@BirminghamMarc1972 I think @Fairygirl knows a bit more about care of spiders than someone who “sprays them and sucks them up the vac” I am no expert but I think many creatures which live outside happily in the summer would not survive a winter without shelter. I am happy to provide that shelter as without them we would be over run with flies, which I loathe!
The 'daddy longlegs' spiders you find in the house are cellar spiders which like warm and dry conditions so don't do so well in the garden. They'll do ok in sheds and outbuildings though. They eat pretty much anything including other spiders and their own kind. Useful beasts to have around if you have a fungus gnat problem too.
The big house spiders that seem to come indoors for the winter are tegenaria spiders. The females live in sheltered places and indoors all year round but the males are outside in the summer. Cold weather will kill them though so don't just dump them outdoors in the winter with no shelter. The females will hold a web for 5 or 6 years if left undisturbed but the males only last a year. Interestingly though cellar spiders will catch and eat the tegenaria spiders.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
At the moment we have about the same as usual I think, but we've had the inside all summer, which isn't normal. I leave them alone, but our cat seems to think they're toys for him to play with.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
My 20 year old daughter is petrified of spiders, the times I have to catch and release them from her bedroom.
On the subject of cellar spiders, on visiting my sister at her then new home in Oxfordshire back in 1989, it was the first time I'd ever seen one. I live in Northamptonshire but the cellar spiders seem to have moved north because they're common here now.
This summer my fields were crowded with wasp spiders. They are common but this year they were on almost every plant. Do I need to say that I have slightly arachnophobia😨.
I always feel sorry for the males @philippa smith2[ spiders that is ] just coming in to get used and abused then off somewhere to die all alone in a corner, while the laydees snuggle up safely undercover all the time....
Nice to have a proper name to put to them too @wild edges , although, no doubt I'll forget that and resort to calling them house spiders within ten minutes
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I think they last a bit longer than that @B3 - hopefully anyway- poor things eh? We need to ask @wild edges- although I think he mentioned on the previous page that they can keep their webs for several years. I expect it varies though.
Haven't seen any for a while, now I come to think of it. Maybe I should empty that understair cupboard....
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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I am no expert but I think many creatures which live outside happily in the summer would not survive a winter without shelter. I am happy to provide that shelter as without them we would be over run with flies, which I loathe!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
On the subject of cellar spiders, on visiting my sister at her then new home in Oxfordshire back in 1989, it was the first time I'd ever seen one. I live in Northamptonshire but the cellar spiders seem to have moved north because they're common here now.
Nice to have a proper name to put to them too @wild edges , although, no doubt I'll forget that and resort to calling them house spiders within ten minutes
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
We need to ask @wild edges- although I think he mentioned on the previous page that they can keep their webs for several years. I expect it varies though.
Haven't seen any for a while, now I come to think of it. Maybe I should empty that understair cupboard....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...