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... Spiders.

Chicory Blue

Chicory Blue

Secretly Queen of the Moon
Oct 9, 2016
1,264
6,209
Tralfamadore, Nubecula Minor
#1
Recently returned to civilization after a stint in farmville. Unloaded my things into my new room yesterday. Hoped the spiders didn't follow me.

Earlier today that hope was dashed in the worst way, when over the course of a single morning a small white spider had begun weaving a web from the wall to the headstock of my acoustic bass. I destroyed the defiler with great prejudice and thought... Well, that's that.

A few minutes ago I looked over and saw an entirely different species of spider sitting on the D string just above the sound hole. Tried to flick it off but it dove into the sound hole for safety.

Well. Guess I don't play bass anymore.

But seriously... What would you guys do about this sort of thing? My usual methods for dealing with spiders are all things I'd never do to an instrument. What's the best way to get squatters out of a sound hole and keep them out without damaging the bass?

--^@
 
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#4
First, welcome back to civilization!

You should almost certainly burn that bass in sacrifice to the bass gods. Make sure the spider is still inside, seal it, paint it with sigils and suchlike, then toss it on a pyre. You can toast marshmallows if you feel that'd be appropriate.



I mean, vacuuming would probably work, but where's the fun in that?
 
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#5
The vacuum brings temporary relief. The problem is that they are able to climb right back out after the motor is turned off.

Geez, I wonder if they breed in there? That would be a damned shame if you sucked up one spider into the vacuum and later, that night, as you lay sleeping comfortably in the fact you have removed the eight legger from your domain, the parade began and hundreds made their escape from the now silent vacuum.
 
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#8
I don't have a solution, but I can totally empathize. I have found wolf spiders that are as big as the palm of my hand in my basement. They are really messy and tend to leave obvious piles of refuse in their favorite eating places.

Lot's of other types of spiders about the house as well. I keep my laptop on a small desk in the corner of a bedroom. On a couple of occasions I have been repeatedly dive bombed by baby spiders coming down from the ceiling. Last time it went on so long that I took action and vacuumed them up. I have a central vacuum so at least that takes them out into the garage.

Another problem area is the pedestal at the entryway of my house. It's a split level so there is a landing in the middle of the house. There's an unused storage space under the landing that butts up against the garage. Over time various bugs and insects crawl under the wall from the garage into the house and then get chomped by the spiders. Eventually it starts smelling pretty awful, so I have to move a bunch of stuff so I can get under the landing and clean up the mess. I do spray along the wall with insecticide out in the garage to try and reduce the food supply. I don't like spraying insecticide in the house if I can avoid it though.

Whenever I vacuum I use the crevice tool to try and suck out as many of the spiders as I can. If I catch them in the open they get the shoe and then pick up the remains with tissue and flush them. Pretty sure I get spider bites a couple of times a month while I am sleeping, so I guess the feeling is mutual. All very minor, but still irritating. Better than cock roaches though
 
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#9
Wasnex said:
Better than cock roaches though
Click to expand...


Better than Goliath Birdeaters, too.

BCDE5D15-858E-4B01-B00A-F792BADCCD83.jpeg
 
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#10
We don't have any spiders that could do you real serious harm here in the UK really. I don't execute anything unless I absolutely have to, especially if it's found itself in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not enough justification for taking its life. No, as long as they're out of the way, they can live with me. I'm interested in how they operate.

There was a spider that set up home above the extractor fan in my bathroom. A long legged wisp of a thing. "Why did you choose there?" I thought. "You're not going to catch anything there, not too bright." A few weeks later I stood atop of a stool to take a look at him, and noticed the skeletons of three other spiders on top of the extractor fan cover. He was a daddy long-legs spider. And anyone was fair game to him.
 
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#12
Wasnex said:
I don't have a solution, but I can totally empathize. I have found wolf spiders that are as big as the palm of my hand in my basement. They are really messy and tend to leave obvious piles of refuse in their favorite eating places.

Lot's of other types of spiders about the house as well. I keep my laptop on a small desk in the corner of a bedroom. On a couple of occasions I have been repeatedly dive bombed by baby spiders coming down from the ceiling. Last time it went on so long that I took action and vacuumed them up. I have a central vacuum so at least that takes them out into the garage.

Another problem area is the pedestal at the entryway of my house. It's a split level so there is a landing in the middle of the house. There's an unused storage space under the landing that butts up against the garage. Over time various bugs and insects crawl under the wall from the garage into the house and then get chomped by the spiders. Eventually it starts smelling pretty awful, so I have to move a bunch of stuff so I can get under the landing and clean up the mess. I do spray along the wall with insecticide out in the garage to try and reduce the food supply. I don't like spraying insecticide in the house if I can avoid it though.

Whenever I vacuum I use the crevice tool to try and suck out as many of the spiders as I can. If I catch them in the open they get the shoe and then pick up the remains with tissue and flush them. Pretty sure I get spider bites a couple of times a month while I am sleeping, so I guess the feeling is mutual. All very minor, but still irritating. Better than cock roaches though
Click to expand...

A little diatomaceous earth sprinkled around the ground in that crawlspace might help!
 
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#13
I think killing spiders in most situations is unnecessarily cruel. Most spiders like to set up where they will be left alone so a vibrating upright is not likely to be appealing long-term. As far as spider bites go, most spiders have no reason to bite humans (not to mention that many spiders’ fangs are not long enough to penetrate human skin). The chances that the red spot someone wakes up with was caused by a spider is minuscule, but for some reason people love to jump to the conclusion that the (presumed) bite was caused by a spider.
 
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#14
Lagado said:
We don't have any spiders that could do you real serious harm here in the UK really. I don't execute anything unless I absolutely have to, especially if it's found itself in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not enough justification for taking its life. No, as long as they're out of the way, they can live with me. I'm interested in how they operate.

There was a spider that set up home above the extractor fan in my bathroom. A long legged wisp of a thing. "Why did you choose there?" I thought. "You're not going to catch anything there, not too bright." A few weeks later I stood atop of a stool to take a look at him, and noticed the skeletons of three other spiders on top of the extractor fan cover. He was a daddy long-legs spider. And anyone was fair game to him.
Click to expand...
In case you’re interested, it’s likely that at least one of the exoskeletons you saw (spiders don’t have skeletons) was the host spider’s own (post-molt). In my experience as an observer, a spider which has been eaten by another spider looks quite different from a shed exoskeleton.
 
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#16
bass12 said:
I think killing spiders in most situations is unnecessarily cruel. Most spiders like to set up where they will be left alone so a vibrating upright is not likely to be appealing long-term. As far as spider bites go, most spiders have no reason to bite humans (not to mention that many spiders’ fangs are not long enough to penetrate human skin). The chances that the red spot someone wakes up with was caused by a spider is minuscule, but for some reason people love to jump to the conclusion that the (presumed) bite was caused by a spider.
Click to expand...
Again with the Australia thing: redbacks (black widows in the USA) are not aggressive at all. They'll retreat to safety if they can.
We had the biggest infestation that a professional exterminator had ever seen, and not a single bite. Even from the one that leapt to safety from my partner's towel as she dried her hair - it ran away and hid, rather than bite.

That doesn't mean that big spiders don't creep me right the heck out...
 
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