• NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
    7·
    19 days ago

    Such a waste. If you’re getting spiders that means there’s something for the spiders to eat, so they’re basically free pest control. I’ve had less trouble with flies and the like since I decided not to bother spiders. Their webs always have prey in them so I know they’re doing their job.

  • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
    3·
    19 days ago

    A tip for this time of year when the orb-weavers are busy outside your house: make sure there’s no light coming out through your doors (if there’s a window, or you have a sliding glass door to the backyard) and do let a light shine out through a window, especially one with a bush or tree nearby. They will build their beautiful web where they can catch moths and mosquitoes trying to get inside to the light. And it’s not fun for either of you if you walk out in the morning and get a faceful of web.

    If you do find a web where it’s a problem, make a paper cone and roll the web like cotton candy. The spider will cling to the web while you take it somewhere better. Leave the paper for a day so the spider can eat the web for protein to make a new one. Indoor spiders don’t do well outdoors, but maybe a corner of the attic or garage?

    • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
      1·
      19 days ago

      Any advice for a ranged version of the paper cone idea? I’m cool moving the spider, letting it live, I’m not trying to kill it. I even like having them in the yard and whatnot. But the deep, deep arachnophobia will not allow me to get close enough to the spider to move it using a paper cone. A broom handle is about the minimum distance I need to be away from the spider before I fully cannot overcome the panic.

      Knowledge and facts do not help the situation. Adrenaline and heart and brain just lose control over the situation and I end up choosing flight. It’s not fun. It’s especially not fun because I am 6’3, broad-shouldered man in my 30s. People expect me to be macho and all that bullshit. And if you need a heavy thing moved, or if I need to save you from a vicious animal, I will do whatever I can. But if there’s a spider close enough to touch me, the thinking part of my brain loses all control over the moving-muscles part of my brain.