# Spider Takeover **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 25, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404 "2010-08-25T15:16:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/1 "2010-08-25T15:16:47Z")
Is it just my imagination or is anyone else experiencing more and more spiders in their living quarters? I seem to be forced to deliver death blows to one or more spiders on a daily basis. Not just small ones either. We are talking about (seeming) relatives of those Australia bird-eaters. Typically they are nasty and about the size of my thumb. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/2 "2010-08-25T15:33:08Z")
Oh yes. I woke up the other day, went into the kitchen, and saw a huge spider on my counter. Nothing to unusual in that, as I have lots of trees and a kudzu field surrounding my house, which leads to all kinds of bugs, spiders, and rodents. As usual, I went to scoop him up and put him outside, when I noticed the counter writhing. I leaned down for a closer look, and found hundreds of baby spiders crawling on the counter. I grabbed the kitchen roll of duct tape, wrapped some around my hand sticky side out, and quickly patted the counter down, until I didn’t see anymore. I took the duct tape off, tossed it in the trash can outside, went back and cleaned the counter down with bleach. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/3 "2010-08-25T15:33:27Z")
If you have lots of predators in your house, chances are it’s because they’re following prey. Have an exterminator spray for roaches, etc. I used to live in the middle of a swamp. I would purposefully maintain my spider population, because there was simply no suppressing the number of other bugs by other means. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/4 "2010-08-25T15:34:33Z")
> [@Mr.Accident](#): > > Oh yes. I woke up the other day, went into the kitchen, and saw a huge spider on my counter. Nothing to unusual in that, as I have lots of trees and a kudzu field surrounding my house, which leads to all kinds of bugs, spiders, and rodents. > > As usual, I went to scoop him up and put him outside, when I noticed the counter writhing. I leaned down for a closer look, and found hundreds of baby spiders crawling on the counter. I grabbed the kitchen roll of duct tape, wrapped some around my hand sticky side out, and quickly patted the counter down, until I didn’t see anymore. I took the duct tape off, tossed it in the trash can outside, went back and cleaned the counter down with bleach. Probably a wolf spider, if it was that large (and it sounds as if you’re in the South, so definitely a possibility). They’re harmless, and they don’t carry disease. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/5 "2010-08-25T15:35:04Z")
_ticks posters off her list of people and places to visit…_ ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/6 "2010-08-25T15:52:34Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Probably a wolf spider, if it was that large (and it sounds as if you’re in the South, so definitely a possibility). They’re harmless, and they don’t carry disease. You’re correct about me being in the South, but it wasn’t a wolf spider. It was a [lynx spider.](http://www.darlingtonschool.org/faculty/okinney/natural%20history/spider%20web/spider_web%20page.htm) I normally don’t mind them, as they help keep down on the other insects and don’t leave webs, but I’m not leaving hundreds of them running over my kitchen either. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/7 "2010-08-25T19:45:13Z")
In Seattle, the spiders are coming indoors early. I think the cooler temperatures have fooled them, but yep there do seem to be a lot of them. Between the writings of a poster (can’t find his name now) who is an arachnologist here in Seattle and having to crawl under the house repeatedly during a recent remodel, I have really come to realize that spiders are really not something to be afraid of. They really do nothing defensively and if you are a healthy human, they really can’t do much to harm you anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/8 "2010-08-26T02:09:08Z")
> [@Disheavel](#): > > Between the writings of a poster (can’t find his name now) That would be [**arachnologus**](http://staff.washington.edu/tiso/). ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/9 "2010-08-26T10:00:27Z")
Killed _three_ of the bastards this morning - all in the bathroom… I’m not aware of any other insects in the house - it seems oddly insect free (perhaps the spiders are doing their job?)… ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/10 "2010-08-26T13:54:23Z")
There was one in my bathroom last night. C’mon, own up. Which one of you sent it? ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/11 "2010-08-26T17:18:24Z")
We’ve been pretty much spider-free in the house (though with fall coming I am sure that will change), but we did have [one of these](http://www.darlingtonschool.org/faculty/okinney/natural%20history/spider%20web/Garden%20Orbweaver.htm) make a HUGE web in the butterfly bushes last week. She was almost as big as my hand! We moved her, as it was her clear intention to catch and eat the swallowtail butterflies that were visiting the bushes (we’ve a bumper crop of both blooms and butterflies this year). This is the first place I’ve lived that has spiders so big that when you toss them out of the house they make an audible thump when they hit the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-takeover/551404/12 "2010-08-26T17:46:13Z")
Note to self: schedule annual spider exterminator visit…