Spiders...

[Jocephus]

we've got a really cool lookin spider in our yard..er, my parents yard...its big too...he just does his own thing and never leaves it, so they've left it up...

[clstds]

Yeah, wolf spiders are very bad this year. I can't begin to count how many I've killed. The worst part is finding them in the house.

Then a couple weeks ago I walk out onto my back patio. I slid the screen door shut and saw this about 6 inches from my hand!!! Funny you should post that photo. This thing scared the crap out of me. It was huge!

[jim]

Yeah, wolf spiders are very bad this year. I can't begin to count how many I've killed. The worst part is finding them in the house.

Then a couple weeks ago I walk out onto my back patio. I slid the screen door shut and saw this about 6 inches from my hand!!! Funny you should post that photo. This thing scared the crap out of me. It was huge!

Yellow Garden Spider. Completely harmless. We get them by the 100's in some spots.

[jim]

Interesting article in our local paper this morning. It was written by someone in California, so maybe the comment they made is local to that area. But they said the average city household has between 10-15 black widow spiders living in it. It said you don't see them because they are good at hiding - but they are there.


(insert Jaws music).

[Swatcat27]

ok, dumb question...What happens to these spiders in the winter ? Do they survive in underground bunkers ? Last winter, I went to my unfinished basement that I rarely visit & saw a mice belly-up, frozen as a snowman in the middle of the room. Hypothermia for you, you squeaky little bastard.

[jim]

ok, dumb question...What happens to these spiders in the winter ? Do they survive in underground bunkers ? Last winter, I went to my unfinished basement that I rarely visit & saw a mice belly-up, frozen as a snowman in the middle of the room. Hypothermia for you, you squeaky little bastard.

Didn't you ever read Charlotte's Web?

Depends on the species I'm guessing, but I would say that most in northern climates they live 1 year. Again guessing here, but hatch in the spring, mate in the summer/fall, lay eggs/die in the winter.

[Hungary Jack]

I'm totally cool with spiders, so I guess it's good I don't live in Costa Rica or some other tropical clime. I'd probably start playing with some highly toxic little bugger and end up losing an arm.

I was on a solo backpack trip in the Michigan UP a few years ago. It was a freakishly warm day (near 90), and so I decided to sleep outside next to Lake Superior, where there was a bit of a breeze. I had a good night sleep, and woke up in the morning feeling something crawling around my belly. I unzipped my bag, and out walked a big brown spider!

[JCShutout]

Yuck!

I haven't seen hardly any spiders this summer. There was one near the front door that was pretty big, but I kept it outside. There are some little ones in the basement near the windows, but nothing crazy.

<shudder> at the stories in this thread.

[G. Keenan]

Interesting article in our local paper this morning. It was written by someone in California, so maybe the comment they made is local to that area. But they said the average city household has between 10-15 black widow spiders living in it. It said you don't see them because they are good at hiding - but they are there.


(insert Jaws music).

I refuse to believe this is true.

[thrill]

Interesting article in our local paper this morning. It was written by someone in California, so maybe the comment they made is local to that area. But they said the average city household has between 10-15 black widow spiders living in it. It said you don't see them because they are good at hiding - but they are there.


(insert Jaws music).

I refuse to believe this is true.

Yeah, that's bogus. It would put the "house living" black widow spider population of the greater los angeles area alone at 88,880,000 spiders.

If it were that high, no amount of hiding could mask the problem. We'd have some dead or sick people all over the place.
Plus there aren't many of them in Cali. In my quick wiki research however, I did find that they "run rampant in parts of Arizona."

So we have black widows and tarantulas. Sweet.