[Growster...]

So why are conkers able to deter spiders?

We always have them dotted around the house as a sort of display, but as the big 'sids' start to invade around now, we never know if they like or dislike these lovely shiny conkers!

Does anyone know where all this came from?

[Yorkie]

I'm not sure, but the spiders just nibbled the conkers I put in my house!

[mrs bouquet]

I'm not sure, but the spiders just nibbled the conkers I put in my house!

How do you know it was a spider, did you see it ?    Mrs Bouquet

[Yorkie]

Very good point Mrs B 

I'm pretty sure it wasn't a four legged rodent with teeth 

Or me 

[Growster...]

Mrs Growster doesn't really like spiders, and I suppose if one walks over for a chat, I tend to shiver a bit, but as they're harmless, and get rid of the blasted flies, I don't mind lifting the little thing and popping him/her outside again, which is a bit cruel if it's cold or wet, so I make sure that they go in a sheltered place...

Many years ago, my mum and dad used to sit by the fire and watch TV or read. There was a large spider, (it had a name, but I can't remember it), which used to run out every evening around 8.30pm. stalk around for a bit, avoid the dog, then go back home, harming nobody.

A dear aunt was staying with them at one time, and spotting the said 'sid', ran over and stamped on him!

Needless to say, WW3 was going to be nowhere near as disastrous as the invective which was brought to the table at that particular moment...

:0~

[mrs bouquet]

Yesterday I picked up a conker whilst out for my walk, and washed it a put it on the kitchen worktop.
I haven't seen a spider since 
But a little one which has been living quietly in the far kitchen corner, has perished this morning.   Not by me I hasten to add.   Poor little thing, I hope it wasn't conker fumes.    Mrs Bouquet

[Goosegirl]

DON'T! I've only just got used to the small ones, so if I see anything even slightly bigger I'm off like a ferret up a drainpipe! 

[Subversive_plot]

DON'T! I've only just got used to the small ones, so if I see anything even slightly bigger I'm off like a ferret up a drainpipe! 

Do you mean like the lovely one below?

Joro spider (Trichonephila clavata).  They just started appearing in our area a few years ago, a recent import from Asia.  The span of those legs is about 4 inches, tip to tip.  This is a female, the male weighs less than one of her legs. I'm uncertain if they are venomous enough to be a risk to humans.

The web they weave is a bright shiny golden yellow, and the webs are huge (this one is in the back garden, but we also have a "pet" one that has a web stretching across the front door, from the first floor to the second floor (about 6 feet wide, 10 feet tall).  The web material is quite tough.  They are an excellent deterrent to anyone ringing the front bell that shouldn't be.

[Subversive_plot]

I don't mind lifting the little thing and popping him/her outside again, which is a bit cruel if it's cold or wet, so I make sure that they go in a sheltered place...


:0~

We do the same thing at our house, with spiders and many insects.

[Growster...]

Something I learned from a budding boffin when I was about ten, was that spider's web is stronger than the equivalent diameter steel wire!

Not a lot of people know that...

I always walk into the web just inside our greenhouse, I reckon he's trying to prove something!

[mumofstig]

Something I learned from a budding boffin when I was about ten, was that spider's web is stronger than the equivalent diameter steel wire

I'm just reading that years ago they used to use webs to hold the edges of wounds together so they'd heal easily.
Yes, those nasty greenhouse spiders do indeed like trapping humans in their webs to make a point  I've also got one spinning across the front door and every morning I forget he's there, I bet the neighbours wonder what's going on when i start flapping my arms around my head and cursing to myself 

[mrs bouquet]

I have noticed one of my security lights keeps going on/off at night, I think it is either a spider or a crane fly.
Mrs B

[Growster...]

Something I learned from a budding boffin when I was about ten, was that spider's web is stronger than the equivalent diameter steel wire

I'm just reading that years ago they used to use webs to hold the edges of wounds together so they'd heal easily.
Yes, those nasty greenhouse spiders do indeed like trapping humans in their webs to make a point  I've also got one spinning across the front door and every morning I forget he's there, I bet the neighbours wonder what's going on when i start flapping my arms around my head and cursing to myself 

That's amazing, Mum! A web is pretty sticky isn't it, so must work like those 'butterfly' plasters!

Front door sids seem to congregate here too...

[Growster...]

I have noticed one of my security lights keeps going on/off at night, I think it is either a spider or a crane fly.
Mrs B

Almost certainly, Mrs B!

They also set off the local church security alarm at regular intervals!