Spiders this year

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Lardman

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Spiders this year
« on: September 20, 2021, 20:10 »
Is it me or are they absolutely humungus this year.

I've walloped 3 so far that must have had a leg span about the same as my hand.  :ohmy: The one in the kitchen just was almost big enough to wear the shoe I smacked it with.

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mumofstig

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2021, 20:36 »
Yes, and there are lots of them  :ohmy: and I keep forgetting to swipe my hand across before going in the greenhouse and end up with webs in my hair (or worse   :()

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Growster...

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2021, 06:21 »
Yes, and there are lots of them  :ohmy: and I keep forgetting to swipe my hand across before going in the greenhouse and end up with webs in my hair (or worse   :()

Yes, 'Harry' in the GH kept building a huge web across the door from the toms to the peps...

The answer was to take the toms out, and he's got the hump now and moved on!

But when I cleared the trays used for watering the toms, our old friend 'Toad-Lee' was sitting there in the corner, and looking decidedly bigger than he was in the spring! What do toads eat, I wonder?

I thought he was in the US at the moment...

https://youtu.be/bvFuUaCe8eY


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Goosegirl

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2021, 13:47 »
I hate them and found a big one when I was running my bath the other night. Do they come up the plug hole?
I work very hard so don't expect me to think as well.

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JayG

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2021, 20:32 »
Do they come up the plug hole?

In theory, your bath outlet should have some sort of water trap which would prevent that, but that's not always the case.
I'm surrounded by arachnophobics here - 5 year old girl next door is happy
to pick up slugs, snails and ladybirds, but screams if she sees a spider, as does her mum and dad (perhaps not quite as loudly!)  ::)  :(
Sow your seeds, plant your plants. What's the difference? A couple of weeks or more when answering possible queries!

One of the best things about being an orang-utan is the fact that you don't lose your good looks as you get older

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Growster...

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2021, 07:21 »
I hate them and found a big one when I was running my bath the other night. Do they come up the plug hole?

They're on the look-out for water, and know that water is always around in a bath or a sink!

Once they get in such places, they can't get out, because it's too shiny! When that happens here, I get said spider into a glass, and pop her/him out of the window next to a climbing jasmine, to get down again...

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jaydig

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2021, 14:42 »
I hate them and found a big one when I was running my bath the other night. Do they come up the plug hole?
I had one in the shower with me the other morning!!  Fortunately it was one of the ones with the tiny body, but longish legs and I'm not as scared of those as I am of the big, fat ones with eyes on stalks, big, fat hairy legs and wearing boots, otherwise I might have been hospitalised with hysteria.

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wighty

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2021, 19:28 »
We've looked at our suppliers of  'home products'  and none have a feather duster or similar.  I really want one to waft around and catch the cobwebs that are appearing. I'm another one of catching them in a container , topping it off with a coaster and putting (throwing) it outside.   

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Growster...

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #8 on: September 23, 2021, 06:40 »
I found Harry again yesterday!

He's working on the cucumbers now, and seems to be quite happy, especially as the Cayenne Peppers are close by, and he won't get too cold!

Toadlee, however, has vanished behind the water butt and probably won't come out again until Spring...

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lettice

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2021, 07:47 »
They always seem to come out in force this time of year.
Does seem to be more than usual though this September.

Rarely get them in the house.
The garden is full of them and have to watch walking around not to walk through a giant web.
Feel bad to have to break the webs.
A  spider every few days creates one daily on a path to my compost bins, between the greenhouse and a small picket fence. I have to break it to pass through and do watch the spider rush down to one side.
He must hate me by now haha!

They do catch quite a lot in their webs, noticed one the other day had three creatures wrapped up and hanging in the middle of the web.

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Subversive_plot

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2021, 10:22 »
Do you have venomous spiders over there (anything worse than a bee sting)? We only have 2 that I know of that can give a serious bite (brown recluse, and black widow). There is a brown widow too, but I've heard their bite is less serious.
My mother was bitten by a brown recluse when I was a child, it caused serious tissue necrosis and left her with a terrible scar.

Over the last few years, an invasive spider from Asia has become very common outdoors (Joro spider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavata check out the gallery). Their webs are huge, tough, and the web silk has a gold color. I measured one web last year that was 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide, across our front door! It kept door-to-door salesmen away for months! Fortunately, the spiders are relatively harmless (don't tell the salesmen).
"Somewhere between right and wrong, there is a garden. I will meet you there."~ Rumi

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New shoot

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2021, 10:32 »
Do you have venomous spiders over there (anything worse than a bee sting)?

I think he worst one we have is the false widow, but most people only get a bee sting like reaction.  There have been some reports about more serious symptoms and there was a mild panic whipped up by the media a few years back.  I was working in a garden centre at the time and we had customers shrieking and shouting about every spider they saw.  Meanwhile the weekend lads would look for false widows as they have skull like markings on their backs and they thought that was pretty cool  :lol:

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JayG

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2021, 10:59 »
Once they get in such places, they can't get out, because it's too shiny! When that happens here, I get said spider into a glass, and pop her/him out of the window next to a climbing jasmine, to get down again...

I used to pick up bath spiders with my bare hands and evict them until one ungrateful b*****d bit me!  :ohmy:

I use a cloth to pick them up now...  ;)

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Growster...

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #13 on: September 23, 2021, 14:39 »
I try to chase them into a glass, then, when they're rattling around, I gently shake said glass so they can't climb out...

It usually works, they're gently tipped out onto the cill and they can find their own way out via whichever window they're guarding!

Harry gave me a funny look this morning, but I didn't see Harriet so maybe he's still on the pull...

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Growster...

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Re: Spiders this year
« Reply #14 on: February 10, 2022, 14:58 »
Sadly, I have to record the demise of Toad-Lee!

He'd probably climbed up a pile of netting and then fell into a flower pot, and couldn't get out...

Poor chap, he was such a great companion in the GH, and I'll miss him so much!

:0(~



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