The smiling spider :)

[Kyriakos]

I had that kind of relation but with ant. I really think they are nice and meant well, I remember went home to my rented house after months of long holiday during my undergrad, I end up finding lots of bugs like thousands covering my wooden door it is sosmuch that my door turned black (my house near farm), when I enter my house, the freaking bugs come along with me. Water was off, my stupid pc was broken, and with tons of bugs inside my house, I remember I lost myself and went on rampage killing the bugs, with lots of its dying on the floor I went to sleep. When I woke up to my amusement everything was so clean, there were no trace of bugs in the floor, then I realized the ant carrying all of them. Oh man how I love and respect the ant from that moment till now, I forbid everyone to kill an ant infront of me, they are my buddies in arm!

Ants are cool, unless it is those mutated fire ant/other demonic species in Australia or tropical jungles.

 

[H4run]

Ants are cool, unless it is those mutated fire ant/other demonic species in Australia or tropical jungles.

red fire ant! I forgot about them! We had it also, but it's mostly reside in trees not at household

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Spiders are mankind's eternal allies against mosquitoes, fleas, mites, bedbugs and other parasitic vermin than means us ill. If I see one in my apartment I see a friendly soldier patrolling the streets for my safety. Mind you around here there are no spiders dangerous to humans. Even if they wanted too their fangs are just too small to pierce human skin. But perfect for taking out other insects.

Houseflies? Sure. Fruit flies? Yep.

But I have never witnessed any spider around here dealing with mosquitoes.

I just killed my first maple bug of the season yesterday (they're huge, I've only seen them in THIS building and nowhere else, and thank goodness the manager said they're not one of the insects that require an exterminator). It took several stomps and then crushing it by hand (I used a kleenex).

Maddy is useless for this sort of thing; the last time I killed one of these things, she got upset because she'd wanted to play with it.

I'm tempted to put a sign on the outside of my door: "Entry into this suite is forbidden to all life forms with more than four legs. Trespassers will be squashed, swatted, and stomped on as necessary."

I love spiders, I have a tarantula in my office. I see them as being the cats of the bug world: they keep us safe from pests. I always name spiders I find in my home and assign them guardianship, and check in on them to see how they're doing. Plus they're just so cute! Could be that as a Scorpio I might have a bit of a soft spot for arachnids.

Have you ever made the acquaintance of rhubarbodendron, over at TrekBBS? Her avatar is a spider of some sort.

 

[NovaKart]

I think they’re gross but I don’t have a strong reaction to them, unlike snakes. I mostly just ignore them.

It is strange to me how in Greek mythology they’re a woman hanging herself.

 

[AmazonQueen]

As I recall Arachne was transformed into a spider because she had the temerity to beat Athena in a weaving contest.

 

[Kyriakos]

I think they’re gross but I don’t have a strong reaction to them, unlike snakes. I mostly just ignore them.

It is strange to me how in Greek mythology they’re a woman hanging herself.

It is the worst idea to antagonize gods (also in greek mythology). Athena just couldn't stand that a mortal was crafting better designs than her.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I voted for "I am a spider" since there was no "banana" or "radioactive monkey" options.

 

[rah]

One of our cats eats bugs. My wife encourages her. The other one chases them and swats them around until she gets bored but doesn't always finish them off. More encouragement required.

 

[Lexicus]

They always thaught me the more beautiful and colourful they are the more dangerous and poisonous they would be. You don't have that kind of beautiful Spider in your home country?

Not so much. Around where I live (not where Snerk lives) the most colorful spider is probably this red boi:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse_spider

I'm not sure, but I'd guess that most of the spider bites where i live, that just cause itching, are probably caused by this one since it has such large fangs for its size.

But the deal with spiders is, they all are poisonous. The vast majority of species do not have large enough fangs and/or gape to pierce human skin and deliver venom. I don't think the potency of venom correlates with bright coloring. The most venomous species afaik are various shades of brown and grey.

It is entirely different in Australia, aka radioactive monster country.

Not so different. Actual deaths by spider bite are extremely rare including in Australia.

Oh dear, I wouldn't recommend doing this, house spiders have adapted to indoor environments. Likely those spiders you find, and dozens of generations before them, have never been outside and can't survive out there.

Putting them in a shed or garage if you have one would probably work fine, we get plenty of house spiders there too, but just sticking them outside on a cold, wet night would be unkind.

I live in a basement, and I get a fair number of outside spiders in there - I found a small wolf spider on the floor of my room maybe four months ago. That one escaped under a bookshelf so I couldn't put it outside, but I found a much larger one in the bathtub one morning and I trapped it in a cereal box and stuck it outside.

The house has a basement entrance, as it were, a stairway with brick walls underneath the main front stairs leading to the first floor, so it's sheltered from above and like a quasi-outdoor space. That's where all the spiders I take out of my room or the bathroom get deposited. Most probably make their way back inside within a matter of minutes

But I have never witnessed any spider around here dealing with mosquitoes.

There are mosquito corpses from time to time in the webs outside around my house and sometimes in my room. I just wish there were more

I voted for "I am a spider" since there was no "banana" or "radioactive monkey" options.

I also voted for "I am a spider" because I actually am a spider.

 

[rah]

We get Brown Recluse Spiders.
Their bite can cause issues.

I love the following description

Signs of a brown recluse spider infestation mainly include spotting one, or noticing webs in and around the home.

Yeah if I see one, I can assume that it is one. DOH.

 

[Lexicus]

My parent's house in NJ used to have some magnificent orb weavers in the yard around the house. We had a large pine tree six or seven feet away from the front steps (this was felled by Hurricane Sandy in 2012), and the largest webs would sometimes stretch from the bannister on the steps to the tree. They would occasionally make a web right in front of the front door. Walking into one of these webs while coming home at night was never fun, sometimes the spiders would be large enough that I'd hear them hit the ground when that happened.

Orb weavers are handsome spiders though, and make nice circular webs:

 

[Valka D'Ur]

One of our cats eats bugs. My wife encourages her. The other one chases them and swats them around until she gets bored but doesn't always finish them off. More encouragement required.

It depends on the bug. The cat I had many years ago who found mice to be icky, disgusting things would have no problem eating a beetle. It bothered one of my typing clients one day, when a beetle was crawling up the curtain, and Lightning just looked at it, slurped it up onto her tongue, and chomped it down (chew-chew-chew-gulp!). The client thought it was "ewww" and I just said, "Good kitty, take care of the bugs."

But many years later, Gussy (a feral kitten I caught and tamed) decided to try out his hunting instincts on a member of a six-legged species... he decided to attack a bee.

The bee, of course, was unimpressed, and stung him. Gussy's paw swelled up until it was twice its normal size. Back then we had no internet, no Wikipedia, so I had to call a vet and literally run to the library to find out what the possible effects of this might be. And then I spent the next 48 hours watching him to make sure he didn't stop breathing. Yes, cats can be allergic to bee venom.

Thankfully Gussy wasn't. He recovered, but abandoned the idea of hunting insects. The next thing he hunted was a french fry that had been dropped on the floor (I found him batting it around the kitchen).

I also voted for "I am a spider" because I actually am a spider.

*stomps on Lexicus*

 

[AmazonQueen]

I do love the rational, calm, level-headed approach of British tabloids

https://www.express.co.uk/news/natu...warning-ravenous-arachnids-feasting-your-home

Anyway the answer to spiders appears to be more spiders!

 

[shadowplay]

About 13 years ago, I saw a black widow as I was taking out the window A/C. It must have been attracted to the wood I used to prop it up, which got very moist due to the condensation dripping off the machine. They like moist, wooden locations I've read. It quickly scurried off and I've never seen one again since.

We get Brown Recluse Spiders.
Their bite can cause issues.

I love the following description

Yeah if I see one, I can assume that it is one. DOH.

Brown recluse? Don't you live in Chicago? I thought brown recluse were South and Central American?

 

[Yeekim]

I have no issues with spiders commonly found in Estonia, who are thankfully small in size and not venomous to humans. Those found in my house are treated with gentle respect.

The bigger, hairier types make me rather uneasy though.

 

[rah]

One spider found in Kentucky and much of the Midwest that is potentially dangerous is the brown recluse. It is sometimes referred to as the ‘violin’ or ‘fiddleback’ spider because of the violin-shaped marking on its dorsum. Although brown recluse spider bites are rare, the venom can sometimes cause serious wounds and infestations should be taken seriously.

When I was a carpenter doing remodeling we used to see them a lot above/behind soffit and fascia.