d***@fsmail.net
2012-09-08 22:01:20 UTC
When I returned home today, I sat at my computer. A few seconds later, I saw a fairly small spider dangling down on a thread all the way from the ceiling. It was like it was abseiling down. When it reached my head height it stopped. I decided to catch it and let it go outside. I am not sure what type of spider this is, but it is small, has long front legs, and its silk is very strong. It might possibly be a missing sector orb weaver spider.
In my kitchen I currently have two small spiders. I am not sure what species they are, but they are the same. They have built little webs in different places on the skirting board. They seem to eat mainly woodlice. As the woodlice only crawl on the ground I assume that the spider descends to catch one, bites and paralyses it and then lifts it up into their web to eat (I have seen a woodlouse in the web). When the spider has finished they drop the woodlouse to the ground in pretty much the same place. There is a pile building up. The last time I tried to remove a pile the spider didn't seem to like it. Maybe it is like a larder and they haven't finished eating them? Or maybe when I try to move them they think it is a new live woodlouse and come to investigate? I am happy to let them stay. They clearly are happy just being in one place and they have a food supply (although I guess they may be getting bored with the same dish on the menu every day).
I assume that the woodlice come through the windows. I throw them out most of the time as if they stay they will eventually die.
Today I saw something very unusual. In the UK there was a lot of rain earlier this year. The slug and snails population has grown. Today when I left the house at 7 am I could see about eight slugs quite close together on the grass. That seemed strange. Normally they are at in the grass, mostly hidden, not on it. Maybe they were after the morning dew as it hadn't rained overnight?
I have crickets on my lawn at this time of year. I can hear them at certain times. If they sense me moving outside they will stop making their sound. However, if I wait they will start and if I look carefully sometimes I can see one or two and the leg movements as they make their sounds.
Occasionally I see a spider of the tegeneria species (duellica or gigantea, I am not sure) in my house. They are large and run very fast. I always recoil, but I am not as scared as I used to be. Sometimes I don't even bother catching them and just allow them to stay in the house. A week or two ago I found a female that had built a "ledge" of silk on one of my suitcases and there was an egg pouch hanging off it. The mother spider tries to coat the egg sac with debris. Apparently this helps regulate the temperature. Although my house is a bit of a mess, she had only found one piece of debris to stick on it. I had thrown the spider out before I saw it. If I had seen it first then I would have let her stay. It is now uncertain whether the eggs will survive.
There are lots of common orb weaver spiders outside at this time of year. They build magnificent webs overnight. They somehow manage to attach threads between objects over a metre apart and then build a large web in the middle in which they hang upside down. It strikes me as a remarkable engineering feat.
Sometimes I get moths in the house. I increasingly think they are beautiful and there is so much variety. Apparently very few species of moths in the UK eat clothes or fabrics and most of the larger ones are fine. I usually catch them and let them out.
Occasionally I find hedgehog droppings down the side of my house, but I rarely see them. The few times I have it looks as though they are purposely following a regular route. They seem to know where they are going.
I try to let wild flowers grow in my garden and usually get quite a few bumblebees. I notice that different species like different types of flower. I let the brambles go and one particular species loves that. Another goes for clover on my lawn. One of my bush produces tiny flowers and it doesn't look like it would generate much nectar or pollen but the bees like it.
A few of the bees are solitary bees. I once had a male wool carder bee. These are solitary bees who will try to defend a territory by attacking other bees and chasing them away. The only bees they allow to stay are female wool carder bees. I watched the bee and it kept hovering and then pouncing. However, the bumblebees mostly ignored it and it didn't seem to have much luck scaring them off.
Occasionally I am lucky enough to come across a zebra jumping spider. They have great eyesight and leap from object to object. I don't throw them out, because they are very mobile and I am sure they will find a few things to eat.
A few times a year I find a bright green Southern Oak Bush Cricket on the ceiling of my bedroom. I never find them anywhere else, except dead ones which have dropped to the floor. They don't make any sound, at least not while they are in my bedroom. I throw them out, if I can reach them (often they are not).
I have lots of ants in my garden. Because I let my garden run wild they rarely try to come in my house and I hardly need to use any ant powder. They climb up one of the trees in my garden and they farm and milk aphids on some plants. I think most people who have ant problems do so because they have taken away all the ants' natural food. I have two types of ants - black and red ants. The red ants excavate a lot more than the black ants.
Dolphinius
(Male, age 40 +/- a few months, UK, self-diagnosed AS)
In my kitchen I currently have two small spiders. I am not sure what species they are, but they are the same. They have built little webs in different places on the skirting board. They seem to eat mainly woodlice. As the woodlice only crawl on the ground I assume that the spider descends to catch one, bites and paralyses it and then lifts it up into their web to eat (I have seen a woodlouse in the web). When the spider has finished they drop the woodlouse to the ground in pretty much the same place. There is a pile building up. The last time I tried to remove a pile the spider didn't seem to like it. Maybe it is like a larder and they haven't finished eating them? Or maybe when I try to move them they think it is a new live woodlouse and come to investigate? I am happy to let them stay. They clearly are happy just being in one place and they have a food supply (although I guess they may be getting bored with the same dish on the menu every day).
I assume that the woodlice come through the windows. I throw them out most of the time as if they stay they will eventually die.
Today I saw something very unusual. In the UK there was a lot of rain earlier this year. The slug and snails population has grown. Today when I left the house at 7 am I could see about eight slugs quite close together on the grass. That seemed strange. Normally they are at in the grass, mostly hidden, not on it. Maybe they were after the morning dew as it hadn't rained overnight?
I have crickets on my lawn at this time of year. I can hear them at certain times. If they sense me moving outside they will stop making their sound. However, if I wait they will start and if I look carefully sometimes I can see one or two and the leg movements as they make their sounds.
Occasionally I see a spider of the tegeneria species (duellica or gigantea, I am not sure) in my house. They are large and run very fast. I always recoil, but I am not as scared as I used to be. Sometimes I don't even bother catching them and just allow them to stay in the house. A week or two ago I found a female that had built a "ledge" of silk on one of my suitcases and there was an egg pouch hanging off it. The mother spider tries to coat the egg sac with debris. Apparently this helps regulate the temperature. Although my house is a bit of a mess, she had only found one piece of debris to stick on it. I had thrown the spider out before I saw it. If I had seen it first then I would have let her stay. It is now uncertain whether the eggs will survive.
There are lots of common orb weaver spiders outside at this time of year. They build magnificent webs overnight. They somehow manage to attach threads between objects over a metre apart and then build a large web in the middle in which they hang upside down. It strikes me as a remarkable engineering feat.
Sometimes I get moths in the house. I increasingly think they are beautiful and there is so much variety. Apparently very few species of moths in the UK eat clothes or fabrics and most of the larger ones are fine. I usually catch them and let them out.
Occasionally I find hedgehog droppings down the side of my house, but I rarely see them. The few times I have it looks as though they are purposely following a regular route. They seem to know where they are going.
I try to let wild flowers grow in my garden and usually get quite a few bumblebees. I notice that different species like different types of flower. I let the brambles go and one particular species loves that. Another goes for clover on my lawn. One of my bush produces tiny flowers and it doesn't look like it would generate much nectar or pollen but the bees like it.
A few of the bees are solitary bees. I once had a male wool carder bee. These are solitary bees who will try to defend a territory by attacking other bees and chasing them away. The only bees they allow to stay are female wool carder bees. I watched the bee and it kept hovering and then pouncing. However, the bumblebees mostly ignored it and it didn't seem to have much luck scaring them off.
Occasionally I am lucky enough to come across a zebra jumping spider. They have great eyesight and leap from object to object. I don't throw them out, because they are very mobile and I am sure they will find a few things to eat.
A few times a year I find a bright green Southern Oak Bush Cricket on the ceiling of my bedroom. I never find them anywhere else, except dead ones which have dropped to the floor. They don't make any sound, at least not while they are in my bedroom. I throw them out, if I can reach them (often they are not).
I have lots of ants in my garden. Because I let my garden run wild they rarely try to come in my house and I hardly need to use any ant powder. They climb up one of the trees in my garden and they farm and milk aphids on some plants. I think most people who have ant problems do so because they have taken away all the ants' natural food. I have two types of ants - black and red ants. The red ants excavate a lot more than the black ants.
Dolphinius
(Male, age 40 +/- a few months, UK, self-diagnosed AS)