I facilitated a horrendous murder today...

[Yiliterate]

SkySailing said:

Whenever I get a web in my wing mirror I get a small blade of grass and throw it onto the web, the spider comes running out thinking it's a fly, only to be left bitterly disappointed when they see me standing there ready to swat the poor bd away

Yeah but at least you're providing it with one of its five-a-day...

[AnimalMkIV]

We've got a good half a dozen garden spiders of varying sizes (biggest one is almost an inch leg-span) and frequently feed them the grubs and catterpillars that are infesting the other plants. Fascinating to watch and bloody quick, too.

[Rick_1138]

We have a fair few in the doorway to our flat, its carpeted and warm but not inside the actual house. Came down last night to lock up and found on the roof a candy stripe spider, 2 half inch house spiders mooching about on the wall and one of the big house spiders that freak me out on the floor, came with a glass to dispatch him but he legged it behind the skirting board.

I don't mind spiders but the ones you get around september-october that are about 2" long (leg span not body hehe) freak me out for some reason, think its the speed and size.

Costa del dyson may be in order, though if its first thing in morning and i come out to find one on the wall it gets the rolled up paper o doom.

We have adopted one of the small ones as it does laps of the roof edges and kills errant blue bottles, Mrs has called him 'short leg'

[smithyithy]

I threw about a dozen flying ants into webs in our garden last night, I hate the things

My puppy was also going mental trying to catch them all..

[steelbreeze]

I use Spider Spray (readily available on Amazon) and squirt my wingmirrors - keeps them away. It doesn't kill them, or anything else, but just smells bad to spiders. I use it in the home as well, for the corners and it seems to work, as do fresh conkers when they're in season.

[Jasandjules]

As above, I leave spiders alone, they catch flies.

We did have one in the bath the other week and I was worried he was going to starve. Then a friend came along for him (how many spiders climb up a plug hole?). At least, I thought they were friends, until the next morning when the smaller spider was nothing but 4 legs splayed around the bottom of the bath......

[Zod]

AnimalMkIV said:

We've got a good half a dozen garden spiders of varying sizes (biggest one is almost an inch leg-span) and frequently feed them the grubs and catterpillars that are infesting the other plants. Fascinating to watch and bloody quick, too.

If I stun a wasp that's flying around the table when we're eating in the garden, I sometimes pick it up and deposit it on a spider's web. The spiders make very short work of them.

[ApOrbital]

What do you stun it with a gun?

[Itsallicanafford]

so that's where the flying ant who lives in my wing mirror went...

...you bd, i loved that little guy

[bitchstewie]

Bit of a tangent but ever have a fly or insect of some sort hitch a ride on your windscreen?

Ever feel a twinge of guilt when they've been clinging on for grim life for 15 miles then you totally forget and blip the windscreen washers

[xRIEx]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

After a short struggle, my spider had completely overcome the poor insect, killed it totally to death,

Or possibly not - some spiders (I don't know which or how many species) the venom only paralyses the prey, so they're still alive when the spider vomits its digestive juices into the prey to dissolve its insides while it's still alive, then drink the soup.

Which is just as bad as what happens to spiders when they get impregnated by a spider wasp.

[davhill]

Not a murder but the fright of a lifetime.

Poor old Mum, being far too soft and suffering early dementia, took to putting food down for the mice in the house. Once, I saw a meece heading under the TV stand. After a brief scrabble, said meece came hurtling out of the new hidey hole, hotly pursued by a feckin' big house spider.

Territorial dispute.

[Zod]

ApOrbital said:

What do you stun it with a gun?

A flick of a hand, napkin or tea towel.

[Einion Yrth]

Jasandjules said:

how many spiders climb up a plug hole?

None, they fall in from the top and then can't get purchase on the bath walls. Drape a length of loo roll over the edge of the bath and they'll find their own way out.

[xRIEx]

Gaz. said:

... a false widow ... a poisonous spider that large

How big was it? It may not have been a false widow, they're not that big, about 1.5cm in body length at the largest.

[giblet]

I stripped down my wings mirrors on a car I owned a few years back to get rid of the bd wing mirror spider. Sadly another bd took its place a few days later.

[ApOrbital]

I had a huge spider crawl up my leg last night when i was in bed,thought is was going to give me a b/j.

[epom]

I'm actually getting the shivers even reading the word spider.....

[Falsey]

They dont really bother me all that much, but I have at least one in each wing mirror and its doing my tits in how they make a new web every day.

I might have to look into this spider spray stuff, although the reviews on amazon arent exactly glowing.

[MikeT66]

Rick_1138 said:

I don't mind spiders but the ones you get around september-october that are about 2" long (leg span not body hehe) freak me out for some reason, think its the speed and size.

I believe that it is the males that are seen at this time, as it is mating season, and they go on the hunt for a suitable female. The females remain hidden generally - which is a good job as they are somewhat larger than the males.

Nevertheless, spiders are OK - just not as a surprise or hidden in the bed covers.