Giant House Spiders
I'll preface this by saying I an not afraid of most spiders, and this house has thousands.*
This house has Giant house Spiders, which can be big. I looked up and spontaneously gasped a bit ago as an enormous one (conservatively pegged at 3.5 inches with legs, body 1.5 inches) stood coltishly upon the place where the wall turns into the ceiling. I went off to drag over the stupid in-the-wall-vacuum-system hose and actually had to check before entering the spider room in case it had moved to, say, the AREA ABOVE MY HEAD UPON ENTERING =========:o. It hadn't, so I sucked up that one and a lot of small ones.
*SJ on Friday: What do they EAT????
Me: I think the ones which don't build webs probably eat other spiders.
SJ: But what do the ones in webs eat? I don't see any insects.
Me: Or any dead insects in the webs.
Labels: spiders birds
posted by 
- 6:34 PM
- 6:34 PM
Comments:
I've read that the females are the web builders and the males are free roaming. and of course we know often the female eats the male...nuff said... we find lots of bits of earwigs that have been spider-sucked. and our cat goes around eating the spiders. he sputters - i think they are spicy. he won't touch earwigs tho.
L.T.
L.T.
# posted by 
: 30 September, 2008 06:53
: 30 September, 2008 06:53
Osprey's spiders would eat them like cheese doodles and lick their fingers. Guinea fowl eat them too. Nothing else. L.T.
# posted by : 30 September, 2008 07:44
: 30 September, 2008 07:44
The only things I've ever seen in this house are spiders (ranging from normal to the jumborrific type), salamanders, a white-footed mouse, and sometimes a clothes moth. Therefore either the spiders eat salamanders and mice, or they eat each other, or - perhaps - they eat EVERYTHING ELSE.
I LOATHE black beetles (ugh, the smell) and years ago had a garage where they'd puddle up under the gasket. I'd open the door and exhort my bantams to gobble the beetles up, which they did attempt to do, but would look queasy and run away after a minute or two.
I LOATHE black beetles (ugh, the smell) and years ago had a garage where they'd puddle up under the gasket. I'd open the door and exhort my bantams to gobble the beetles up, which they did attempt to do, but would look queasy and run away after a minute or two.
Wikipedia:
The Giant house spider is indigenous to north western Europe and the pacific northwest of North America.
The webs built by the Giant house spider are flat and messy with a funnel at one end. The spider lurks in the funnel until a small invertebrate happens to get trapped in the web, at which point the spider runs out and attacks it.
They usually build their webs in corners (on both the floor and ceiling), between boxes in basements, attics, or any other area that is rarely disturbed by large animals, or humans.
Males can often be seen wandering around during the late summer and early autumn looking for a mate.
With speeds clocked at 1.73 ft/s (0.53 m/s), the giant house spider held the Guinness Book of World Records for top spider speed until 1987 when it was displaced by sun spiders (solpugids) although the latter are not true spiders as they belong to a different order.
An established population of Giant house spiders is generally considered to be a deterrent to the establishment of a Hobo spider population. Giant house spiders compete with Hobo spiders for the same resources. Male Giant house spiders will often kill Hobo spiders and will not hesitate to make a meal of one. Hobo spiders grow no more than 1 1/2 inches long as where the giant house spider can grow to the length of 4 inches (100 mm).
The Giant house spider is indigenous to north western Europe and the pacific northwest of North America.
The webs built by the Giant house spider are flat and messy with a funnel at one end. The spider lurks in the funnel until a small invertebrate happens to get trapped in the web, at which point the spider runs out and attacks it.
They usually build their webs in corners (on both the floor and ceiling), between boxes in basements, attics, or any other area that is rarely disturbed by large animals, or humans.
Males can often be seen wandering around during the late summer and early autumn looking for a mate.
With speeds clocked at 1.73 ft/s (0.53 m/s), the giant house spider held the Guinness Book of World Records for top spider speed until 1987 when it was displaced by sun spiders (solpugids) although the latter are not true spiders as they belong to a different order.
An established population of Giant house spiders is generally considered to be a deterrent to the establishment of a Hobo spider population. Giant house spiders compete with Hobo spiders for the same resources. Male Giant house spiders will often kill Hobo spiders and will not hesitate to make a meal of one. Hobo spiders grow no more than 1 1/2 inches long as where the giant house spider can grow to the length of 4 inches (100 mm).
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