Or, more accurately, how often do you see spiders in your house, of an offensive size and manner?
Because I have seen four in the past week, three skulking about the upper corners of my habitation box, one in a chair that dodged my attempts to kill it, and it pleases me not at all. <_<
FIVE, one evidently with a great sense of timing. What is this, a thrillomedy starring Jeff Daniels?
One every two or three months.
To what do you attribute your good fortune? Lack of vigilance or your inhospitable Iowan clime?
Seriously, this is fucked up. :(
None, ever. Altitude and cold have defeated the arachnid menace.
I've seen a distinct lack of daddy long legs this year and an increase in the beefy bite the fuck out of you spiders.
Yeah Ide, the fact that you live in the tropics probably has a lot to do with it.
None. I almost never see spiders in my home in HK. I know what you are talking about though, because we saw tons of spiders when we lived in Vancouver.
I see lots of cockroaches though. By contrast, we never had any cockroaches in Vancouver. Somehow cockroaches and spiders seem incompatible.
Quote from: Ideologue on July 03, 2014, 08:51:00 PM
Or, more accurately, how often do you see spiders in your house, of an offensive size and manner?
Fairly often. Maybe...once or twice a month. I smash them all forthwith. But I live in a warm place with my backyard to a greenbelt. We have bugs and animals and shit in our house all the time. Nothing to do but rack up giant body counts.
Quote from: Monoriu on July 03, 2014, 09:02:02 PM
Somehow cockroaches and spiders seem incompatible.
They both get along great in my house.
I don't remember the last time I saw a spider. I do get flying insects from time to time.
In Manhattan? Almost never. Quite freaky.
Never seen one in the 6 years I've lived here.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on July 03, 2014, 09:00:58 PM
Yeah Ide, the fact that you live in the tropics probably has a lot to do with it.
It is pretty warm. Over 100 the past couple days I think; definitely was yesterday. Absolutely miserable and gonna get worse.
Never. That is one of the great things about living in scandinavia. No large exoctic insects.
I have a large one just outside the door and a few small ones but its rare I see them indoors :(
Josq's comment leads me to wonder if your criteria for considering a spider potential harmful are less severe than mine. Pretty much anything other than those pinhead-sized ones that keep to the corners (certainly if it's more than a centimeter), I sanction with extreme prejudice.
The body bigger than a cm?
I don't think I've ever seen one that big in the wild, except perhaps those freaky green ones that I've seen in the countryside and want nothing to do with.
I remember in Australia we had 1.5 inch cockroaches running around the place. In Egypt there were actually 4 inch long cockroaches at the training well (and an adorable kitten that stalked them). And then there was the well site where the run-off ditch (A small ditch surrounding the well site set up to collect any spills to gather them in the waste water lagoon rather than pollute the farmland around) was covered in an inch deep layer of dead insects and the whole well-site smelled of death. Certainly I prefer the measly plague of mosquitos we get for a month in summer to that disgusting crap.
I live in a basement, so I see them all the time. I don't really care much.
Quote from: Tyr on July 03, 2014, 11:16:52 PM
The body bigger than a cm?
I don't think I've ever seen one that big in the wild, except perhaps those freaky green ones that I've seen in the countryside and want nothing to do with.
Legspan. Cm-wide body would be a wide-awake nightmare.
The size threshold is if, after you smoosh them, you can still feel the heft through the kleenex you use to pick them up.
Spiders freak me the fuck out. I eliminate them from my living space with extreme prejudice. Have yet to see any non-microscopic here urban land, luckily. In Hungary, being close to the countryside meant seeing some disgusting ones a few times a year, and annoying ones relatively often.
I didn't know so many people were afraid of spiders.
In the summer I see wolf spiders crawling across the ceiling about twice a week.
Some of them have strong enough poison to kill a human.
Wolf spiders are harmless. I just kill them because one dropped down on me when I was a child.
It was a reply to Raz. I did not make that post in under 10 seconds. :P
Quote from: Tam
Spiders freak me the fuck out. I eliminate them from my living space with extreme prejudice. Have yet to see any non-microscopic here urban land, luckily. In Hungary, being close to the countryside meant seeing some disgusting ones a few times a year, and annoying ones relatively often.
They are way worse in rural areas.
The worst one I ever saw was at Korea's dad's house. Legitimate Arachnophobia comparisons could be made. Looked about five inches legspan. Ceiling walker. I was spending the night; strongly considered driving home at 2 a.m., only did not do so at Korea's insistence.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on July 04, 2014, 01:27:40 AM
Some of them have strong enough poison to kill a human.
Yeah, but most don't. Also they are very small and I can outwit most of them. Besides they kill the other bugs that crawl on my when I'm asleep.
Oh yeah lots of wolf spiders. The occasional black widows too. You can always tell the difference between BW webs and regular ones. They are more tensile and stringy, less wispy.
No other insects at all. I've never seen a roach or a flea in fifteen years here.
I've heard that there are some crazy cool tarantula migrations out in the desert but I've never seen that.
Spiders aren't really insects. I let it go when viking said it, but I can't let it go if two people suggest that spiders are insects. It just wouldn't be pedantic if I did.
Admittedly this would be a little creepy.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FQHPby7r.jpg&hash=c816aaf24d336104921241b3fd49884477a5bb9c)
Are those even spiders? The legs are all wrong.
I'm reading this thread out of morbid fascination, but it's giving me the shivers since page 1.
Small ones (smaller, legs included, than a pinky's nail) are not a problem. Everything bigger, insect or arachnid, throws me in a state of agitation and girly screechs. Usually my wife terminates things this large, when it happens that they enter my house (usually a couple times a year).
Some years ago a locust entered my kitchen while I was cooking with the windows open, and I still have nightmares about it.
L.
Quote from: Ideologue on July 04, 2014, 02:02:20 AM
Are those even spiders? The legs are all wrong.
If they are Daddy Longlegs, then no they are not spiders technically.
/Razpedantic
:P
Aren't daddy longlegs(es) harmless?
I mean, it's gross, but...
They are like the second or third most poisonous arachnid, but they can't bite people. Jaws can't open wide enough or something. Otherwise, we'd be fearing them like tunnel webs or brown recluses.
Quote from: Ideologue on July 03, 2014, 11:27:01 PM
Legspan. Cm-wide body would be a wide-awake nightmare.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.telegraph.co.uk%2Fmultimedia%2Farchive%2F01080%2Fearth-graphics-200_1080292a.jpg&hash=a496a656a277b347cf2a96ea279ffb0177fa3907)
Yes, much like that special effects sequence from a movie.
Spiders? Hah!
None of any real size. But enough flies, ants and wasps. I live near the woods. If it's a wet spring and early summer, there'll be a lot of mosquitos, but they're hardly that bothersome.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fichef.bbci.co.uk%2Fprogrammeimages%2Fclip%2Fp00dlr0s_640_360.jpg&hash=bac934e658f741ea33700a62fe76bfa3e65a64c7)
If I saw one of those, my heart would explode.
About one a week, though the ceiling cobwebs would suggest more are at work.
Six. :unsure:
I haven't seen a single spider since I moved to my new apartment in February.
No spiders in my apartment. I sometimes get a fly or a mosquito when I leave the windows open in the evening.
I see plenty, but not really an issue here.
Helps having the windows open overnight in summer and living in the countryside,
In the South, you just can't keep a house entirely insect and arachnid free, especially if you have a wooded estate like me. :showoff:
This year the insects have been very light, due I think to the extreme cold we had this winter. We do have spiders, but far less than usual. Typically they are wolf spiders, which are harmless. A couple of months ago one crawled up my leg when I was sitting at my desk. I killed the little guy for that transgression but I normally leave these spiders alone since I figure they eat other insects.
We also have had corn spiders in the past but I haven't seen one of those in years. They like to spin webs along the outside of the house and in window boxes. They're really neat looking:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.geocaching.com%2Fcache%2Flarge%2F66d1434e-e015-4646-a039-a827714257d8.jpg&hash=a30f00480e38be86dfa63ef8ee659bb565a2f47d)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F2Sr2XdN.jpg&hash=832b19a82cc3e9cbfaf6b629cf130e0de7e0f9a1)
Quote from: Norgy on July 04, 2014, 03:42:42 AM
If I saw one of those, my heart would explode.
We get dock spiders in northern Ontario and Quebec that can be nearly that size. I once woke up with one hanging upside down on the inside of my mosquito net over my bed, directly over my face. Getting out of bed without shaking the net was fun. :lol:
Thing about dock spiders is that, unlike tarantulas, they aren't slow creepers - they can run at dazzling speed. Sometimes, they startle you if you are in bare feet on a dock by popping out of a crack in the planks, running across your foot, and disappearing into another crack before you can even react.
As far as I know they are pretty harmless - just big and startling. They are, in fact, big enough to catch and eat small fish (hence they are also known as "fishing spiders")
Some pics here:
http://arthropodecology.com/2012/08/13/canadas-largest-spider-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/
No spiders thanks to four highly active cats. Few insects, too, for the same reason.
Quote from: Ideologue on July 03, 2014, 08:51:00 PM
Or, more accurately, how often do you see spiders in your house, of an offensive size and manner?
Because I have seen four in the past week, three skulking about the upper corners of my habitation box, one in a chair that dodged my attempts to kill it, and it pleases me not at all. <_<
I tend to keep them around, in corners where they ain't too visible, so they take care of nasty bugs for me.
When I first moved in to my house, my brother and I found a spider in the garage of Australian proportions. It was brown and very big, about the size of a saucer. It was really fast and could roll itself up into a ball and move like that. It was killed with religious zeal, but I later found out it was a wind scorpion and the college would have paid me a lot of money for it if I'd trapped it intact. They didn't want it in pulp form.
Maybe once a decade.
I don't live in the jungle.
Quote from: Iormlund on July 04, 2014, 02:28:36 PM
Maybe once a decade.
The spider-slayer robots have a pretty enormous success rate, I take it?
Quote from: Malthus on July 04, 2014, 07:57:09 AM
Quote from: Norgy on July 04, 2014, 03:42:42 AM
If I saw one of those, my heart would explode.
We get dock spiders in northern Ontario and Quebec that can be nearly that size. I once woke up with one hanging upside down on the inside of my mosquito net over my bed, directly over my face. Getting out of bed without shaking the net was fun. :lol:
Thing about dock spiders is that, unlike tarantulas, they aren't slow creepers - they can run at dazzling speed. Sometimes, they startle you if you are in bare feet on a dock by popping out of a crack in the planks, running across your foot, and disappearing into another crack before you can even react.
As far as I know they are pretty harmless - just big and startling. They are, in fact, big enough to catch and eat small fish (hence they are also known as "fishing spiders")
Some pics here:
http://arthropodecology.com/2012/08/13/canadas-largest-spider-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/
By definition spiders aren't harmless. :x
:hmm:
Everyday. Mostly daddy long legs, either in my bathroom or in my basement.
I think there's one in the corner right now.
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 05, 2014, 07:53:36 PM
Everyday. Mostly daddy long legs, either in my bathroom or in my basement.
I think there's one in the corner right now.
Do you mind?! I'm trying to lose my religion over here!
I flicked a small one off my window ledge the other day. But in general I don't get many spiders.
Maybe I really do live in the subtropics. I'd never make it in the real deal.
I lived in the subtropics once. The spider situation was not appreciably worse than in Southern California. But Christ, the bees...
Not... THE BEES!
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F37.media.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_lpu2uroUTy1qlva78o1_250.jpg&hash=bed04fdcf25aa1337f038f4346b1d2b0a4c5df03)
Quote from: Ideologue on July 04, 2014, 03:02:16 PM
Quote from: Iormlund on July 04, 2014, 02:28:36 PM
Maybe once a decade.
The spider-slayer robots have a pretty enormous success rate, I take it?
Hey, everyone needs a hobby.