Jumping spider having a snack by our front door!

[FriendlyGeek]

Which one?
The jumper one has, yes

All of them, they are too scary LOL

 

[FriendlyGeek]

If a spider sets up home somewhere out of the way in the house, I'll name it and try to leave it be, sometimes throw a bug in the web! Had a nice orb weaver in the top of the kitchen window for a few months, and I was genuinely sad when I found her dead


The house spiders we get here have their breeding season around August - September, and I'm always aware of that and a bit wary! Spray peppermint around doorways and windowsills to try to keep them out, but most years, one will surprise and freak me out, and I have to either give it the shoe, or trap it and get my fella to remove it! In the breeding season the males travel around the house at night, looking for females, and that's why they're often found trapped in the bathtub, or when they come running out from under furniture at you.

I vividly remember one year I was lying in bed at 1-2am, reading a book while lying on my side, and one fell from the picture frame above me and landed on my book, right in front of my face. I leaped up screaming, not really grasping what happened, but I knew it was a big spider right in front of my face, and I saw it vanish over my pillow and go down the back of my bed.
Grumpy confused boyfriend at the time, woken by my screaming, and doesn't like spiders much himself, tried to tell me to leave it, but no way could I go to sleep there, knowing the spider could climb back up at any minute! So he had to pull the bed out and find and release it before I'd agree to go back in the room, lol.

Similar to me! I have slept downstairs on the sofa before because there was a spider in my bedroom, no way will I bunk with a spider of any size LOL

My previous dog used to chase, catch and eat spiders. My current dog chases them but then decides to play with them kind of touching them gently with her nose until they run and then chasing after them......but she always let's them get away in the end she is a terrible spider catcher!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Similar to me! I have slept downstairs on the sofa before because there was a spider in my bedroom, no way will I bunk with a spider of any size LOL

My previous dog used to chase, catch and eat spiders. My current dog chases them but then decides to play with them kind of touching them gently with her nose until they run and then chasing after them......but she always let's them get away in the end she is a terrible spider catcher!

I had a cat once who was a great spider eater! Only one out of about 7-8 cats I've lived with in my lifetime though, but she was awesome! Miss that cat, and that she nommed spiders for me! My dog will snap at flies, but I don't think has ever killed or really attempted to kill another living thing, ever. What kind of dog was your spider hunter? I might have to get one!


I want to like spiders. I do find them interesting! I don't like to kill them either, that only happens if it's a 'them or me' situation. But spiders seem determined to freak me out and reinforce the phobia! I haven't even shared my worst spider encounter story yet...

I was watching a fun reaction video about huntsman spiders in Australia the other day, @Colin_T ! Now there's a NOPE spider if I've ever seen one. I even follow a few youtubers who keep spiders and tarantulas - they're not so bad from behind a screen. Giving in to the phobia reinforces it though, and I don't want to be shutting myself out of rooms until a big strong man can rescue me like some helpless damsel - that's not my style at all. So I try so hard to overcome the fear and not let it get worse. It does help! I think I'll always have that instinctive "urgh" panic when surprised or with a large house spider, but when I'm working on desensitising myself, it does help, I promise. Can catch and move smaller or cellar spiders with bare hands now, let the orb weaver stay and actually enjoy checking on her, that kind of thing.

 

[Rocky998]

If a spider sets up home somewhere out of the way in the house, I'll name it and try to leave it be, sometimes throw a bug in the web! Had a nice orb weaver in the top of the kitchen window for a few months, and I was genuinely sad when I found her dead


The house spiders we get here have their breeding season around August - September, and I'm always aware of that and a bit wary! Spray peppermint around doorways and windowsills to try to keep them out, but most years, one will surprise and freak me out, and I have to either give it the shoe, or trap it and get my fella to remove it! In the breeding season the males travel around the house at night, looking for females, and that's why they're often found trapped in the bathtub, or when they come running out from under furniture at you.

I vividly remember one year I was lying in bed at 1-2am, reading a book while lying on my side, and one fell from the picture frame above me and landed on my book, right in front of my face. I leaped up screaming, not really grasping what happened, but I knew it was a big spider right in front of my face, and I saw it vanish over my pillow and go down the back of my bed.
Grumpy confused boyfriend at the time, woken by my screaming, and doesn't like spiders much himself, tried to tell me to leave it, but no way could I go to sleep there, knowing the spider could climb back up at any minute! So he had to pull the bed out and find and release it before I'd agree to go back in the room, lol.

Yah my parents remove all spiders seen. Dead or alive lol.
Sorry your spider buddy died ...

I usually will squish spiders I see in the house but every now and then (depending on resources around me) I catch and release...

Now that would be scary. I don't like it when spiders just go: "Hello there!!"

This is my favorite moment from Henry Stickman:

 

[FriendlyGeek]

The spider catcher dog was a boxer

I fear them so much that I can't be in the same room - I can just about deal with really tiny ones like money spiders but anything larger than that.....just no. I have no idea where my fear comes from because neither of my parents are afraid of spiders and neither are any of my siblings, I guess I'm just the odd one out! When I lived alone I would absolutely vacate rooms in my house that were occupied by spiders - I can't get close enough to be able to squish them so would just have to wait until they left (or hid somewhere where I couldn't see them)

Now I live with my hubby but he is afraid of them too, allbeit not as much as me, so he can usually deal with them whilst I hide away in safety haha

 

[GaryE]

You would think that in Canada, with the short season, we'd have no big spiders. They manage to grow. I always check the kayak before I get in.
If you annoy a large dock spider, it'll charge you. They can be very aggressive with their turf.

 

[Rocky998]

The spider catcher dog was a boxer

I fear them so much that I can't be in the same room - I can just about deal with really tiny ones like money spiders but anything larger than that.....just no. I have no idea where my fear comes from because neither of my parents are afraid of spiders and neither are any of my siblings, I guess I'm just the odd one out! When I lived alone I would absolutely vacate rooms in my house that were occupied by spiders - I can't get close enough to be able to squish them so would just have to wait until they left (or hid somewhere where I couldn't see them)

Now I live with my hubby but he is afraid of them too, allbeit not as much as me, so he can usually deal with them whilst I hide away in safety haha

It's totally fine to be afraid of them... They are freaky things...
I'm just not AS afraid of them as some people.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I usually will squish spiders I see in the house but every now and then (depending on resources around me) I catch and release...

Aaaww, mean! I get it, I often instinctively want to squish too, but they're just trying to live their lives, and they catch the nasty insects like mozzies! Have a shed you could relocate them to? Most of the ones you find inside will die if put outside (or just come right back in, lol) so I try to release them inside the shed. I don't mind them living in there since I only need stuff from there occasionally.

@FriendlyGeek aaww! Boxers are lovely dogs! I think my next dog might be a border terrier... have wanted one for a long while. But would depend on how current dog feels about it, her feelings about the matter come first!

 

[Rocky998]

Most of the ones you find inside will die if put outside

Their fault for trying to live in luxury being a stowaway!
But yes I try to relocate when possible.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

You would think that in Canada, with the short season, we'd have no big spiders. They manage to grow. I always check the kayak before I get in.
If you annoy a large dock spider, it'll charge you. They can be very aggressive with their turf.

I had to look these up, gah! They're like much larger, thicker, scarier versions of our house spiders. I don't like! I read this, (scary spider photos warning for those who want to avoid!) and realised I have seen videos of these, but doing the swimming/scuba diving thing! Which is really cool and interesting. But only really cool and interesting when watching the slowed down footage in a documentary, not if one was charging at me or trapped in my kayak with me! (also it's cool that you kayak! I've loved it every time I've had a chance to do it )

 

[FriendlyGeek]

You would think that in Canada, with the short season, we'd have no big spiders. They manage to grow. I always check the kayak before I get in.
If you annoy a large dock spider, it'll charge you. They can be very aggressive with their turf.

OK I just made a huge mistake and googled these........OH. MY. GOODNESS!!! Why did I do that

I'm off for a lay down now, I need one after seeing those things

 

[Essjay]

We used to have rather pretty stripey legged spiders which made webs at face height across the gap between the garage and the fence, the gap where we keep the wheelie bin. That's an 8 foot gap. I got used to looking for webs before putting stuff in the bin and relocating the spiders to the bottom of the garden. But I haven't seen any for a couple of years.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

We used to have rather pretty stripey legged spiders which made webs at face height across the gap between the garage and the fence, the gap where we keep the wheelie bin. That's an 8 foot gap. I got used to looking for webs before putting stuff in the bin and relocating the spiders to the bottom of the garden. But I haven't seen any for a couple of years.

Urge, we get those sometimes, the ones that can spin HUGE webs across a large span... I hate that feeling when you walk into a web! Frantically wiping myself down feeling like I have spiders all over me lol

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Jumping spiders and wolf spiders are my people.

Orb weavers are nice neighbors (I believe that's what Essjay is describing), and @TheLavenderBadger and I used to have fun throwing grasshoppers to the huge catface spiders on the deck; they are fascinatingly disgusting. I generally don't kill any of them if I can help it.

But...One morning I got up around 4 a.m. to go hunting. It was a bit chilly so I pulled a sweatshirt off the line on the front porch and put it on. While making tea in the kitchen, I suddenly noticed a strange cold spot against my arm; this was followed by a realization that this cold spot was moving in an entirely sinister fashion. I removed the sweatshirt rather quickly, give it a shake, and a catface with a body the size of a nickel plopped out on the floor. Instinct took over. I'm afraid she did not survive the encounter.

 

[GaryE]

I don't squash dock spiders, probably because they would grab my foot and thrash me around against the trees. I know when I've met my match.

We've made it to page 2 without someone posting that they keep one of these semi-aquatic spiders in a fishtank as a pet. We're doing okay...

Many years ago, I was at a friend's place in the country when a really large dock spider crawled up from behind the couch and sat on the wall, staring at us. My friend, a playwright, threw a book at it and killed it, first throw. Hardcover books, you know. He told me that if he'd had a gun, there would have been air holes all through the wall, to let more of them in.

Luckily, the pen was mightier than the flamethrower, the machine gun or the rocket propelled grenade.