Which house spiders, in California, are "harmless?"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

When I lived in San Jose, I know I spotted a black widow in the garage. Since moving two and a half years ago, I haven't seen any. But how does one recognize the "good" ones that are just snackin' on household pests? I know that sometimes the "least harmless looking" ones can also be the ones that bite.

[SoCalDem]

1. Wolf spiders make nice "pets".. they eat lots of flies, and their web is spectacular to look at

Th eone I had was very territorial, and stayed right with his web.. My boys & I would stun flies, and flick them into his web, just to see that guy haul spider-ass up to "greet the fly"..

My boys brought all their little neighborhood friends in to see Mom's spider.. He lived in the corner of my greenhouse window over the sink..and of course that's where flies hung out, thinking they could get out..ha-hah on them..

[EvolveOrConvolve]

6. The wolf spiders in my house don't spin webs

Instead, they "hunt" (for lack of a better word), usually for other spiders. They are enormous creatures, at least compared to other spiders in my area, and I wash one down the drain in my bathtub at least once a week. I don't know where they hide during the day, but I do know they only seem to come out to hunt at night.

My cats love to play with the wolf spiders - they make good sport.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

10. My cat loves spiders too...

...I can always tell when she's got one. She sits like a stone statue and just...OBSERVES.

:rofl:

[janx]

11. I'd love to see that! n/t

[EvolveOrConvolve]

13. One of my cats makes a strange clicking noise with his mouth

when he's got a spider or other bug in hit sights. It's the weirdest thing.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

17. Desmond Morris, author of "The Naked Ape," explains that in his book "Catwatching."

My cat does it too. What you're describing is the cat "going through the motions" of the kill...the jaw movements that would come into play when killing / eating its prey.

It's a book that EVERY cat owner shoudl read, because it explains a lot about why cats do what they do.

On edit: I can MAKE my cat make this noise. She loves to watch birds, and if I say "Birdies, Seiko!" she makes the noise...just like a Pavlov's cat.

:rofl:

[EvolveOrConvolve]

24. Thanks for the suggestion!

I just ordered the book from Amazon - it looks like a very cool read.

:hi:

[SoCalDem]

35. The one I had, built a large funnel shaped web in the corner of the window

and we could watch his shadow when he was down inside it..and when a vibration from a fly touched the web.. he was ON IT..in an instant.. I never saw him anywhere but inside that web... ---we had a "pact".. he stayed there, and everything was A-OK..BUT if I ever saw him cruising around anywhere else..and well you know :)..

He was there for quite a while..and then one day, he was just gone... Maybe one of our cats got him, or maybe he just moved outside..:shrug:.. He was a cool spider though :)

[flvegan]

2. None.

All spiders are, by nature, inherently evil and only put on this planet to kill us.

I hate spiders.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. When I lived in San Jose I had a black widow in the garage...

...it was right behind the garage door, and when you'd open it to go get the mail, you could see it scurry out of the way.

That's the only home I've lived in...TO MY KNOWLEDGE...that had black widows.

Here, it's the brown spiders with fat legs or the beige / light brown ones with spindly, thin legs.

[janx]

7. I've run into black widows in Colorado and New Mexico.

They are amazing creatures with superior web abilities that are fun to watch. They're very nimble and fast when it comes to web building. When I see one I kill it, because of the dogs, but I don't enjoy doing so.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Hear, hear!

[janx]

5. Really?

I've known people who hate them, and I have an aversion to a spider from time to time (if it's big), but I've never understood the spide hatred. I dated a guy for awhile who was petrified of them, and at first I thought he was joking. He was not! I had to take care of all of our spide occurrences.

I have some of them in my house that are annoying simply because they are so prolific (they're like small daddy longlegs and reproduce like crazy), but just this afternoon I admired a very cute little spide that was crawling on the wall up to the ceiling. This little guy (or gal) had big plans. Tiny spide! Before I knew it, it was dropping from the ceiling onto my desk! :rofl: It's still in here somewhere... :shrug:

When I was little, my mother used to insist that we grab them with a Kleenex and take them outside to let them go. And she loved to play with the little ones. The big ones were a drag and had to be caught in a jar.

[flvegan]

8. I don't mind the tiny ones so much.

I'll leave them be. Anything up to the size of a quarter, I'll catch and release. The big, big ones? Might as well be a home invader with a shotgun. Probably going to be him or me.

It's not that I hate them, I hate them being around me. Scary, icky, walking on the ceiling and playing "death from above!" with you. ACK!

[janx]

9. The next time you see a little one--this is really fun and what

my mother taught me--put a finger in front of it and watch what it does. (I miss my mom.)

[fizzgig]

14. i've heard my husband squeal like a little girl at the sight of a large spider

there was one night when he refused to go to the bathroom until i came and got the spider out of the hallway :rofl:

what makes it all the more hilarious is that he's a big, kinda burly, very manly-looking man and to hear him squeal like that...:rofl:

with the exception of black widows, all spiders get trapped and released outside.

[janx]

16. I know! Once there was a spider the the bathtub.

AAYYYEEE!

Another time, there was a black widow out by the shed: MOMMMEEE! :hi:

[EvolveOrConvolve]

25. I consider myself a manly man - at least until there's a spider nearby

Then I'm more like your husband.

It's odd because I have no fear of snakes, even poisonous ones like rattlers. But spiders scare the bejaysus out of me.

[LeftyMom]

15. I remember when you refused to go camping out here because of, and I quote "tarantulas."

I explained that no, there are no wild tarantulas in Northern California, and you wouldn't budge. I showed you links proving the nearest wild tarantulas are eight hours away by car. Still nothing. I wondered if perhaps you thought that one of those SoCal desert tarantulas would carjack somebody to come after you. I pointed out that there actually ARE tarantulas where you live. Still nothing.

Phobias are funny.

That said, if I had a shoe big enough, I'd totally squash bridges and tall buildings with it. Spiders don't bother me at all, but I can't stand high places, especially if I'm on foot or over water.

[flvegan]

26. Look at Post #12. Brown widows!

Didn't even know we had them here, now they're there!

I'm moving back to Boston.

[LeftyMom]

29. The idiot drivers should scare you more. nt

[janx]

30. You and Leftymom are funny.

;-)

[janx]

27. I have to admit that as well.

I'm terrible about walking on logs over water. I'd rather wade through it. (that's pretty bad.)

[Eyerish]

21. +1

:thumbsup:
Evil 'lil bastards

[begin_within]

12. There is now a "brown widow" in California

Formerly known mainly in Florida, they are thought to have migrated to southern California when someone unknowingly moved something (such as patio furniture) that had the spiders or eggs on it. The brown widow is also toxic but is more timid than the black widow. One more thing to worry about. I believe black widow and brown widow are the only 2 toxic spiders seen in California. The infamous brown recluse spider is extremely rare in California, I read only 10 specimens of it have ever been verified. Black widow and brown widow spiders have the same type of web, random lines in all directions rather than a neat pattern or regular shape, and the webs of brown widows are particularly strong. Egg sacs of black widows tend to be smooth round white globes, while those of brown widows have small bumps all over them. If you have outdoor patio furniture, I would check it carefully on a monthly basis in the warm months and spray with a pyrethrum insect spray if you find any signs. If you find egg sacs incinerate them with a blowtorch. There are plenty of other places for spiders to live besides your furniture.

http://www.247wildlife.com/brown-widow-spider.htm
http://www.badspiderbites.com/brown-widow-spider/
http://cisr.ucr.edu/brown_widow_spider.html

[NNadir]

18. Spiders? You wanna talk spiders? Try the Brown Recluse.

Chopping wood a few years back, I got a bite from one of those suckers.

My hand swelled up to about 3 times its normal size. The pain was intense and pretty much untreatable. Damn!

Actually, it turns out I was relatively lucky: http://www.brownreclusespider.org/

[OffWithTheirHeads]

19. Define harm.

I like spiders. They eat mosquitoes therefore, they are my friends.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

22. Harm as in bite you while you sleep.

That's about it. If they don;t bite me, I don't squash them.

[janx]

23. Some will bite when you sleep...if you crash your arm over them.

But they do not descend on you and bite you for fun.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

32. If you are sleeping, how would you know?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

34. Well, for example, you're laying in bed...

...and you look up at the ceiling, and you see that little black shadow in the crack between the wall and the ceiling, and you think "I could go to sleep and forget that he's up there, and just go to sleep" or "I could get up and squash the little bastid before he slinks down on that web of his and sinks his venomous fangs into my NECK."

Like everything else in life, it's a matter of choice.

:rofl:

[Kaleva]

20. The ones that don't kill you will be the harmless ones.

You'll find out by trial and error. Altough the error will be rather finale and will prevent further trials.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

33. And yet...strangely enough...I take no comfort in your reassuring words.

"You'll find out by trial and error."

:spray:

[janx]

28. Here:

http://nature.berkeley.edu/~stevelew/cbcstuff/common_spiders/big_spi_quilt.html

Edit:

Latrodectus hesperus
Family Theridiidae
"Black widow"

This is the only spider that you are likely to encounter in California whose venom is medically significant. The red hour-glass may be yellow or orange, and may not actually be shaped like an hourglass. Males and immature females are not solid black, and have attractive marble-like patterns on their abdomens. Makes a typical theridiid tangle web.

[KamaAina]

31. Oh dear. I have a solid black one in my closet.

:scared:

Kind of small, though.

[emdistortion]

36. I don't know about spider venom toxicity

But I do know its supposed to be bad luck to kill a spider in a new home. I just try avoiding them in general. It's not a phobia, I just don't like being around them, though they make good pets.

[janx]

37. I saw my small spide friend again today

and still didn't take it outside! It's too much fun to watch the tiny thing roam around the home office.