Spiders

I'm very fond of spiders - and have been known to carry them out of the house gently so that their legs don't get hurt. We get whoppers here sometimes - you an almost hear their progress as they dash across the floor. DH is frightened of them!

I feel for you Nanban ...I too, need to replace my conkers!! Everything in its place ...that means spiders outside not inside...however, I do try to catch the ones lurking on my walls, putting them back out ...all others, well!!

All the females in our family hate spiders and, when we had 3 daughters living at home, quite often a shout of "I need a man" would ring out! Once we were on holiday in Scotland having left middle daughter at home on her own. Whilst in the bar one evening I was called to the phone by a very anxious receptionist who said that the caller had sounded quite upset. When I got to the phone, feeling quite anxious myself, middle daughter said "I can't get out of my bedroom, there is a spider on the landing!" Eventually, she called our eldest daughter's husband who used their key get in, capture the beast and release it at the other end of the village!

I am chief spider capturer here (rather than DH). They are are friends and I wish one of them would catch that pesky housefly this morning. I also love to see the webs of the garden spiders.
Can you illuminate us - conkers scare away spiders do they?
I will admit tho that in Australia spiders are a bit scary as there are a couple of species that can give a very toxic bite.
There is also a kind called I think a huntsman which is like a giant version of the wolf spiders we have (the ones that run across the floor hunting, rather than building webs and sitting quietly in wait.) I encountered one of these in the bathroom last time I was with DH in Sydney. In the middle of the night. Not much chance of splatting them as they move really fast. Away from you, fortunately.
Not that keen on having to return to my mattress on the floor after that encounter - but just have to think about something else...

conkers have a smell spiders don"t like, so called experts say it is nonsense but they DO work we had 3 monsters last week.. since putting new conkers in corners this week we have had none.

Nanban Would cutting your old conkers in half release some of the chemical (whatever it is) from the centre? It may be used up on the surface but still have some lurking on the inside.

I have never ousted spiders from my house and I certainly wouldn't kill one. My brother in law, a builder, used to say "never live in a house that doesn't have spiders!" (no, I don't know which bit of lofty superstition that relates to). I go to great lengths to rescue them from perilous bathroom situations and around this time of year, when the really big lads come out to scuttle across my hearth, I simply lift my feet and let them pass by! To date, I have never woken up in the middle of the night to find one dangling above my face (however, I did recently discover, after much itching and scratching, a ladybird inside my pyjama bottoms - must have fallen in off the clothes line!)

I got a spider catcher from an Ebay seller. You catch the creature in a sort of brush and deliver it outside without harming it. Living in the tropics cured me of any fear I ever had of our domestic spiders.

Socking filler for arachnophobics:

www.lakeland.co.uk/20455/Spider-Catcher

Slightly cheaper on Ebay.

I like spiders and don't mind them in the house at all. They never do any of us any harm. Taratulas I would be wary of. Outdoor spider webs covered in raindrops or dew, or frosted, are beautiful.

I like spiders, my husband always shouts for me to rescue them and put them outside. Outside I like their webs and try not to disturb them if possible. I try to rescue ladybirds and even wasps and bees and put them outside. The only things I don't help are flies and ants.

what about mosquitoes. They are hard to love even for someone who likes invertebrates...

Hello JessM, I don't like mosquitoes I would swat them!

True, but that's the case with most purely parasitic animals. I get lots of midge bites every year and they're a pest, but they do feed the hirundines that fly delightfully about my local skies every summer, so I don't mind them too much.

Not bothered by spiders at all, but really dislike earwigs for some reason.

I've heard that earwigs are wonderful mothers! (Perhaps they don't live long enough to be grandmas)!

I'm with grannyactivist on this subject, don't mind spiders at all - I'm the chief spider catcher in the house and will often "pretend" to put it out and in truth, leave it free to get on with it's own life, but earwigs give me the creeps and have to be squashed- even then, the "crunch" is horrid!

I absolutely LOATHE spiders, they scare the living daylights out of me! But then, so do all insects and creepy crawlies, with the notable exceptions of Butterflies and ladybirds. My family can`t understand why I love butterflies but am terrified of moths, or why I like, and will handle, caterpillars and snakes, but will run from a worm. I can`t explain it, that`s just how I am.

Oh Artygran your brother in law would approve of our house; we have loads. Luckily the majority of them are the ones with tiny bodies and long thin legs. I tell them - out loud - that if they don't go elsewhere then they'll get sucked up in the vac and my family knows if I make a threat I carry it out......... Bigger ones get ousted by DH, but if he's not there..ohhhh, I can't even go there. Out of the house I'm fine. That's their habitat and I do think the dew on webs is beautiful, but in the house.....There's definitely one in my study here as I write because there is a carcass of some woodlouse or moth or something on the floor [which I vacced on Friday but as long as I can't see it, I won't let it bother me. As for daddy long legs........

Oh yes, there has truly been a serious research project which concluded that a conker placed in each corner of each and every room, and preferably at either end of each windowsill and eh voila, no spiders! And I've been using them now for 5 years and the only time I get spiders running about is at the end of the conker year when they need replacing. Been down to the churchyard today and got a new bag full!

Just to add, I absolutely hate spiders and couldn't stay in a room where I had seen one until it was definitely dead. Putting them outside if I could in any way go near enough let alone catch one, definitely not - they simply run back in. I have been known to vacuum one up and then take the still sucking vacuum out to the gravel drive on the understanding that some of the gravel would knock said spider out in the dust bag! There is a saying - if you want to live and thrive, let a spider run alive. Stuff that, who needs to thrive.

We all have a phobia of some sort and I do not like wildlife anywhere but elsewhere.

Nanban Yes you are being unreasonable. It's only a spider. You are not traumatized and you will get over it. It is almost certain that far worse things have already happened in your life. Pull yourself together, woman!

I'm with you Nanban. Detest spiders, Mrs P has to deal with them in the house. I'll happily deal with mice, rats, frogs, snakes, beetles, cats, dogs, horses, elephants and any other form of livestock that enters the house. But spiders -- NEVER.

A large specimen has been happily strolling around the cornices and corners of DD's house for the last few days. She has explained to the wee ones that flies are the nasty beasts and spiders get rid of them so spiders are welcome. I think she is doing a good job as she is also avoiding instilling any phobias into them. I can deal with spiders (although I put them out rather than foster them) but am completely irrational and phobic about worms - forunately not many of them indoors! Big strong 25 yr-old rugby-playing son shouts for Mummy's help with spiders though!