What do you do with your house spiders?

[Kasha]

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.

 

[aaronrefalo]

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

 

[juggalo69]

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

 

[pitbulllady]

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

 

[Jmadson13]

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

 

[Rabid Flea]

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.

 

[Schlyne]

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.

 

[Code Monkey]

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.

 

[Joy]

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

 

[sublimeskunk37]

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.

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

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.

 

[Code Monkey]

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.

 

[Schlyne]

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.

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

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.

 

[Code Monkey]

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

 

[Code Monkey]

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".

 

[Scott C.]

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.

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

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.

 

[VoodooFuneral]

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

 

[bonesmama]

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!