spiders!! (big) and conkers!!

I have a big green plastic chest outside the back door, for storage of outdoor objects. Opened it this morning to look for something and was confronted by the most enormous spider. So I closed the lid and hoped it would at least be hiding the next time I had to find something. I wouldn't knowingly kill a spider. They do more good than harm. And besides, I was brought up in the certain knowledge that it was bad luck to kill a spider.

My daughter hates spiders and she was recommended to spray window sills and doorways with peppermint spray to repel them. Seems to work and smell nice too.

A relative in Curacao recently sent the following Spider Deterrent Recipe - not tried it yet but I will. However, Nanban has the right idea and my Husband's slippers are very effective.

1 cup vinegar : 1 cup pepper : 1 teaspoon oil : 1 tablespoon liquid soap.

Mix well together, put in spray bottle and use on outside doors and along windows.

All spiders must die - I have whackers strategically placed in every room, and conkers in every corner. Don't bother to put them outside, take them to the bottom of your garden, they'll just head straight back in again. Dead is good.

Thank you for the pome Aka, I only ever vaguely knew the first verse.

GrandmaH You have earned my respect.

Still no sign of the big spiders. Chestnut oil extract...just saying.

Thanks Ano I'll watch out for them hatching, possibly in the spring? Luckily they're on the outside of the window.

Nanban I should imagine it failed. How do you hypnotise a spider?

Neuro Linguisitic Programming (NLP) worked!!
I wasn't even the one having it done- just an observer. I was at a yoga weekend & as a one off at the end of an evening our yoga teacher who is also an NLP practitioner did a Phobia Curing session with a girl scared of wasps. At the end she just threw out the comment- some of you watching may find you no longer have your fears as well. The girl with the wasp programme was totally cured ( I checked with her a few months later).
Never gave it another thought until a week later when there was a spider in the bath & for the first time in my life I didn't scream the house down but calmly removed it. Never been scared since. I was & still am amazed.

Apparently the big spiders downstairs are males making their way upstairs to where the females live. Males live outside all summer & only come in to mate & then die. Female lays her eggs & dies next year. I saw a programme on TV! I am so happy to be cured of my terror ( & for free!)

I am the person who kept the vacuum cleaner out, vacuumed up spiders, followed by vacuuming up gravel from the drive - the theory being that stones would kill the spiders etc .... .

However, we are now in the country. Nightmare until I heard about a research project - yup serious research - into why spiders do not like conkers. The result was that a new season conker in each and every corner of every room, and if possible each corner of each window and the result no spiders! Off we went, bags of conkers and no spiders that season until the week before we fetched new conkers! Now, all the neighbours do exactly the same. The dog interestingly won't mess with the conkers either.

Who cares why, but it definitely works if done properly, and 7 years on I can vouch for it.

PS: hypnotherapy failed

We see house spiders [the big black ones] a lot in Autumn because it's their mating season! Of course they live in our houses all the time, but usually only come out at night when we are asleep to feed off crumbs and any insects.However, in Autumn, they have to mate, so it makes them bold, and they dash about at all times of the day and night.If you don't kill them, they come straight back into the house [they are house spiders after all.]because it's been mild so far, we haven't seen many a couple at most, but since we have been putting fresh conkers in cupboards it does seem to reduce the numbers as they have sensitive sense of smell, which is why, if you have been painting the walls in the house, that drives them away too.

Those do sound like egg cases Aka. I had those outside my back door in my last house and one day when I looked there were hundreds of tiny baby spiders. Quite cute really, until they grow up.

A male friend visited me recently and asked why I had no cobwebs in my rooms. Seemed quite stunned when I replied that I remove them as soon as I see them. Such a solution had obviously never occurred to him.

Or could they be lots of egg sacs?

Do spiders hibernate?

I have an upstairs window overlooking a conservatory which is difficult for the window cleaner to access to clean. I first noticed what looked like a spider enveloped in a thick duvet-like web in October. Each week a new one appeared and now I have about 8 of these spider cocoons.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on here?

Oh for a 'like' button Anno

Such a moral tale and timely warning against toadies, false flatterers and creeps of all descriptions.

Sounds like a bluebottle to me!

Loved it Aka , I might invite the fly into "MY" parlour !
Who knows what might happen eh !!!
laugh!

What sort of a fly was it

By popular request

The Spider and The Fly: A Fable

by Mary Howitt

"Will you walk into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly;
"'Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy.
The way into my parlor is up a winding stair,
And I have many pretty things to show when you are there."
"O no, no," said the little fly, "To ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again."

"I'm sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high;
Will you rest upon my little bed?" said the spider to the fly.
"There are pretty curtains drawn around, the sheets are fine and thin,
And if you like to rest awhile, I'll snugly tuck you in."
"O no, no," said the little fly, "for I've often heard it said,
They NEVER, NEVER WAKE again, who sleep upon YOUR bed."

Said the cunning spider to the fly, "Dear friend, what shall I do,
To prove the warm affection I've always felt for you?
I have within my pantry good store of all that's nice;
I'm sure you're very welcome; will you please to take a slice?
"O no, no," said the little fly, "kind sir, that cannot be;
I've heard what's in your pantry, and I do not wish to see."

"Sweet creature!" said the spider, "you're witty and you're wise,
How handsome are your gauzy wings, how brilliant are your eyes!
I have a little looking-glass upon my parlor shelf,
If you'll step in one moment dear, you shall behold yourself."
I thank you, gentle sir," she said, "for what you're pleased to say,
And bidding you good-morning NOW, I'll call ANOTHER day."

The spider turned him round about, and went into his den,
For well he knew the silly fly would soon be back again:
So he wove a subtle web, in a little corner sly,
And set his table ready to dine upon the fly.
Then he came out to his door again, and merrily did sing,
"Come hither, hither, pretty fly, with the pearl and silver wing:
Your robes are green and purple; there's a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead."

Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little fly,
Hearing his wily flattering words, came slowly flitting by.
With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew,
Thinking only of her crested head - POOR FOOLISH THING! At last,
Up jumped the cunning spider, and fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,
Within his little parlor; but she ne'er came out again!

And now, dear little children, who may this story read,
To idle, silly, flattering words, I pray you ne'er give heed;
Unto an evil counselor close heart, and ear, and eye,
And take a lesson from this tale of the Spider and the Fly.

The ones we have indoors which Mrs Tarantula used to eat have ordinary spider bodies - only skinny - not the blob bodies like harvestmen, and they're around all year not just autumn, and they make very fine webs in places I can't get to. I definitely have a vacancy for another Mrs T.

They are!

www.uksafari.com/harvestmen.htm

I thought those ones with the tiny bodies and long, very thin legs were called Harvestmen?

Once again, the essence of horse chestnut oil works for us. Autumn is my favourite season but large spiders [that insist on moving in] terrify the pants off me. I spent last autumn, untroubled. So far, so good, because this autumn I have not been confronted by a single eight-legged visitor, which is hunky dory by me.