Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Expert warns that house spiders will die if put outside in the cold

House spiders that are thrown into the garden by well meaning householders will die from the cold, an expert has warned. Chris Cathrine, a spider expert for the Lothians and south of Scotland, is urging people to leave spiders found inside their homes alone. The warning comes as more spiders have been seen in the area compared to last year, which was a poor year.



The expert said there was little chance of a spider dying of hunger in a house. Mr Cathrine, British Arachnological Society spider recording scheme expert for south of Scotland, said that male house spiders are seen at this time of year running around people's houses as they are looking for a mate.

He said: "House spiders are harmless because they are unable to pierce human skin so I would urge people not to throw them out of their houses as they will die.They are also very territorial so they will try to get back into the house.


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"They are unable to survive outside at anytime of the year but especially at this time of year they will not survive the night outside. So I am calling for people to leave them alone. They are good for your house as they eat the bugs in it and are harmless." Female house spiders remain behind skirting boards on their webs so it is usually the males that are seen running along floors and walls in homes.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anything that has more than two legs in my house gets killed.

Anonymous said...

"The warning comes as more spiders have been seen in the area compared to last year, which was a poor year."

I think opinions may vary somewhat on the definition of 'a poor year.'

Candy said...

..."urging people to leave spiders found inside their homes alone."
Hell no! Then what? Make them a pet?

Anonymous said...

Even dogs? Your insane - and dangerous

Anonymous said...

Just become interested in their fascinating lives. Why kill? Because you can? Clever...now try bringing it back to life . Not so easy, life is sacred, of any sort. Get a glass and a postcard, place the glass over the spider, gently slide card under the glass, invert, hold card on and then release spider in a safer place is spare room, a different room to you (not outside) it will quickly hide. Take an interest in life and living things, listen to David Attenborough, its wonderful!

Anonymous said...

I love spiders and i never kill them, they live peacefully next to me. Kinda like pets :)

Anonymous said...

I'm terrified of spiders but I never kill them I have them removed to the loft room as I live in a old monestry that was built in the 1400's there's heaps of the Fuckers... right now there are 2 huge ones fighting over something.... Weird ass creature's pretty cool though..

faye said...

I don't kill my spiders either everything is here for a reason if it's in my bedroom when I'm going to bed especially on my roof I just move it to another part of my house.

Anonymous said...

I had a mosquito problem, so I let the hiuse become spider friendly. Well, guess what happened? Yes! So, I will not put any more outside, but what do I do with them? I guess I can move them to clean the kitchen counters, but this is crazy. Everytime I've put some outside, new ones appear.Someone is buying this house and reworking the interior. I guess that will be the sad end for most of them.

Ursine_Lad said...

I've been saying this for years. It's great to finally here it from a professional

Anonymous said...

I have a fake widow spider in my house I'm wondering what I should do with it because it's venomous and it's been threatening me for months but I don't want to hurt it.
BTW I have extreme arachnophobia (a fear of spiders)please could I get some advice on how to get rid of it.
Thank you.