# Southern House Spiders



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

They're called House Spiders but all of mine live in the garage. They each have corners of windows they claim as their territory and they ferociously protect it from interlopers. They're large and very spider like in the way they move. 

They only come out at night are very shy and will run to hide when surprised. As they get used to me coming and going in the garage they don't run for cover as quickly as when they first become adults.

The only thing I find disturbing about them, when small they look very much like black widows. I can only tell they're not when I can see them from the top to see their markings.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

What kind of markings do they have on top?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

They've got what looks like fuzzy dots right where their legs connect to their bodies. 

From the side when young you see a black spider with long legs with a bulbous abdomen. As adults they're so big you know they're not a black widow.

I've often wondered if the reason I haven't seen any brown recluse or black widows in my garage is because of their presence.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Yes, maybe they keep the other spiders away.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

And that's why I've left them be. If I spray the garage I'm careful not to spray anywhere near them. They don't leave their respective windows so it's pretty safe.


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

Hmm- we have what we call wolf spiders here, and they're bad for being in the houses- and I think might also be called house spiders for that, but here's the thing.... I have an irrational hatred (not fear really, just hate!) of them all. Brown recluse bite at age 17 marked the first night I met my husband!  Oddly enough anyway. No spiders in my house! As long as they're outside I do leave them alone, though. I like their work.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

I guess sometimes it's best to maintain the local ecosystem.


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

But I happily released 500 ladybugs in my kitchen alcove to care for my little trees one year! And I used to hatch out a pod of praying mantids each spring, and I thought that was super cool actually.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Overmountain1 said:


> But I happily released 500 ladybugs in my kitchen alcove to care for my little trees one year! And I used to hatch out a pod of praying mantids each spring, and I thought that was super cool actually.


I get two kinds of ladybugs that like to overwinter in the barn.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Overmountain1 said:


> Hmm- we have what we call wolf spiders here, and they're bad for being in the houses- and I think might also be called house spiders for that, but here's the thing.... I have an irrational hatred (not fear really, just hate!) of them all. Brown recluse bite at age 17 marked the first night I met my husband!  Oddly enough anyway. No spiders in my house! As long as they're outside I do leave them alone, though. I like their work.


Funny, creepy story about a wolf spider in GA.

At the time I had two dogs, they were both outside. I was getting ready for work, went to put my khakis on but something caught my eye as I was going to step into them. I flipped the one side over and covering the entire inside pocket was a spider.

I screamed and threw the pants, ran out of my bedroom. Both dogs ran in wanting to know what was wrong. I'm beyond spastic. The dogs begging me to tell them what they needed to do. The spider came out of the bedroom. The redbone hound put his front paw on it. I could see the legs sticking out from under his paw and I'm thinking, "good Leon killed it." But when he lifted his paw it went scurrying up a rattan basket. I swear to you I could hear it.

I wanted to shoot it really, really bad. Before I could totally lose my mind it found the door and ran outside.

Isn't country living just the dream of a lifetime?


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

Yes. Yes it is. They're tough little buggars too! You're so right, idk how many times I've thrown a shoe and been all YEAH! And then Nooo!!! Lol that's a good one on yourself tho, thanks for sharing.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I was terrified of the spider but only a little anxious with the four foot black snake in my bedroom.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Maybe the snake was eating spiders.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Or the scorpion in our bed just as we were getting ready to climb in. Or the live squirrel my cat turned loose in the house. 

These days life out of the mountains is tame in comparison.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Yes, I guess so!


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## Slippy (May 14, 2020)

Its kinda funny, we get lots of spiders on our homestead every other year or every 3 years. It is a weird phenonemon, sure we have some small indiscreet house spiders all the time but every other year or once every 3 years they get bad! My Wet-Dry Vac gets a workout cleaning up after them.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Slippy, did you see many orb spiders this year? Compared to past years I saw very few this year. 

A disturbing sight was going into my garage one morning and finding every surface covered in webs overnight. I'm guessing I had a bazillion baby spiders hatch and the first thing they did was mark their territory.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

I need to take pics of the barn, I swear the webs are part of the architecture.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

The shop vac takes them out for a while.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

We get some pretty cool spiders here but I haven’t seen any large ones in our garden yet. Maybe the chickens have eaten them all.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Poultry Judge said:


> The shop vac takes them out for a while.


Except for what the babies did to my garage and if they're not in my way, I just leave the webs. I'm crossing my fingers that's a few less desirable bugs, like mosquitoes, are eliminated if I leave them alone.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Biring said:


> We get some pretty cool spiders here but I haven't seen any large ones in our garden yet. Maybe the chickens have eaten them all.


I can't tell if my heart could stand to see some of what lives in your neck of the woods. I'm picturing them big enough to carry off a cat.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Your chickens probably control a tremendous variety of insects!


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