Why do spiders like to share our houses with us?

googler

The following scenario is played out far too often in the googler household -

Scream of terror from OH
Cries of "There's a spider in there" or suchlike
googler has to remove spider from the premises.
No killing involved, they have to be ejected, nightclub-bouncer style.

The last one, I swear, was ready to challenge me to a boxing match. It was HUGE. It stretched out, and it was almost the diameter of a compact disc.

Which leads me to the question - WHY do spiders feel the need to come into our houses? It can't be a natural environment for them, surely. What do they find so appealling?

tescobabe69

Warmth, an abundance of food, ideal conditions really.
How far do you take them before release ? Outside the back door isnt far enough, they just wander back in, as do mice.

googler

Judging by the dead ones I find behind bookcases and other furnishings, they're not finding too much to sustain them in our house.

I typically fling them out of a different window from the room they were found in, or from the opposite side of the house, in the hope of disorientating them and persuading them to wander elsewhere.

Haven't got the motivation to wander halfway up the street with a spider in hand, unfortunately. And 9 times out of 10, I'm not dressed to do so anyways......

POPPYOSCAR

Good question.

I quite like them but sometimes it sounds like my daughter is being murdered in her room!! She has even slept in another room before now because of one in her own,and with everyone else being asleep, unable to call for its 'removal'!.

googler

And another thing - I chucked the bruiser mentioned above out of a first-floor window, and it hit the monobloc, picked itself up, dusted itself down, and wandered off under the car..... that's just not right.

That's a drop of 4.5 metres or so, the spider was about 9cm across, that's a multiple of around 50 times its size, the equivalent of dropping a 6 ft tall human from a height of 300 feet.......

LandyAndy

Eton_Rifle wrote: »

I lived in a house where spiders had been interbreeding for centuries.

They were all large, thick and usually deformed in the legs. Some had all long legs on one side and short stumpies on the other. Others had just one long leg etc.

I'm not scared of spiders but the creepy look and peculiar gait of these things always gave me the shudders.

Are you sure that wasn't Norfolk (or insert target area of your choice)?

sancho

Conker in the room is supposed to be a deterrent

LandyAndy

sancho wrote: »

Conker in the room is supposed to be a deterrent

Yes. Get a large bowl of conkers (readily available at this time of year - surely not a coincidence) and throw them at the spiders. A few weeks and you'll be a dead shot.;)

sancho

stevenc75 wrote: »

If it was the other way round and spiders lived in houses and we didn't, you can be sure I'd be sneaking into a spiders house rather than spend a night out in the cold!

No way, I don't like spiders when they are 2 inches in diameter, if they were as big as me I would be long gone

hcb42

i've seen bigger spiders in my house lately than I saw when living in Aus!

DonnySaver

LandyAndy wrote: »

Yes. Get a large bowl of conkers (readily available at this time of year - surely not a coincidence) and throw them at the spiders. A few weeks and you'll be a dead shot.;)

Dont laugh! We used to regularly get spiders in our living room until my son came home with a load of conkers one day and dumped them in the corner of the living room. NEVER SEEN A SPIDER IN THERE SINCE !!