Spiders controlling pests

[Kevin_PR]

I am definitely an individual with arachnaphobia. I almost had an accident once when I saw a spider crawling across my windshield. However There is a species of communal spiders that I do allow to set up webs anywhere above my head. I have about 30 of them now all different sizes. They are pretty tidy and replace their webbing often. Lately I have been seeing "cotton puffs" stuck in the webs, which are actually mealy bugs. The webs give me a heads up to any kind of growing infestation and help keep the local insect population down. For now there is balance and peace,so as long as they keep their webs above 5'5"

[TOMMYMIAMI]

Very cool idea Kevin, I hate spiders for sure, but I do allow them to hang out at the balcony as well, they do not bother me there - I would NOT let them build any web above my head though!:-)))

[WhiteRabbit]

Spiders can definitely startle me big time - especially the bigger black jumping spiders that seem to love living in/on my outside orchids! But, I have learned to appreciate them

[GardenTheater]

I was crawling around in my garden and saw a small one dangling from my hair. I took deep breaths to keep me from running and screaming. Then I was able to grab its line and move it to the ground.

[RandomGemini]

I signed a treaty with the spiders when we moved into this house.

It's really simple. They have their boundaries. If they stay where I can't see them, we're cool. If I see them, I shriek, grab a flip flop and send them to meet their maker and proclaim that justice has been served.

I know there are a lot of spiders in my basement, my son, who had the basement all to himself, has made a different treaty with them. If he sees them, he leaves them alone unless they look freaky. Freaky looking spiders get picked up on a paper towel and released into the wild. Me? I don't trust 'em.


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[Ferns Daddy]

Living in a old house its hard to keep the spiders for making a home in my basement, I have less bug on my plants over wintering in the basement and if they leave me alone I let the live there.

[NYCorchidman]

As long as they are small and do not bite, I don't mind.
I see quite a few tiny ones, but never seen webs. thank goodness! lol

I think they all died somewhere in the corner of the living room or just live without the web.

I hope they eat any bugs they can possibly find on my plants.

[Orchidsoutdoors]

Spiders don't bother me, and I live in an area with an amazing diversity of spiders, most of them very, very small with a range of shapes and colours - even one with bright blue and red markings on its abdomen. I'm happy to have them there because they keep the nasties away, the worst of which is the native Dendrobium Beetle.

The one thing that I find interesting is that, even with orchid species that aren't native to my continent, the spiders find the flowers and hide inside them, ready for a meal. They're smart little creatures to be able to work out that the flowers will attract insects, and lie in wait.

[RosieC]

I let spiders be, unless they are really big walking across my living room carpet (not sure why that's the only place I spot the big ones but it is).

We don't generally have biting/poisonous ones here luckily.

I do find each year's batch learn where they can and can't build webs. Each year some start building between my husband's car and the shrubs he parks near. Then they learn that they can't do that as the webs will be broken regularly and they stop even trying.

Similarly they start trying across the path by the same shrubs... one must have realised the web kept getting broken and actually attached from the shrubs to the upstairs window in an arch that exactly missed our heads... so we left it be

Similar in the green house. I break the webs in the way, but leave ones not in my way and leave the spiders. They soon learn not to make them across the centre of the greenhouse, however the next year's hatchings will give it a try again.

[Kevin_PR]

Originally Posted by RosieC

I let spiders be, unless they are really big walking across my living room carpet (not sure why that's the only place I spot the big ones but it is).

We don't generally have biting/poisonous ones here luckily.

We are lucky here in PR not to have poisonous animals either. Despite being a full on tropical island, we were never connected to the mainland, there are no dangerous animals here. The only native mammals were bats. Our Apex predators are red tailed hawks.