• Neato@ttrpg.network
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    4 months ago

    Spiders and I have an agreement: don’t spin webs at people height. Spiders get the corners, ceilings and anywhere we don’t walk. If you try to spin a web on the bananas, RIP.

    • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 months ago

      As long as the size doesn’t bug you, you’d probably enjoy huntsman spiders. They prefer eating other insects and even other spiders, and generally leave people alone, even run away from us. They dont spin webs, they eat any bug they can get, including venomous insects. They love eating mosquitoes and cockroachs. If for some reason you feel like attacking one, dont, not only are they helpful, they can jump quite a distance and are faster than you at their peak speed.

      This post was made by the Friends of the Huntsmen.

      • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        That’s a no from me dog. If I saw that in my house, I’d move. As in, move fast to the door and never look back. He can have the house, and all my shit. I’m taking my dog and getting the fuck out of dodge.

        • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          4 months ago

          Just don’t move somehwere that has any really venomous spiders if you’re uncomfortable with the Huntsmen, because the smaller spiders Huntsmen scare away like recluses, funnel webs, and black widows are venomous enough to kill both of you.

          • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Oh I understand. It’s more of a reflex instinct than anything else.

            Case in point, I have a lot of spiders around the outside of my house. The other day I was trying to examine a flood light that was not working correctly, and of course there are a lot of webs (and cobwebs) around it. I go to step up, and in a split second I noticed I’m literally face to face with a spider in a huge web. If I had taken one more step, we’d have been kissing.

            As much as i fear spiders, I am usually ok with being in their presence – assuming I can readily avoid them if need be. But this time, well, it was very upsetting to me. Maybe to it too, because by the morning it had packed its web up and left. 🤣

            • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              4 months ago

              It’s kind of funny you mention that because some of the worst injuries caused by spiders that generally avoid humans are the startling reactions to seeing one where you’re not expecting one, like while on a ladder or even driving. Don’t mistake my meaning of advocating for these spiders, I’d be suepr freaked out too. It’s hard to have any other kind of first reaction.

      • bl_r@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        4 months ago

        This is why I love jumping spiders.

        I’d be terrified of a huntsmen spider, but I love jumping spiders i leave them be whenever I see them, knowing that they will snack on all the fruit flies, moths, and mosquitoes that make it into my house.

        • samus12345@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          My wife is arachnophobic, but likes jumping spiders. Most of the phobia seems to be in the legs, since they have such stumpy ones.

        • Shhalahr@beehaw.org
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          4 months ago

          I love jumpers because they’re cute. The anime sized front facing eyes and movements that make them look so damn curious all the time—I just can’t get over those.

      • booty [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        4 months ago

        My area doesn’t have huntsmen unfortunately. We do have wolf spiders though which are similar I think. They’re lil guys though.

    • booty [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      4 months ago

      I’ve walked through so many spider webs over the past few weeks. I do find them very rude. And it’s just like, man, if you put your web where I’m going to walk through it then it sucks for you too, then you gotta go rebuild it.

      I still don’t kill them, though. Just relocate them to somewhere sufficiently far away that hopefully they don’t build their next web in the same place.

      Except for one spider that I maybe killed. I walked into its web and it stood on my arm and bit me so I flicked it away. No idea where it went or whether it survived. But honestly, what a jerk.

  • Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    Tourist version -

    Me - here’s your chalet. Remember, it’s very well insulated for the winter weather, so in summer just keep the windows and doors closed during the day and it’ll stay cool inside for the same reason, then you can open the windows in the evening. Otherwise it’ll just be boiling hot and full of flies. There’s no need for AC.

    Guests - ok that makes sense

    Guests two days later - MY CHALET IS BOILING HOT AND FULL OF FLIES YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT I NEED AC

    Me under my breath - seriously fuck off you stupid cunts

  • Psaldorn@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Meanwhile, the spiders I have begrudging let live have caught nothing because they take up residence behind the toilet and inside an unfilled cabinet (that was fun to discover)

    The flies are operating freely! I’m gaining nothing from this ceasefire!

    • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
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      4 months ago

      them staying in out of the way places are the reason I like them. If they are alive then their bellies are full and they are catching something.

    • mumblerfish@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I had a spider in a web right over the fuckin hole in the wall where all the ants enterd. This fucking guy did nothing. Just sat there watching food parade in and out all day all night. Like, come on!

  • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Spiders won’t eliminate your bug problem either. The presence of predators in an environment doesn’t imply all of their prey will soon go extinct.

    You eliminate bugs by preventing their entry, reducing or removing their food and water sources, and/or interrupting or preventing their mating cycles. Or occasionally deploying something that kills everything in an area (though if you don’t also do the other steps above, they’ll eventually return).

  • rustyfish@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    As someone who can’t tolerate most insects in his home: Spiders are welcome. Always have been. And since Adrian Tchaikovskys Children of Time, I started naming them.

      • rustyfish@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Yes, actually. That one gigantic one on my balcony is named Portia. The one behind my bathroom mirror is named Fabian. So is the one next to my kitchen fan. I just figured they’re both male. Probably.

          • rustyfish@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Ok I think I need to paddle back a bit. Her phat ass is roughly 2cm in diameter. Which is laughable for most of the world, but it’s gigantic for German standards. I am almost sure it’s a Eratigena atrica or Große Winkelspinne.

    • illi@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      Spiders are not technically insects so you are consistent

  • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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    4 months ago

    The longleg spiders in my house stay around the ceiling near one of the windows, plenty of moths show up every once in a while. Also a bunch of tiny, pencil lead sized flying things.

    Meanwhile, the ants all run around the floor.

    • i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 months ago

      Every time I see these, I remind myself they don’t want to be around me and they eat cockroaches, bed bugs, and termites (and other yucky stuff I don’t like).

      Damn they give me the heebie jeebies though.

    • illi@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      I’ll take the ants and flies, thanks. If I have this in my house, it’s likely I loose my home to fire

      • Zoot@reddthat.com
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        4 months ago

        Nah screw that, flies actually buzz around you, ants steal your food. I’ll take these silvertales any day, thank you!

    • abcd@feddit.org
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      4 months ago

      The creepiness increases tenfold when you encounter one for the first time and it is as scared of you then you are scared of it. Those little guys are very fast.

      When I learned that they are harmless to us humans I started to tolerate them. I mean they really try to get out of our way.

    • zephorah@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      As the one time owner of a 100 yo house in the Midwest I say this: fuck no.

    • yuri@pawb.social
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      4 months ago

      I live in an area with those fuckers, but also brown recluses and black widows. As a kid I always though we were lucky because we didn’t have any house centipedes, but now I realize that the houses with centipedes don’t have the widows and recluses. It’s like a turf war and I’m in the more dangerous neighborhood.

    • samus12345@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      They’re just too damn creepy for me. I’m sorry, guys, my primitive brain has been programmed to have a strong response to seeing something like you. You understand. squish

  • Dorkyd68@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Any spider smaller than a quarter is welcome in my home. Any spider larger gets served a non deadly eviction notice

  • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    Spiders are just an indicator of how bad the problem is - you’ve got buffet level infestation. Time to look for things to seal, trim back plants from House, vacuum, etc.

  • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
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    4 months ago

    The only spiders I want gone are the ones that can kill me, and the ones that get too close to me.

    If I see one setting up a web in the distant corner? Hell yeah Bro catch all the pests you can.

    Crawl toward me less than a foot away? Sorry smash but you sealed your own fate.

    • punkaccountant@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      Yah I have a loose treaty in my home too. If I see you and you’re not racing towards my face (or dropping on my head)…no one has to get hurt. If you’re super active and potentially in my way…I have a little bug scoop and off you go back into nature. Also…please don’t make your homes in my bedroom…any other room is fine, basement is preferred.

      However if you are hell bent on scaring the crap outta me, or crawling up on me…I cannot guarantee my fear reflexes won’t smash you. I will feel badly though.

      This holds for all insects in my home except earwigs, mosquitos and super fast centipedes (I catch and release the dopey ones tho)

  • edric@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    This summer I’m stepping on the scorpions, because I’ve seen them several times killing spiders.

  • cornshark@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I always worry that the spiders I leave alive will have ten million spider babies. Is that not a concern for any of you?

      • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Not sure why someone would downvote you for this. Spiders are territorial and will cannibalize each other if they’re unable to spread far enough apart. They’ll never reach the insane population densities of social insects like ants or termites.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I’m quite okay with spiders as long as they stay …over there….

          Interestingly, they’re also smart enough to recognize this arrangement. They don’t bother me. I don’t bother them. Wonderful roommates, really.

          (Also, for people wondering how to get rid of ants… clean your house. They’re coming in because they find food and shelter. Get rid of the food and they’re less inclined to stick around. Same for flies. Especially house flies. Though there’s always going to be some fruit flies- they come in with the fruit.)

        • ulterno@lemmy.kde.social
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          4 months ago

          I like to think of myself as a big spider in a room with small spiders.
          They get the edges and corners and I get the center.

          Occasionally, I go around clearing the old webs, so that new spiders can come and make new webs and catch some mosquitoes.
          If a spider invades my bed/kitchen/computer, I get rid of it.


          Ants are pretty annoying, but are useful too.
          They let me know if I dropped some foodstuff and didn’t clean it properly, by banding around it.
          So I can just go and clean it and the ants stop coming.

    • RebekahWSD@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I keep telling my cat to be a hunter, and all she does is roll around on the floor and go “merop? Mrrrrr? MEROWP!” as the insects dance around.

      • morbidcactus@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        Mine stare at them, maybe do a light paw and meow like a maniac at them, they’re not good pest control.

        Luckily, the gratuitous amount of spiders seem to do their job, there’s a lot of lake flies!midges/gnats but I’ve never seen them or ants in the house, just spiders.

    • MoonRaven@feddit.nl
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      4 months ago

      I have 3 cats. Luckily they don’t hurt the spider. Sadly, they won’t attack the flies though.

    • call_me_xale@lemmy.zip
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      4 months ago

      Cats make for pretty poor insect control. They mostly kill spiders, not “pest” insects.