What do you do with your house spiders?

[Mistwalker]

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.

 

[JPD]

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.

 

[arachnoguy]

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

 

[Goanna]

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?

 

[fantasticp]

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?

 

[FrankSidebottom]

I think Gramastola rosea

 

[blacktara]

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

 

[Python]

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.

 

[schnautzr]

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

 

[Chaika]

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.

 

[Widowman10]

(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.

 

[flyguycolorado]

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

 

[j-boy]

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

 

[myrmecophile]

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.

 

[ZergFront]

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.

 

[Rex Libris]

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.

 

[TomM]

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.

 

[BQC123]

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.

 

[AliTheBrit]

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

 

[Rex Libris]

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