# The next time you find a clot of hair or a hairball . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 13, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712 "2014-01-13T21:47:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/1 "2014-01-13T21:47:37Z")
. . . you may wish to think twice before brushing it away or picking it up. [Me, I’m just going to call my husband to deal with it from now on](https://vine.co/v/h9PBY0Z2DIz). ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/2 "2014-01-13T23:06:38Z")
Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/3 "2014-01-13T23:13:55Z")
Aww, those are actually kinda cute! And I hate spiders. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/4 "2014-01-13T23:16:52Z")
That is…wow. It’s weird, I’m much more ok with that being a herd of (what I call) daddy long legs than if it had been some sort of centipede. GQ: what’s going on here? Are they cold? Horny? ---
**Author:** ![Sandwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@Sandwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandwood)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/5 "2014-01-14T01:22:12Z")
Whee! > [@Ruken](#): > > GQ: what’s going on here? Are they cold? Horny? This kind of gregarious behaviour isn’t so uncommon among some species of harvestmen (Opiliones). It’s not quite clear what they’re achieving by huddling up like this, but it’s definitely not an orgy going on. It is usually assumed that these aggregations mostly serve as protection against predators, and they may also help with creating or maintaining a more favourable microclimate. Another theory is that the individuals just tend to “pile up” in spots that are suitably cozy and comfy when they’re not out foraging, but that it’s not done for any particular purpose other than everybody trying to stay away from direct sunlight and wind. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/6 "2014-01-14T01:23:17Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > . . . you may wish to think twice before brushing it away or picking it up. > > [Me, I’m just going to call my husband to deal with it from now on](https://vine.co/v/h9PBY0Z2DIz). Nope nope. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/7 "2014-01-14T01:25:50Z")
Fuck right off. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/8 "2014-01-14T01:49:01Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! What she said!!! ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/9 "2014-01-14T02:21:18Z")
> [@Sandwood](#): > > Whee! > > This kind of gregarious behaviour isn’t so uncommon among some species of harvestmen (Opiliones). > > It’s not quite clear what they’re achieving by huddling up like this, but it’s definitely not an orgy going on. It is usually assumed that these aggregations mostly serve as protection against predators, and they may also help with creating or maintaining a more favourable microclimate. > > Another theory is that the individuals just tend to “pile up” in spots that are suitably cozy and comfy when they’re not out foraging, but that it’s not done for any particular purpose other than everybody trying to stay away from direct sunlight and wind. That’s pretty damn cool, but this will be a source of nightmares for me, nevertheless. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/10 "2014-01-14T02:48:03Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Aww, those are actually kinda cute! And I hate spiders. 😃 Really. My arachnophobia is the stuff of legend, but…but…_they’re daddy long legs, fer crissake!_. I really don’t consider them spiders at all. [Also, this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWASwBWyUXI). ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/11 "2014-01-14T06:24:44Z")
I didn’t click on the link. It was like alarm bells in my head screaming “OMFG, DON’T DO IT!” By the sounds of things, I’m glad I didn’t. Shortly after cleaning my bathroom the other day, but before cleaning up all my cleaning up stuff, I found a damn MONSTER in the corner between the tub and the wall, kind of near the floor. I sprayed it with bleach cleaner (I’m that much of a pansy that I can’t even squish them) and it fell off the wall and started CRAWLING TOWARD ME, OMG. It took like six blasts from my tile cleaner, but I killed that son of a bitch. And then I made my husband dispose of the body. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/12 "2014-01-14T06:35:17Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Really. My arachnophobia is the stuff of legend, but…but…_they’re daddy long legs, fer crissake!_. I really don’t consider them spiders at all. I had a nightmare about daddy long legs not that long ago. It was on a day that I had vacuumed and I brought the attachment hose into the bathroom to dust the vent cover. I spotted a DLL in the corner and decided to suck him up while I was at it. I immediately became terrified of emptying the vacuum canister and refused to do it. Anyway, that night I went to bed and had a dream that I was attacked by giant spiders. Like, people-sized spiders. They were throwing shoes at me, hitting me with rolled up magazines, spraying me in the face with Windex, etc. They weren’t hurting me; I spent most of that time waving my hands in front of my face and saying - whining, really - things like, “Stop it! I don’t like that!” It was still deeply disturbing. I woke up just as a huge, truly giant spider came at me with a vacuum cleaner hose big enough to suck me up. : shudder : ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/13 "2014-01-14T11:06:31Z")
knew what it was before I clicked. Still I clicked. excuse me while I go scrub myself with steel wool ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/14 "2014-01-14T20:58:32Z")
The funny thing is, I’m not generally frightened of spiders at all, and would not consider myself on any spectrum of the phobic scale. But that pic just skeeved the bejesus out of me. Those spidies were manic, and there ain’t no telling what a psycho arachnid might do! Hey **madrabbitwoman** …how are you coping in this crazy heat? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mage-girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@mage-girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mage-girl)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-time-you-find-a-clot-of-hair-or-a-hairball/678712/15 "2014-01-15T01:47:50Z")
Knew what it probably was, clicked anyway. Yikes yikes yikes. 😮