

> She's about 3/4"


Ahhh I have a major soft spot for jumpers, I think its the large eyes, they look almost intelligent, well they are pretty smart as far as spiders go.
We only get little Zebra jumpers (_Salticus scenicus_) around here and they max out at about 5 - 7mm, the UK needs bigger jumpers dagnabbit  



			
				tescos said:
			
		

> Why am I having problems with looking at your avitar and then imagineing you saying the word cute?


   I get that sort of thing alot, I can say cute but my definition doesnt always seem to fit in with most other peoples idea of "cute"  ;P


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## bagheera (Jul 18, 2005)

Leave 'em be. They are earning their keep!


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## cryptly (Jul 18, 2005)

Last year, I reloacted the house spiders.  I got overrun with flies and other pests.

This year, I've decided to just let them be.  I've got unidentified house spiders living in corners, in the house plants (the non-carnivorous ones), under the kitchen sink. . .everywhere.  Considering that I no longer have any problems with pesty bugs I don't mind the house spiders at all.    

My cats keep the house spider population in check.  It's like a mini ecosystem in my house.  Kinda fun to watch.


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## MizM (Jul 18, 2005)

I find "wolf" spiders (Chip, I think they are your tube-web spideys) in my roach colony every week. I give them a good talking to and take them outside, but they just can't resist all that juicy goodness just sitting there waiting for them!


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## jdcarrel (Jul 18, 2005)

if it is just a common house spider I will freakishly run around in circles for a few minutes and then murder them in cold blood with my hand while listening to Shostakovich's Symphony No 13.


if it is a jumping spider or wolf spider I might consider catching and keeping, but more than likely I will just do my spider ritual.


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## Kasha (Jul 18, 2005)

I think I am one of the few who is guilty of smooshing the occassional spider.  If its in the window or doing its own thing I leave it alone.   But I have had a few scare the poop out of me.  I am just becoming a bug a person, and as I make this slow transition I find myself being more inclined to just hurry away and pretend I didn't I see it.  Until my 2 year old daughter brings me her new "buddy pider" at which point we deposit it outside so it can go find its "mommy".
But I truly appreciate the ones that make webs in my windows.  I keeps the mosquitos in check, and Alaska mosquites are awful.


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## aaronrefalo (Jul 18, 2005)

i never kill a spider i like them...most are the jumping spiders im fasinating about them...once i collected a pair and mated them...it was succesful...i had tiny jumping spiders after a bit of a long time in my care...

Aaron


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## juggalo69 (Jul 19, 2005)

Some I catch and keep some. I leave some of them alone, to come back and feed later. LOL


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## pitbulllady (Jul 19, 2005)

If it's a true House spider, I let it be, though I used to fanatically destroy them.  I'll leave Jumpers inside, too.  If it's an outdoor species that ends up inside, like the Green Lynx I found today, I will relocate it outside.  I was awfully tempted to find a container and try to keep that one, though, it was just so neat, and perfectly happy to sit on my hand all day long.  I had to get a BIG and very angry Argiope out of the house last year, and she was almost as bad as trying to rehouse an upset P. murinus!

pitbulllady


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## Jmadson13 (Jul 19, 2005)

I just let them be. If it comes to a big fuss though, I'll set them in the garden


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## Rabid Flea (Jul 19, 2005)

Well I usually keep them for a little while to observe them then release them back into the wild.  I just recently did this with a S. grossa and i miss her already.


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## Schlyne (Jul 19, 2005)

I leave them be these days.  However, the cat is not so accomodating and will eat them if given the chance.  Most of them stay down in the hallway and in the basement where they are left alone by everybody (basement is shared with other apartments). 

If I ever got an infestation of wolf spiders again like I did when I lived in OK, I would have to bomb the room or something.  There were fuzzy spider legs everywhere.


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## Code Monkey (Jul 19, 2005)

Schlyne said:
			
		

> If I ever got an infestation of wolf spiders again like I did when I lived in OK, I would have to bomb the room or something.  There were fuzzy spider legs everywhere.


The thing to keep in mind about spider "infestations" is that they can only occur when there is an underlying *prey* population bloom. Eliminate the conditions that are permitting whatever the spiders are living off of in such unusual numbers and you'll be back to a background level before you know it. Usually something as simple as running a dehumidifier for a few weeks will do it, no pesticides needed.


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## Joy (Jul 19, 2005)

If they're web spiders, I usually leave them be.  I have a number of pet specimens I watch and sometimes feed.

Wandering types like wolf spiders I put outside, because I worry about the cats killing them.  Also recluse spiders.  Our house is a major Loxosceles breeding ground.  I have deported I don't know how many hundreds since we moved in last year.

My husband believes it's like the border patrol, and they just sneak back in at the earliest opportunity   

Joy


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## sublimeskunk37 (Jul 19, 2005)

Funny that this post should arise. A couple of weeks ago, a spider decided to lay her eggs on my shower curtain. I of course showed no qualms just letting her be, and last week all of the spiderlings hatched. It was quite amazing to watch the eggs mature and see how this mother spider spent weeks just guarding her eggs, it was really sweet.


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## WhyTeDraGon (Jul 19, 2005)

I dont have any spiders in my house, except the occasional unidentified species that I havent seen in quite some time. I could tolerate any type of spider, as long as it isnt dangerous, or leggy. Im simply terrified of your common house-spider. Though I wouldnt kill any anymore like I used to, id simply relocate it outside.
I wish I had spiders large enough to eat water bugs though, the creature im most terrified of.


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## Code Monkey (Jul 19, 2005)

WhyTeDraGon said:
			
		

> I wish I had spiders large enough to eat water bugs though, the creature im most terrified of.


You do realise that "water bug" is like "palmetto bug", just another name for cockroaches for people who don't want to say they have cockroaches, usually oriental cockroaches in this case ;P

If you are having "water bug" problems, find the moisture source. Orientals, like all the large cockroach invaders, can only live where there's a constant source of moisture.


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## Schlyne (Jul 20, 2005)

Code Monkey said:
			
		

> The thing to keep in mind about spider "infestations" is that they can only occur when there is an underlying *prey* population bloom. Eliminate the conditions that are permitting whatever the spiders are living off of in such unusual numbers and you'll be back to a background level before you know it. Usually something as simple as running a dehumidifier for a few weeks will do it, no pesticides needed.


Yeah, the room we had a issue with some other bugs that year, and we acutally got rid of them first without resorting to chemcials.  I seriously doubt I'll run into another incident like that.


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## WhyTeDraGon (Jul 20, 2005)

Code Monkey said:
			
		

> You do realise that "water bug" is like "palmetto bug", just another name for cockroaches for people who don't want to say they have cockroaches, usually oriental cockroaches in this case ;P
> 
> If you are having "water bug" problems, find the moisture source. Orientals, like all the large cockroach invaders, can only live where there's a constant source of moisture.


yeah, I realize that  Just saying "water bug" tends to let people know that they are the big variety, and not the little, which I dont mind. I believe the source is in the garage, but not sure where.


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## Code Monkey (Jul 20, 2005)

*Ungrateful buggers ;-)*

Found my house jumper this morning on the top floor in my spider room. It was hanging out on my sling vials giving them the eye  

I turned a roach nymph loose on the shelf and she promptly pounced on that. Blackmail of the vilest kind, feed me or the little ones get it


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## Code Monkey (Jul 20, 2005)

WhyTeDraGon said:
			
		

> yeah, I realize that  Just saying "water bug" tends to let people know that they are the big variety, and not the little, which I dont mind. I believe the source is in the garage, but not sure where.


OK, just checking. My mother hated the water bugs that occasionally showed up under the kitchen sink when I was a kid, but I think she would have positively had a coronary if she'd known they were actually cockroaches.

Since I work in urban entomology, you run into a lot of people in denial, either willfully so or sometimes innocently ignorant. Somehow they get it in their head that cockroaches are only for "other people".


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## Scott C. (Jul 20, 2005)

Any spider I find is released in the spider room unless it's a widow which is released somewhere outside nearby. After this years flooding pest bugs around here are out of control. I want as many spiders around me as possible.


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## WhyTeDraGon (Jul 20, 2005)

Code Monkey said:
			
		

> OK, just checking. My mother hated the water bugs that occasionally showed up under the kitchen sink when I was a kid, but I think she would have positively had a coronary if she'd known they were actually cockroaches.
> 
> Since I work in urban entomology, you run into a lot of people in denial, either willfully so or sometimes innocently ignorant. Somehow they get it in their head that cockroaches are only for "other people".


IMO a roach is a roach, regardless of size, color, or species. I was friends with some poor people in Jackson, AL who had a house infested with the little ones, which never really bothered me. Even though when I say "infested" I mean they were crawling all over the walls, counters, everything. I dont know why the big ones scare me like they do, though, I shook my fear of spiders, which was my number 1 fear for a long time, but can't seem to shake this. I think it's the fact that they are filthy creatures. But yet, people say that about rats, and I dont mind rats. Im weird I guess.


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## VoodooFuneral (Jul 20, 2005)

When I was severely arachnophobic, I used to kill the crap out of them.  :evil: Obviously I am over that now. The little corner spiders I usually leave alone or relocate. The nastier (bite ya when your sleeping) kind I catch and release outside.
Yesterday I found a really good-sized jumper outside so I captured him and brought him INSIDE, for my husband to see. Go figure, huh?
~Brenna


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## bonesmama (Jul 21, 2005)

Sometimes I meet one I particularly like, and I feed her pinheads. I had a Garden Spider that came in with my snake plant last year who I was extremely fond of....
My friends come over and I feel like Lily Munster, with all the webs all over the house!( I must admit, I have the most tolerant friends! )And whenever my coworkers find a spider they call me to liberate it instead of sending it to meet it's maker!


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## Mistwalker (Jul 22, 2005)

I usually leave them be, unless it's a recluse. I used to squash recluses, but I don't anymore. Right now I'm sending a few off to people who are lacking recluses in their lives. I don't have any widows that come in my house, besides the one I went out and caught, but I'd probably pack them up and ship them off to people who did want them if I did have some here.


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## JPD (Jul 22, 2005)

> I dress them all up like clowns!


That was almost a coffee coming out of the nose situation Mike!

Typically, we will find an occasional Tegenaria hiding away in her little castle.  I tend to leave them alone.  For us Northwesterners, having a few T.gigantea or Steatoda on hand tends to keep the T.agrestis out.


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## arachnoguy (Jul 22, 2005)

most of the spiders i find around here i relocate elswhere. most of the time i set them right near the area where the cockroache and cricket escapees are


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## Goanna (Jul 22, 2005)

I usually relocate them outside, although sometimes I keep them if they are a cool species. I had a black house spider that was pretty cool, found her in the shed and brought her inside. I kept her in a small pal pen for about 3 months, but I wound up letting her go after that as I needed the pal pen for a juvie T, lol. 

Yesterday I came in from working in the yard and had a 1" wolf spider chilling on my shirt. I was in the kitchen about to pour a drink and when I looked down it ran up toward my neck, then when I tried to catch it, it lept for the floor, lol. The thing was FAST. I finally cornerd it and got it in a cup and let it go outside again, lol. 

I really want to get a nice big orb weaver and let it go in the house so it can make a huge web in a corner somewhere, lol. They pretty much never leave the web (females) once its constructed, right?


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## fantasticp (Jul 22, 2005)

Definately relocate. I have never been keen on smooshing things. Athough I found a web in one of my roach tanks the other day (for the second time) that made me kinda mad and I almost got him. The nerve of that guy! Am I running a soup kitchen now?


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## FrankSidebottom (Aug 11, 2005)

I think Gramastola rosea


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## blacktara (Aug 11, 2005)

*Those of you who opt to put them outside*

Should find this interesting

The site reference is http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/myths/comein.html

The guy who runs this site is an arachnologist named Rod Crawford

He says

"Myth: "I'm very kind to spiders; when I find one in the house, I put it back outside instead of killing it."

Fact: You can't put something "back" outside which was never outside in the first place. Although some house spider species can survive outdoors, most don't do well there, and some (which are native to other climates) will perish rather quickly when removed from the protective indoor habitat. You're not doing them a favor. 

In any case, house spiders are mostly harmless and beneficial. Human property rights mean nothing to other species. There was spider habitat for millions of years where your home is now. My advice is, "just wave as they go by."

The problem starts when we think that the spiders we find indoors came from outside. To wit, again citing Mr Crawford's site

Myth: Spiders come into houses in the fall to get out of the cold.

Fact: This seemingly simple idea conceals many false assumptions. In reality, house spiders are usually not the same species as the yard or garden spiders outside the house. 

House spiders belong to a small number of species specially adapted for indoor conditions (constant climate, poor food supply, very poor water supply). Some house spider species have been living indoors at least since the days of the Roman Empire, and are seldom to be found outside, even in their native countries (usually Europe). Many of these species now live in houses worldwide, and most have been carried by commerce to more than one continent. 

House spiders colonize new houses by egg sacs carried on furniture, building materials and so forth. They usually spend their entire life cycle in, on or under their native building. If a large number appear at a specific season, it is usually late summer (August and September) -- not a notably cold time of year! -- rather than fall, and their appearance coincides with the mating season of the given species. What you are seeing is sexually mature males wandering in search of mates. 

The females and young remain hidden for the most part, in crawlspaces, storage areas and other neglected rooms; wall and floor voids; behind furniture and appliances, etc. Generally fewer than 5% of the spiders you see indoors have ever been outdoors."


Might make you rethink things - seems that putting them outdoors amounts to exterminating them not so humanely


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## Python (Aug 11, 2005)

I definitely leave them be. I have even brought them in. I can't kill something that is helping keep the pest population down in my home. I sometimes let them go in the middle of the living room just to see where they end up. I let quite a few go at my desk although there are no webs there. I also have several mactans in my care at the momentand have had sime if the babies escape. It's no big deal as far as I'm concerned since they probably won't hang around long anyway. I figure as soon as they find a hole to the outside world somewhere, they will be gone. Otherwise, I hope to find them later and recapture them.


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## schnautzr (Jun 3, 2010)

Hmmm...I collect them in jars. I've got several recluses, so I'm planning on contributing to science with some research on them.


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## Chaika (Jun 3, 2010)

I just leave then be  I've never really minded them anyway so I don't see any reason to do anything when I find them.


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## Widowman10 (Jun 3, 2010)

(holy thread necromancy batman!)

wow! tons of people have voted on this. guess i will too. the wife will usually have me take them down as most people don't like seeing webs in the corner all over the house. guests don't appreciate that  they do help with pests though.


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## flyguycolorado (Jun 3, 2010)

Just leave them, I have even feed a wolf spider some extra pin heads that I had.


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## j-boy (Jun 3, 2010)

I collect them in enclosures in my room incuding Lace weavers, hackle mesh spiders, and some mystery spider now. so yeah...:?


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## myrmecophile (Jun 3, 2010)

Pholcids and widows get croaked all others  get a free pass. Fortunately where I live I mostly get wanderers from out doors so they go back outside.


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## ZergFront (Jun 3, 2010)

It really depends on what spider I find. All the really common ones; Daddy Long Legs, sac spiders, grey house spiders, etc. are brought outside. 

 My brother found a large Zoropsis female over a month ago (?) and gave it to me and I kept it. I thought she was a wolf spider but after she made her egg sac and didn't carry it, I researched and found out she was a Zoropsis. Also found out that they are a Mediterranean spp. of spider that started showing up in California in the 1990's so there will be no release of her or the two sacs she's made.


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## Rex Libris (Jun 4, 2010)

I remove black widows to a sheltered spot in the woods. The only time I found a recluse I wondered if it was really a recluse so I caught it in a jar and brought it to the university, where one of the biologists informed me that it was indeed a mature male recluse and kept it. 

All others I ignore, more or less. I blow on them to get them to run away if they are in my way.

It is bad luck to kill a spider and even worse if you do so in the house.


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## TomM (Jun 4, 2010)

I definitely let them stay.  I was cleaning around my T room the other day and found a small Steatoda triangulosa in the corner.  In its web was an escaped dubia nymph.  By all means, these spiders are welcome.

Side note:  There are no spiders harmful to humans in my area.


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## BQC123 (Jun 4, 2010)

In the living areas I usually reloacate unless it is in an out of the way place. 
Attics, basements, and out of the way corners, they get to stay.


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## AliTheBrit (Jun 4, 2010)

Am I the only one who see's a MASSIVE difference between a Tarantula and a Spider?


I kill the little ****, and no, not humanely either


Sometimes, I may even feed it to my T


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## Rex Libris (Jun 4, 2010)

It seems like it would take a special effort to kill a spider inhumanely.


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## SNAFU (Jun 4, 2010)

I'm picking up wolf spiders and putting them out into the garden 3 or 4 times a week from various places in my house.


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## snappleWhiteTea (Jun 5, 2010)

really depends on species. and where in the house its located.


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## AliTheBrit (Jun 5, 2010)

Rex Libris said:


> It seems like it would take a special effort to kill a spider inhumanely.


Yes, it is, but I make it so.


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