Spiders

[Hopkirk]

Has anyone else found they are getting bigger?

I have come across two monsters this evening.

[Hopkirk]

I think I would rather suffer the spiders!

[jno]

yes, looks like there's a lot of them about

http://home.bt.com/lifestyle/house-home/british-homes-are-being-invaded-by-giant-spiders-heres-how-to-get-rid-of-them-11363998533689

[Ann]

Yes I found a massive one on the bathroom floor the other morning, it was curled up. I nervously assumed it was ready to run - but to my amazement it had just died there, I wonder why?

[Cloverjo]

No. I don't mind spiders, but I can't stand flies. They seem to be getting bigger.

[netibiza]

Oh I wish I hadn't read jno's link!!

[andy-hughes]

I think they are getting bigger - probably a result of the warmer winters which would usually kill off the smaller weaker ones - now they are living longer and getting bigger.

[-Talbot-]

Too right they are, Hoppy ...Caught an absolutely massive red and blue one yesterday.

[wolf63]

My boy cat catches and eats them (you can hear the crunch) but his sister screams and runs off. I am in a second floor flat and we don't get that many - can they climb stairs?

[Prudie]

I was horrified to see this thread last night but dismissed it because my phobia doesn't usually kick in until September when you usually see them come indoors. Then bu$$er me if I didn't see a large one in the kitchen just before bed, first since last year.

[jambutty]

I'll say they are getting bigger - I'm thinking of charging rent.

[andy-hughes]

Prudie - //I was horrified to see this thread last night but dismissed it because my phobia doesn't usually kick in until September when you usually see them come indoors. //

My understanding is that spiders don't 'come in' - they are house spiders that have been bred inside. The ones you see in September are mature males searching for a mate which makes them roam, and increases the chances of you seeing them.

Spiders travel around the house all the time - and we usually find them in baths and sinks because they slide in and can't climb out, which leads to the myth that they climb up through plug holes. Apart from the fact that spiders are far too fastidious to consider a dirty drain as a highway, they would struggle to negotiate the 'S' bend which is full of water.

[Old_Geezer]

And I'm sure Prudie thanks you profusely for the information.

[Chipchopper]

Knowing that spiders shed their old skins as they grow, I saw some skins that had been cast off in a corner of the garage and thought, jeez if that's just the empty skins, what size must they be now!!.
I heard it said that "if ants were the size of Labradors, they would rule the world" but personally I think spiders would win, hands down!

[Old_Geezer]

I doubt there would be enough land space if they were as big as labradors.
And if they reduced their army sizes in order to survive, I reckon we could cope.

[retrocop]

Maybe you have 'ants in your amps' and this is why the spiders are getting bigger. An 'ant eat' road show ?? :-)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3709137/Rise-SUPER-ANTS-Six-colonies-Asian-insects-living-Britain-invasion.html?ITO=1490

[Baldric]

If one appears here it gets 'Staffied' Roger supplements his diet with them.

[Prudie]

Andy posts this every year that they live in the house all year round and every year I and others point him to actual links written by natural historians that contradict this entirely. The large house spider spends most of the year outside only coming in to mate indoors in the warm in September or to get out of the rain in the summer. Still I'm sure we'll get told by him again.

[andy-hughes]

Prudie - //Andy posts this every year that they live in the house all year round and every year I and others point him to actual links written by natural historians that contradict this entirely. The large house spider spends most of the year outside only coming in to mate indoors in the warm in September or to get out of the rain in the summer. Still I'm sure we'll get told by him again. //

I did state it was 'my understanding' - I am claiming expert etymology skills here.

I have done a bit of research, and apparently there are species of spiders that do live in houses year-round, and there are other (more common) species that do come in from outside when the weather turns colder, and it is time to mate.

So I was neither entirely right, nor entirely wrong.

Pretty much like normal then!

[bodeker]

Reminds me, I must get off to Lakeland and buy a spider catcher :) I normally use a glass and a bit of paper to catch them and then bung them out window but gets harder to catch them if they are on the ceiling.