The thing with the long handle that is supposed to catch bugs by trapping them in retractable fibers so that you can stay far away, yet still remove them from the house without messy squashing? It looks like just what I have wanted, but it sounds too good. I want to know if anyone has tried them.
I have one, but I call it a “vacuum”.
We call ours the Holy Terrier.
Actually I thought the thread title was about these things I seem to remember that the chinese term for them translates literally as “spider catcher”.
I emergency-built one once when my mother was assaulted by a HUGE freaking spider. I used it successfully several times over the years, but I have no clue where it is now. Pity.
You may have killed the mother, but her offspring have since implemented Step 1 of their triumphant return – namely, by absconding with the “spider catcher,” cocooning it in silk, and stashing it away where it can do no further harm.
[CUE music theme from “Jaws 2”]
BTW, you should see the massive web-thingy they’re building at your mother’s place. You should probably caution her to never visit her garden shed alone… 
If you are indeed right, God help us all, because they’d have to be incredibly bright spiders. I built the thing in the early nineties and brought it with me when I moved away from home, using it a couple of times in my new home. My parents don’t live in that house anymore.
In keeping with the Jaws theme, we’re talking Jaws 4 level intelligence here (I’m talking about the shark in the movie, not the movie itself - God no).
I’m not picturing what you’re describing. I have a bug vacuum. It’s actually a toy vacuum that looks like a toy gun that is used as a bug vacuum and advertised to kids as a microscope to look at bugs. I’ve also seen bug vacuums but I don’t think the bugs come out alive at the end.
I use it to suck up bugs (especially spiders) which I stick in a plastic bag (still alive; they can live in a plastic bag for several days) and put out of the house later if I get a chance.