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Sunday 25 September 2022

Welcome to spider season


Welcome to spider season: Why you should never catch and kill

Spider season is here, with daddy long legs and house species popping up in homes throughout September and October.

Invertebrate charity Buglife revealed that as many as 200 billion spiders could be making themselves comfortable across the UK at the moment, which sounds far less than ideal.

This of course means that arachnophobia season is also in full swing, because no matter how remarkable the eight-legged scuttlers may be, for those who live in fear, every new piece of information just adds to the alarm.

For instance, there are 38,000 species of spider in the world, and many more to be discovered. They're also found on every continent 'except Antarctica', and in one acre of land, there are around one million of them. The list could go on.

Why you shouldn't catch and kill spiders
The arachnophobes out there (over 6% of the global population have 'an intense fear of spiders') will know all too well the screaming dread of seeing that dark shape whisk by across the floor, noiseless and seemingly directionless.

Fortunately, for much of the year, spiders lurk unseen, or outdoors, busy building their webs between plants, being part of the eco-system, and causing no trouble.

But come autumn – mating season – the weather turns chilly, and the spider population wants to be warm and cosy, find somewhere to settle down and raise their many eight-eyed kids.

Understandably there is the urge to charge at them with a heavy hardback or the desire to leap onto a chair and stay there until we finally feel we are 'safe' again.

There are, however, good reasons not to do this. For a start, spiders are the Henry Hoovers of the 'minibeast' world, catching and eating all the annoying flies, bluebottles, midges and mosquitoes in your home. Say what you like about spiders but there are probably far more noisy and irritating disturbances you could have to deal with at night.

They also keep crops safe, by gobbling up pests that threaten the harvest, and protect plants by eating more insects than birds and bats combined. They have a vital place in the ecosystem – and they themselves provide nutritious food for birds, which won't work if they're smeared all over your heaviest encyclopaedia.

In fact, it has been estimated that spiders eat more insects than 'the weight of the human population' every year. As long as they don't come for us next.

How to safely get rid of spiders
However, while they may be essential to maintaining bio-diversity and balancing the entire eco-system on their eight little legs, many of us don't want them shacking up in our houses. So how do we gently persuade them out?

You could try conkers, which are said to contain saponin, a substance spiders hate to smell. Though while you might put them in every corner if your home, just in case, there is no evidence to prove this works.

And if you don't have a partner/child/parent/flatmate who's willing to gently carry them outside while you breathe into a paper bag, there's only one solution: The spider catcher, available online and many shops, supermarkets. Luckily, it's brilliant. Suck up Mr Spider, seal the tube, carry outside and release. Then walk away and don't look back.
Above words from article here

We all have our own ways of dealing with any unwelcome spider visitors,
this is mine - I then release it outside


how do you deal with spiders?
please share in the comments 

~ xx oo xx ~

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All the best Jan

48 comments:

Tom said...

...I enjoy their webs more that I enjoy them.

Jo said...

I dread this time of year when spiders are making their presence felt.

Kay said...

Unfortunately, I do suffer from arachnophobia. Sigh... I know there are benefits to them... but I can't help it.

John M said...

I like to shoo them out the door with anything handy. It works sometimes. Other times I just move their webs outside.
If my wife starts screaming as if the spider was a killer snake, I have to kill it. Most of the time they escape.
Enjoy the autumn season.

DVArtist said...

Great post. For me I love spiders. Mr. M. and I never kill one, no matter what type they are. Have a nice day.

Bill said...

I had a couple of big ones visit last week so I just get a container, catch them relocate them outside.

Christine said...

I do kill them, thanks for letting me know it is a mistake had no idea they did so much good.

Snowbird said...

What a fascinating post! I don't kill them, when I have too many I carry them out. Essential oils mixed with water and sprayed are a good deterrent.xxx

Jeanie said...

I know you shouldn't catch and kill... but sometimes I really want to. You'reight -- they do a lot of good.

Rose said...

I mainly live and let live...specially if they are big.

J.P. Alexander said...

Gracias por los consejos. Yo siempre trato de respetar a las araƱas. Te mando un beso.

Practical Parsimony said...

I do not like spiders but am not terrified. One time, I found a tiny spider web behind the microwave. It had a fruit fly. So, I let it stay and help me with my fruit fly extermination. I think I left it there for three months or more. It made a huge condo and invited other hungry spiders to join in the hunt.

Salty Pumpkin Studio said...

I see fewer spiders than years gone by. There's been a jumping spider(s) in a particular planter for years. It will peak out, take a look, and go back like it is checking on the distrubance when I move the patio chair.

Angie's Recipes said...

Their webs are fascinating, but spiders...nah..

Margaret D said...

Interesting read Jan.

aussie aNNie said...

eeek we have red back spiders here, funnelweb in our garden and snakes breed in the ceilings of some homes.... joys of life and the catchers to save them. The daddy longlegs we deffo keep as they eat our insects and mozzies her in Australia ,,

Valerie-Jael said...

I have already removed several which wanted to overwinter at my place!Have a great, new week, Valerie

Marilyn @ MountainTopSpice said...

My cats! They love to chase and kill bugs, even flies and spiders. I leave spiders alone in the garden. We do have a couple of very nasty spiders here - the hobo and a few others, whose bite is extremely painful. So I try to be very careful around them. Very interesting post, thank you so much... I am still processing the information that 1 million of them may live on an acre of land, wow!

Fun60 said...

My favoured method of removal is the glass and a piece of card.

Anonymous said...

I've caught spiders many of times and released them back outdoors instead of killing them. They want to live just as much as I do!

Sondra said...

I love spiders when they are out side and try to move when inside..i do know the benefit of tht practice...but since I live in the buggy south I have to put bug bombs under my house or I will be over run with crickets, and other such so sometimes I find them legs up...,o(

Shari Burke said...

I love the idea of the spider catcher! I let Bill handle spider removal.

Francisco Manuel Carrajola Oliveira said...

Um alerta muito importante.
Um abraƧo e boa semana.

Andarilhar
Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
Livros-Autografados

JosƩ Antonio SƔnchez Rumƭ said...

Thank you very much for the information, the truth is that they do not bother either, at least to me, I prefer to see them with their fabric teliendo or cleaning the terrace of insects.
Happy week.
Best regards.

My name is Erika. said...

I like spiders in my house. I had one behind my sink this summer that caught so many ants trying to get in. Her web was full of them! And when I cleaned out her web, she did it a second time around. She was my best friend for awhile-smile. I did enjoy this read. Happy new week.

CJ Kennedy said...

I'm breathing heavily into my paper bag.

NanaDiana said...

When we lived on the bay we had water spiders. They had to be contained because the could cover the back of a house and then invade the interior. I am talking hundreds/thousands of them. I know they do good but sometimes there can be too much of a good thing.

Teresa said...

Me gustan las araƱas e intento no matarlas, todas las que puedo las devuelvo al jardƭn. Besos.

Lori Miller said...

Caulk, weather stripping and Great Stuff foam will help keep them out of your house. https://www.greatstuff.dupont.com/

Luiz Gomes said...

Boa tarde meu querido amigo. Primeira vez que vejo uma matĆ©ria sobre aranhas e tĆ£o bem explicada. Uma excelente segunda-feira.

Jules said...

I have learned to love them. In fact, I currently have one living next to my central heating boiler and another one beside the fireplace. I expect there are many more I am unaware of. Xx

Giorgio said...

I am not afraid of spiders, and I don't kill them. Actually, there're same spiders with their small net in the room below ground level in my house.
Congrats on such unusual post and its topic!

Have a nice weeek :-)

Mary Kirkland said...

I like spiders. I always catch them and put them outside.

Divers and Sundry said...

I generally leave spiders where I find them, even inside, but I haven't come across any of the poisonous ones yet.

Ananka said...

I love spiders! They are such a weird and interesting creature! I don't mind them in my house, especially the kitchen. But if I think they are in danger from my cats then I will lift them up and put them in another room away from the cats. I have no fear of holding them or of them in general. They are cool!

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

I sometimes see spiders in my basement. They seem to like the cooler temperatures there. I don't remove them as they seem to come and go on their own, but if I do have to remove one I do try the paper and cup trick to bring them outside.

happyone said...

If they are outside I don't mind them at all. I admit to killing the ones I find in the house.

William Kendall said...

Same way as you. A glass and a trip to the nearest door.

Sami said...

I am scared of some Australian spiders and certainly don't want them inside my house, lol. But harmless ones I don't mind, and I'll take them outside to the garden.
Thanks Jan

Peppylady (Dora) said...

Hope all is well, for some reason blogger isn't letting me post.
Coffee is on and stay safe

sandy said...

Interesting article. I recently started looking at macro photos of spider faces. It helped me get over an indifference to them. Now as long as i know they don't have a poisonous bite, I try to return them to outside.

Iris Flavia said...

Breathe into a bag, LOL.
I am not allowed to hurt a spider, Ingo says, as you state, too, they are useful.
And luckily we don´t have many. Plus... I read the book Charlotte´s Web, which makes spiders quite nice.

Ahmed said...

being from a village makes me familiar with spiders dear Jan ,i think they get killed during seasonal cleaning sometimes though i don't like to kill them mostly if come across i sweep them away toward garden or i see them hanging on the way i try to take side and pass . unlike girls i never screamed when i was young even
blessings

Kim said...

I do not like spiders...at all. However, that said, I don't like killing anything, but I also don't want them crawling on my in bed. So if possible, I do use the cup method. Unless it's one of these furry jumping spiders. Then I call my husband. He's loves to pick them up!

Lee said...

Well...I killed a giant spider that had the audacity to run over my hand this morning! I don't want them wandering over me while I sleep. There are always a lot of big ones here, thinking they own the place as they spin their webs (and stories, no doubt) all over the place!!

Conniecrafter said...

I was just talking to my brother on the phone tonight and he mentioned that they were seeing so many spiders right now, and I told him I hadn't noticed any in our home yet, maybe we aren't keeping ours as warm :)

Martha said...

I have no issue with spiders. And I like having them around the house to keep nasty bugs at bay. However, I have to catch and release them (unless it's winter) so my cats don't get them.

Phil Slade said...

Great and timely advice. I hope this post has convinced a few "stamp on them" readers. Spiders are fascinating creatures. Just let them be you readers.