General Chat

Just so you don't think that I'm a spider murderer all the time - "normal" sized ones get rescued from inside the house and carefully put outside.

Or, if they are little ones I just leave them.
BUT, when I can see the hair on their legs that's a different matter.

Deb

About 43 yrs ago we had a big (about 1 inch diam body) black hairy one in our bathroom. I caught it in a jar and put a lid with holes in on it. Young son took it to school. When I met the school bus in the afternoon in my little old Austin (I had been driving less than a year) he still had the jar with the spider in but no lid. I must confess I was a bit nervous driving home over the narrow winding hill road with him sitting in the back. I was hoping the spider wouldnt get dropped down the back of my neck. We would have gone over the edge if it was. I could look at it and catch it, but a sudden spider down my neck would have made me flip.
New Zealands 'Bug man' Ruud Kleinpaste once gave me one of his pet Avondale spiders to hold. Perhaps he was testing me to see if I flipped, but it didnt bother me at all, even though they are a total lenth of about 2 inches. But I wouldnt let one of our Weta crawl into my mouth the way he does. Ugghh.

Huia.

I wouldn't let one of those crawl in my mouth either Huia, mainly cause when a weta bites it tends to forget to let go, just ask my Dad who had to go to the doctor's surgery when he was in his twenties when one decided to attach itself to his toe when he stuck his foot in a gumboot.

Michelle

Michelle, many many moons ago my dad was walking to work (not sure what was wrong with the car that went with his job). As he walked he got the impression that there was something in one of his shoes. He decided it was a weta. He thought it would not be dignified for somebody in his position to sit on the kerb and take off his shoe so he walked as fast as he could, almost running. I think it was a weta but luckily it did not grab hold of him. My son did have one attach itself to his hand when he reached into a narrow space once. They really are ugly b...s but dont tell Ruud I said so.

Now the centipedes, there are some insects that Ruud treats with respect since he was bitten by one once and his arm was numb for hours afterwards. We have plenty of them here on our property, they can grow up to 8 inches or more in length although most of the ones we have seen are only 4 to 6 inches. But then they might be bigger now as I havent looked for them for a year or so now.

Huia.

About 3 yrs ago my OH had gone to bed and I was heading that way. I was in the bathroom, had cleaned my teeth and turned to dry my hands on the towel but there was a centipede on it. I did call for my OH but he didnt hear me so I went to the kitchen to get a jar and a piece of stiff cardboard. By the time I got to the bathroom the centipede was on the floor up against the wall. Have you ever tried to put a 3 inch jar over a 6 inch centipede that is hard up against the wall? I didnt want to injure it. I succeeded in getting it into the jar and took it outside to release it after showing my OH. I think it had come inside with the firewood.

Huia.

When I was East Africa in the 1990s I was in the washroom of the family I was staying with, ie in a small room in the back yard and was washing myself down (no running water as I was in for the real expirence (sp?) when I felt something tickling my leg and looked down and there wrapping itself around my leg (about twice) was the longest centipede/milipede (? I don't know which one is longest) I had ever seen in my life, it quickly got flicked off and out of the room (I knew that they could bite and did not really want that expirence).

Michelle

Ooooh, remind me not to go to East Africa, Michelle. That would be really scary. But then so would a snake. Thank goodness we dont have them in NZ.

Huia.

Ah almost stood on a snake when I was in Germany in 2001, last thing I expected to see was one slithering across the footpath I was walking my penpals dog on.

Michelle

Michelle, we seem to have changed the direction of the thread from 8 legs to 6 to 30 (or is that 30 pairs?) to none at all!

Huia.

(Off to bed now, up early tomorrow)

I heard that placing a conker in the corners of your rooms gets rid of the spiders. or so i'm told. Am off to find a conker tree now ...

Oh yes... they are in every corner spining me new net curtains! ;-0)
Deanna X

I cherish 'my lovelies' and only take down webs that are no longer inhabited.

Most years there is one breeding in the corner near the chimney breast. It is lovely to watch the tiny little specks grow into little spiders and the mother is so protective of them she is wonderful. One came out after the broom.

I have never seen the going of the spiderlings but a friend had a brood who migrated toward the window.

why do you never find spider droppings?

I've just read an article in the National trust mag (sorry if someone has already written this ) but apparently its the adult male of the species wanting s**. They come out at this time of year, make cobwebs. I wondered what it was about this time of year. Now I know.

Janet

And then there is those awful Daddy long legs which drop down at you and lose their legs.........

Sharron, those black spots all over things which you might think are fly spots are actually spider droppings I have decided, as they are always below where my spiders are 'roosting'. We dont have all that many flies in the house as we have fly screens on all the windows. I dont know what the spiders live on.

Huia.

Good job you were not in Liverpool last week giant 50FT Spider La Princess walking around the city,she was wonderful.See her on site LA MACHINE SPIDER.

Maureen

Yes and I am terrified of them - am waiting for the conker season to begin - apparently if you place a conker in corner of room they stay away - it may sound daft but I am willing to try it.

Do you put the conker on the floor or hang it from the ceiling to deter the spiders from building there?

Huia.