Household Hints & Help
Related: About this forumThis was the closest to an appropriate place to put this
The problem is that I am Miss Havisham except there's no wedding cake (well, there wouldn't be because I would have eaten it), with cobwebs hanging everywhere, mostly from the ceiling down to the lampshade. And I could occasionally deal with them (I have a feather duster) but then I found out that actual spiders make those long threads--I'd had no idea. They are "cob spiders" and I started looking for one. Aha! This one was small and looked like you'd think a spider that made that kind of web would look--dust-colored and sort of invisible. It was not very big, which is probably why I'd never noticed one.
Well, I like spiders and I don't kill them, even if I find one in the house. I knock down their webs if they're inside--I'm not a total doofus--but what to do about these cob spiders? If their whole web is this sad little dusty string of a thing, won't the spider starve if I knock it down? I couldn't leave them up in the downstairs. They really are conspicuous in certain spots. I have decided I won't knock all of them down, and I'll just hope any visitors don't notice or have the good manners not to point them out--yes, I've had company that's pointed out dirt in my house, mostly little children. Well, screw 'em.
msongs
(70,171 posts)Backseat Driver
(4,635 posts)Spiders give me the creeps. A spider scream is an identifiable sound around here. We have high ceilings and there are places on stairways that reach up 15 ft. I would have trouble removing those dustbunnies/weblike structures for sure even w/extendable tools. I do "save" house/garage crickets and/or millipedes and shake them loose outdoors from paper towels. I flatten house flies dead with a swatter or whatever's handy and spray lots of hair spray on wasps/hornets; pollinator honey bees and bumbles rarely come indoors and I'd try to shoo them back outside if I can. Last night DH and I watched a young small praying mantis for a half hour climbing the outdoor pergola post--fascinating.
cyclonefence
(4,873 posts)our elementary school had cloakrooms in each classroom, where we hung our coats and put lunches etc.
One day I brought in a praying mantis egg case I'd found (probably 2nd grade or so) and after it got passed around, the teacher put it on a shelf in the cloakroom.
That spring, lots of screams as all our coats and jackets were infested with baby mantises!
NJCher
(37,868 posts)Nor do I mess with their webs.