We have a new pet. He moved in of his own accord about ten days ago, and now owns the prime spot in the right corner of one of our windows. I say ‘he’ but I have no idea whether Fred* (the name M gave him) is male or female.
In the picture you can sort of see some of the wisps of Fred’s web, and on the window sill all sorts of debris – up close it’s the discarded wings, legs and other bits of unsuspecting insects.
The web is actually relatively large, although you can’t tell from the picture. I’ve been observing Fred daily, and have been fascinated by the way he builds his web, pulling spider silk out of his bottom. Apart from one day when I saw another spider, (a smaller brown spider – which was there in the morning and gone in the evening) in his web, I haven’t actually noticed any other visitors.
I wish I could take a better picture of Fred, but I can’t really move the blinds without damaging the web, and I don’t want to poke the camera right at him. It’s M’s camera and I don’t think he’d be pleased to find it covered in spider webs. Also, if Fred is a black house spider (that’s what my brother identified him as and that’s most of the spider sites seem to identify him as – see this one from the Museum of Victoria, for example), I don’t really want to provoke him into biting me. Mind you black house spiders sound positively mild next to the redback.
Black house spider: “Because of its timid nature this spider rarely bites humans; however, the bite can cause general symptoms including nausea, sweating, localised pain and swelling.”
Red back spider: “In most cases, pain is the predominant symptom; the patient is sometimes distraught and even hysterical because of its intensity. …Sometimes severe pain develops in parts remote from the bite site, for example, in an opposite limb or the opposite side of the trunk. Uncommon, even bizarre, signs and symptoms developed in some cases. There were tetanic spasms, tingling in the teeth, swelling of the tongue, bite site infection, convulsions, excessive thirst, severe diarrhoea, anaphylactic reaction to the venom, blotchy rash on face, haemoptysis, dyspnoea, dysuria, severe trismus, persistent anorexia, periorbital oedema and/or conjunctivas. ” To be avoided at all costs, obviously!
A few weeks ago I found a red back in the bathroom, next to the sink. It seemed a pity to kill such a pretty spider but I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.
I don’t tend to think about the other creatures that share our living space. There must be lots.(I don’t count cockroaches in this – they are unwelcome, unwanted invaders. I know it’s irrational.)
*Name should read George, as requested by M. Mea culpa!
Picture of spider showdown put together using the Museum of Victoria’s spider gallery.
Categories: spiders
8 Comments
I tend to leave the spiders alone because they take care of the other pests in the house.
But when my mom comes to my house, she’d be, “Your house is untidy! So many cob webs everywhere!” 😛
*puzzled*
I never named him ‘fred’ and I wouldn’t have either. To do so raises the sorry spectre of our old pet who died at the beginning of the year 🙁
I did mention you should name him though. You can’t have a ‘pet’ without giving him a name 🙂
Can we call him ‘George’ instead?
Hello George!!! *waves madly* I like spiders; they don’t terrify me the way roaches do. And don’t old wives say spiders are good luck? Well, this old wife does! ;-P
Your spidey looks like a female. Male spiders are tiny compared to their mate. Most female species kill (actually eat!) their partners after mating too.
Hmm maybe I am exaggerating but I read this somewhere. Don’t sue me if I got it wrong!
I agree with cherryripe…I like spiders – I think they are lovely.
There used to be a huntsman that lived between my bedside table and wall for about three months. It would come out in the evening and go back in at dawn. One day I found it on my quilt so I thought I should probably put it outside before it thought it could get into bed with me.
I put it in a jar and took it to the backyard, gently placing it on the ground near the grevillia. Our neighbour’s german shepherd came along and *slhhhhhp!* ate the spider, just like that. I should have left it in my room.
Mooiness: Yep, there are definitely two schools of thought on this – cobwebs = pest control, versus cobwebs = mess.
M: I coulda sworn you called it Fred – but hey George is a good name too. Although maybe we should call it Georgette (see Israd’s comment).
Cherry: Do they really say that?
Israd: you know, you’re probably right! So that spider I saw in the web the other day was most likely a male spider, now consumed… *shiver*
Anna: Poor Huntsman! Just goes to show, dogs will eat anything!
Yes, Gran always used to say that to me. Maybe it was just to program me into not freaking out at arachnids. Whatever, it worked. 😉