Autumn's here, the spiders are trying to come indoors !

[Toddy]

@Toddy
A small cup of vinegar is good to get rid of fruit flies.... well... it attracts them, so I'm not sure the range of attraction... but they often drown in it.

I hadn't thought to do that, but I make and use a lemon peel soaked in vinegar cleaning liquid, and I used it in the shower last week on the glass doors, and the menfolks were complaining about 'wee flies' in the bathroom afterwards....probably the vinegar

 

[Nice65]

@Toddy
A small cup of vinegar is good to get rid of fruit flies.... well... it attracts them, so I'm not sure the range of attraction... but they often drown in it.

The Wasp Trap paradox.

 

[Toddy]

Who knew ?
They've animated dead spiders to use them to grip stuff.....won an Ig Noble award for doing so.....
Mechanical Engineering prize

Past Ig Winners

Ig® Nobel Prize Winners For achievements that first make people LAUGH then make them THINK Winners by year: 2023 : 2022 : 2021 2020 : 2019 : 2018 : 2017 : 2016 2015 : 2014 : 2013 : 2012 : 2011 2010…

improbable.com

“Necrobotics: Biotic Materials as Ready-to-Use Actuators,”

The 33rd First Annual Ig Nobel Prizes:

The 33rd First Annual Ig Nobel Prizes ceremony (September 14, 2023, Webcast) The 33rd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony happened on Thursday, September 14, 2023, at 6:00 pm (US eastern time). Th…

improbable.com

and the article itself....

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202201174

 

[Tony]

Spiders and 4 daughters don't work well together, although the girls (except for the youngest) have done well over the years to become more able to deal with spider situations themselves...
Plenty of practice at the moment!!

 

[Pattree]

One of my daughters was extremely arachnophobic to the extent that it was affecting her career choices. She got professional help and really worked at it.
She now has a little boy and her own home and it’s easily able to remove any spider that she meets. A huge change from panic attacks - so it can be done.

I once wrote to the BBC when they did a program about arachnophobia. Obviously a number of arachnophobes are going to be interested. The bloody opening shot was a full screen close up of an orb spider. She was terrified!!!

 

[Toddy]

Phobics are all too often cruelly treated by others who think, "It's funny ", when it's anything but funny

Personally I really, really don't like anything fluttering near me. Totally harmless they might be, but I don't deal well with it.
Spiders I just pick up and throw out, but I know folks who are absolutely hysterical when confronted with one that they cannot avoid.
Again, not funny.

 

[Pattree]

No one can help their phobias. We once kept lizards among other animals. Whenever we took a box into the vets surgery he would back against the wall and ask what was in the box before we were allowed to open it!

Phobias are controllable but if avoiding them or limiting confrontation allows you to live as you choose then fine.

My daughter only took action because her phobia did limit her choices.

I like spiders. What troubles me is that I am pretty sure that we all have phobias - but I haven’t come across mine yet and one day it’s going to ambush me.

 

[grainweevil]

Perhaps your phobia is fear of ambushes?

I can't say I'm fond of spiders, but considering the frankly unlikely number of times I've had one fall on my head it seems to me I'd be entitled to run screaming from the room. As it is, I leave them alone if at all possible, and chivvy them along as necessary.

 

[Pattree]

Did any arachnophobes see the Harry Potter spider scene?
Chloe (daughter) was fine as the spiders got bigger until that single big hairy leg. That shut her eyes.
The spider scene from Jermanji did too.

 

[Wander]

You know what, I don't think I have a phobia of any animal at all.
Of course, I'm cautious and respectful around dangerous animals, but not phobic.
If I was locked in a room with a hungry tiger and someone was towel-whipping its love spuds then I'd naturally be concerned, but I think that's only natural.
But I really can't think of a single animal that I have an irrational fear of.

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

I must admit, I find peoples phobias of animals do make me laugh hard, I don't mean to and I do totally get that it's not nice when someone is fearful , but I genuinely can't help it....

I wouldn't however go out if my way to push that fear for someone... "oh you don't like spiders?" *throws spider at them*. I think for 2 reasons, 1 it's cruel to the person, but also cruel to the animal/creature as generally people fearful flail around and jump and it could fatally wound a critter and I'm not keen on that.

 

[Pattree]

@Scottieoutdoors
One day you may discover one of your phobias and then you will understand.

I have not found mine yet unless it is a shudder when I see rusty chains and control gear disappearing into deep water.
On the other hand I have seen it in several of those close to me. It isn’t rational, it’s very deep seated.

Has anyone marketed a spider/insect catcher? I’m thinking of an elaboration on the simple glass and card system, maybe on a stick. I’m still evicting hornets but that’s for their own good.

 

[Wander]

Lifts.
For me it's lifts.
I will never go in a lift.
I'd sooner walk up 50 flights of stairs (and I have).
But I will NEVER go in a lift.

 

[Woody girl]

I realy can't bear being near daddy long legs, (crane flys?)
I just have to run away. Totaly irrational, don't know why, but they totaly spook me out .
Don't like snakes either, don't mind slow worms, and handle them fine, .....but snakes, ... erugh! Run!

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

@Pattree
I think you perhaps misunderstand...we all have fears anyone laughing at mine isn't funny to me, but I can respect that me jumping 10ft in the air over a spider is probably pretty funny to others... so in a manner it somewhat becomes quite funny.
I'll then proceed to deal with the spider etc as I'm fortunate enough to not be cripplingly terrified of them... (UK ones).

So laughing at others fears if they have the ability to get away from the fear is funny... again, I must reiterate, I would not push the phobia by tricking someone into facing it, nor do I find someone bursting into tears over something amusing.... but having a friend of mine leap into the air flailing his arms around shouting "WHAT THE **** WAS THAT!!?" then running off about 10 metres from a toilet block in a foreign land when some sort of large flying insect was disturbed by his entrance was perhaps something that brought me close to dying from laughter...

Another scenario, we have some hanging hessian sacks over a doorway and I walked through them one morning sorted a bunch of bits turned back to walk through them again and witnessed the largest UK spider I've ever seen. No one else was awake yet and the inlaws were round, so I caught it in a pot and put a cover over it to show everyone as no one would have believed me... My FIL came down, I showed him, then we were chatting and unbeknownst to me my wife came down... intrigued by a random ill placed pot... I was sitting there and heard a huge screech! Got to admit, I laughed.

 

[Pattree]

Oh I understand that well enough

True anecdote coming up.
A very dear friend of mine, now departed, lived in a crumbling old mansion by the South Wales coast. She kept a small animal collection which included Hudini, a reticulated boa constrictor about six feet in length. “Houdini” of course because he didn’t stay in his cabinet in the cellar.
In hot weather he would climb the four stories into the roof void and cool himself in the huge slate water cisterns that were up there.
On the fourth floor was a magnificent toilet fitted out with mahogany and brass. A long brass chain pull disappeared through an ornate brass ring in the ceiling.
More than one guest ended up panic stricken on the landing with their nether garments round their ankles as Houdini rattled down the chain to find out why his bath had been emptied.

 

[Broch]

The truth is that the two most common UK species of Eratigena (House spiders) don't 'come into houses in Autumn/Winter', they live there all the time. Although E.duellica prefers undisturbed locations such as outbuildings. The reason we see more of them in Autumn is as Toddy says, it's mating season and the males are running around searching for a mate. If you throw it out it will come back in so you really are best just ignoring them The Common House Spider (Tegenaria domestica) only lives in houses

Years ago I carried out an experiment where I put a dot of tippex on a spider carapace before throwing it out. It was back the next day. I then marked every 'house spider' we saw that season - I can't remember how many we got to but it was in double figures.

Oh, and only about 1% of spiders in the UK can bite through human skin and no UK spiders are seriously venomous. There are about 700 spider species in Britain however, so 7 that can bite!

 

[Pattree]

I’m pretty sure they can all bite but they might not hurt!!!

…..88….
>> O<<
>> 0 <<.
>> 0 <<
>> O <<
….. V …..

<oooo@*
^^^^
I regret that I am reduced to creating my own emojis and smilys.

 

[Broch]

I’m pretty sure they can all bite but they might not hurt!!!
**
>>8<<
>> 0 <<.
>> 0 <<
>> V <<

<ooo@*
^ ^
I regret that I am reduced to creating my own emojis and smilys.

Yes, they can all bite but only 1% have the power to penetrate human skin (apparently).

 

[Pattree]

That might depend on the skin

Yay - look what I can do!