I ask because there’s a spider who’s been in residence in my kitchen for nearly two months now. Every so often, I see a captured bug on it, and multiple times I’ve seen the web enlarged and upgraded. Today, I thought at first that there were two spiders on it, before realizing that one of them must be a molt. So business is going well. I’m happy for her.
But while, as of right now, the web’s location is only slightly inconvenient, it’s going to get more so eventually. You see, at the end of last cold season, I left my heavy jacket hanging on the side of a chair, and it’s to that coat that the spider has anchored her web. I don’t think it’d be possible to re-anchor the web, and so when I retrieve that jacket, I’m going to be destroying a valuable piece of real estate. If the spider is still there.
But will she be? If you had asked me a year ago, I’d have said that no spiderweb would ever last that long, still in use. But, well, I wouldn’t have anticipated a spiderweb lasting six weeks, either. So how long could it be?
And yes, I’m sure that it varies by species. Unfortunately, all I can tell you is that it’s a brown orb-weaver native to Northeast Ohio, and that I’ve seen many similar brown spiders around here.
From what I’ve observed of the spiders in and around my house and garden, they’re constantly repairing and refreshing their webs, even the ones that seem like they’ve been in use a while. But they don’t tend to move the web to a new position until it’s disrupted or accumulates so much dust and other extraneous material that it’s not sticky anymore. That varies with placement and conditions, of course.
Most orb-weavers tend to be in the group that re-weave their webs every day. Usually in the same spot, but if you photograph the pattern, you can tell if it changes slightly day-by-day.
I did, one morning, find the web in a state of construction. It looked like the top and bottom anchor strands were still the same, but only a few of the radials were still in place.
Even if the spider is continually maintaining or rebuilding it, though, eventually there’d have to come a limit from its lifespan.
First off - love this thread and the attitude! I always worry when a spider takes up residence in my house, because I’m worried that there isn’t enough food for it.
Given the constant construction, I wonder if you’d be able to get away with moving some of the anchor lines on the jacket, leaving the rest in place, and seeing if the spider can rebuild to the chair.
Here in Chester UK, I have seen several spiders set up webs at a corner of our window. On the outside, and it’s double-glazed. So of course they are completely harmless and it is interesting to watch them.
Haven’t really kept track of how long they persist… I would guess it is a month or two?
I wonder this all the time when i see spiders in odd corners of my basement. Surely you aren’t getting much action in that dusty nook by the dryer vent! My boat, on the other hand, a smorgasbord for spiders with all the gnats constantly around.
I have sort of wondered about this. I haven’t seen any live insects in my apartment. I guess there are a few, though, that I’m just not noticing, and enough of them are blundering into the web.
I have no problem at all with bugs in my house that are too small to notice and don’t destroy anything! I’m happy to share the space and feed the spiders.
There was a biggish jumping spider on my fence this afternoon, and it very obviously noticed me noticing it as I was sitting on a bench. They’re so cute!
