wolf spiders!

[sgtmom52]

I'm OK with the spiders in the house ~ they eat the stink bugs that are having a population explosion and invading our house right now!

 

[Pinky]

Quote:
I would rather have the spiders than stink bugs in the house

 

[Oregon Blues]

I don't mind spiders in the house. They provide good pest control.

However, if you don't want spiders in your house, get rid of all your other bugs. Spiders won't live where there is no food for them.

Spiders don't go outside at night to hunt and then come back into the house to sleep. If you've got spiders in the house, that means you've got bugs in your house that the spiders are eating.

 

[gpwelding1]

Quote:
x2,just like any other preditor,the will only be where there is a food source!

 

[bobbi-j]

Quote:
That's what the Shop Vac is for...

 

[OvertheHenHouse]

Quote:
That's what the Shop Vac is for...

 

[Nambroth]

Quote:
Welcome to autumn!! As the days cool off, large spiders tend to seek warm air, which leads them into houses. We have a finished basement and this time of year is the 'spider floor' time of year. I keep a clear glass and a rigid card ready; I plop the glass over the spider, slide the card underneath and then toss them back outside. They may or may not find their way back in. If you are not willing to spare them, a vacuum works well.

Have hope-- once it starts freezing outside you shouldn't have any new ones come in!




Also, in regards to the Brown Recluse, if anyone is curious:

male: http://bugguide.net/node/view/61619/bgimage
female: http://bugguide.net/node/view/43006/bgimage
Eyes: http://bugguide.net/node/view/245770/bgimage
Range map: http://bugguide.net/node/view/33494

Lots of spiders are brown, and lots have a "violin" marking. The important characteristics that conclusively distinguish the brown recluse from similar spiders are things like their eye pattern (Loxosceles is a six-eyed genus, with their eyes arranged in three distinct pairs: most spiders have eight). Aside from the infamous violin (which some individuals have, and some don't), they are also unusually smoothly-colored spiders, with no banding or patterning on the legs or abdomen, and no visible spines on the legs. They are also fairly small spiders, mostly not larger than could comfortably stand on a U.S. quarter with legs fully stretched out.

With that said, brown recluses aren't a threat to most people. Being bitten at all is rare, considering how common the spider is in its range (not very, depending on localities), and most bites are "dry bites" which inject no venom. Nearly all bites where envenomation definitely took place heal on their own, and misdiagnosis is still impressively common. Actual statistics, of course, are somewhat misleading anyway: people seeking medical treatment for a "spider bite" rarely thought to collect the spider at the time, and often didn't see a spider at all. The "spider" is a retroactive explanation for any mysterious skin lesion, which has resulted in spiders catching the blame for everything from staph infections to Lyme disease.

 

[MuckyPuppy]

I like spiders and enjoy watching them scurry across the carpet from one dark corner to the other. I did once live in a house that had an infestation of scorpions but managed to even enjoy that when one managed to fall from the ceiling and into my ex-MIL's bath when she was visiting.

 

[watchdogps]

I have two guineas, but it was only today they got braveenough to venture out of the barn. I did find a hedgeapple tree down the road and I gathered a five gallon bucket of them and set about twenty around the house and some near the doors outside. I'm ging to get more tomorrow and set them around the foundation of the house too!

 

[skywatcher]

I heard hedge apples would repell spiders,never tried it to comferm this