While installing my new home theater I was in the process of moving a lamp and you can imagine the horror instilled in me when I saw this under the floor lamp:
I’m no expert, but it looks to me like a spider is attempting some mass breeding experiment under my lamp. Does anyone know what kind of spider this is (i.e., is it likely to kill me?) and more importantly, the best way to kill them immediately? :eek:
Looks like it could be a cupboard/brown house spider or similar. If it is, they’re somewhat poisonous, so you’ll probably want to break out the flamethrower.
In a pinch. Just make sure you’re a good shot or you’ll just piss it off. Alternatively, you could try giving John Goodman a call. If all else fails, nuke it from orbit, 'cos, y’know…
Brown house spiders are common to North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, so it’s a good possibility. The female there looks quite similar and the egg sacs are the same type (round, white/cream coloured). They can be coloured from a purplish brown to glossy black, so they’re often mistaken for the black widow, but they don’t have the red hourglass shape on their back and aren’t as poisonous (but they’ll still make you sick.)
I’m no entomologist, though, but either way, death must ensue.
My household has been organic for more than 20 years. Spiders kill things that you don’t want about.
However, my wife and daughter don’t like them, so I kill them when I see them. (Sorry, family takes priority over practicality). What they don’t see won’t hurt them. Black widows and brown recluse are another matter. But, I don’t really advocate killing them. They have their place, just not around my kids.
However, I will say this, spiders are generally a good thing. As are geckos.
I was going to say: “Keep your house clean and the predators, and their prey should not be a problem,” but that’s not really fair. Nature finds a way. And spiders are a good way to keep the pests down.
I’ve found bleach makes an excellent, cheap insecticide. If you feel like acting like a chemist, if you concentrate nicotine from a can of snuff, that’ll kill about anything.
It’ll either burn the fragile wings of insects so they can’t fly (not really a problem w/ spiders I guess), plus the added bonus of bad burns on non-wing related species (apparently, chemical burns hurt species w/ exoskeletons, who’d have thunk?)
I actually took the opposite approach of a flamethrower when I got rid of them yesterday. I took a can of compressed air and turned it upside down and froze everything in sight until my infrared thermometer verified the momma and babies were a couple degrees Fahrenheit. Then I scooped them up and flushed them. Granted, inhaling all the chemicals from the compressed air can probably wasn’t the best thing to do.
If I see a spider or two, I usually don’t mind. They’re helpful in getting rid of the crickets that always seem to escape my bearded dragon’s cage. It’s the mass breeding I have a problem with. Thanks everyone! That’s one problem of the day solved (the other being HDMI not passing optical audio through and being a PITA).
Thanks everyone! That’s one problem of the day solved (the other being HDMI not passing optical audio through and being a PITA).
