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Peanut

Peanut

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Curious, was wondering if others live in areas with a yearly peak of spider populations? I do, September and October are the peak months. Depending on weather it might start august or last into November.

It’s not just one species, it’s all of them. If it’s extremely dry I’ll see 10/12 black widows, almost never see one the rest of the year. Brown Recluse’s are on the move, saw 2 yesterday and another today. Haven’t seen 3 all summer.

The most annoying are what I call wood spiders. Dozens of species and they love hardwood timber. I keep a slender stick in the shop in case I have to go check fences or cattle, I hate walking into them. Some of the wood spiders just put out long single strands, stronger than normal. They stick to my face and clothes, grrrrr! They can make a grown man look like he needs a straight jacket.

The ceiling of my porch is the upper deck. Big puggy spiders cover the entire 50ft, at least a dozen. Their body about dime sized, w/legs quarter sized.

I just went out to feed the dogs. I saw an especially big one crawling about 3ft from my door. I tried to step on it but it was quick. I wounded it and it suddenly got smaller. 100’s of tiny baby spiders jumped off it’s back and ran. I got all of them with my take on the “Irish River Dance”, glad I wasn’t barefoot.

There are webs in the shop, pole barn, chicken pen and corral. There was one over the tractor seat this morning. I would say “Welcome to Spiderville” but it’s the same across N. Mississippi and GA.

A few years ago I was gold prospecting in N. Georgia mtns. One morning I started down to a creek to set up my sluice box and saw this tree, sort of looks ghostly. I took the photo in mid-October on a cool foggy morning.

Anyway, was wondering if anyone else see’s peaks like this?

Gold Creek a (4)a.jpg
 
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It can get pretty webby in Texas too. Going down a state road one morning, it was a little foggy, October, and NO KIDDING, the webbing was going across the highway. >>>SHUDDER<<<
Heading into the city another time passing a golf course, again, early morning with dew (that doesn't happen very often) and there were spider webs all over some large trees and from the trees to the ground. It was pretty freaky looking.
This photo was taken in Texas (not by me), and I'm including the link to the article.

1632630759463.png


https://texashillcountry.com/giant-spider-web-texas/The article mentions spiders working together as a community to build webs.
Nice.
 
I was working in Columbus, Nebraska a few years ago, about this time of year or a little later. A coworker and I got a hotel room at the Days Inn, a big room with a kitchenette, and right next to the exit door at the end of the building. The first morning we came out of the building at 5AM and the parking lot was covered in wolf spiders. Hundreds and hundreds of wolf spiders. My coworker is a big strong farm boy, 6'3" and 275 pounds, not the kind you would think would freak out. He almost lost his mind! Then to make matters worse, the exit door right next to our room didn't seal up very well. Yup, the spiders came into the hotel, under the room door. He had left his suitcase on the floor. 4:30 the next morning, I'm half awake, getting ready for work, and I hear him screaming across the room, "Die, you Mother******, die! Die! Die!" They were in his work clothes. I hid in the corner and tried not to laugh.

I've never seen webs like in those pics y'all posted, but those damn black and yellow garden spiders always spin their webs across any open space I might want to walk through. I'll go a hundred feet out of the way to go around them. I hate spiders...
 
I avoided the woods the last couple of years. Had cataracts and couldn't see the webs sometimes. Fall used to be my favorite time to be outside but the woods are full of them this time of year. I hate walking into webs.

The rest of the year I rarely see spiders, maybe the odd wolf spider, daddy long legs. I usually ignore them. The only exception is the shop, it's full of brown recluse.
 
Hot summer is when the spiders take over here in my part of the world. I go out at night and the yard is filled with spider webs. Beautiful elaborate spider webs. They will all be gone in the morning. I have seen spider webs 40-50 ft wide. On my porches though, I take a tennis racket and play spider tennis. It keeps them clear for about 3 weeks before the new batch move in.
 
Coming on to winter the spiders seem to want to move indoors. They don't like to shovel snow either.

I was in Mexico a few decades ago on vacation. I looked over the side of my bed and saw a large spider on the floor. I was reading a hardbound copy of "Exodus" at the time, a rather large book. I dropped that book from about 4' to land flat on the spider. I could see parts of three legs sticking out from under the book. The damn spider tried to crawl away. I was afraid to retrieve my book.
 
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In my daughter's defense, she was allergic to spider bites and would get big welts if bitten. I taught her at a young age not to freak out, but if she couldn't step on it or hit it with a book, just get the vacuum and vacuum it up. It would be almost 10pm, and I would hear the vacuum going - knew she wasn't cleaning 😂 Usually October is spider month nothing like those pix above.
 
Peanut said:
Curious, was wondering if others live in areas with a yearly peak of spider populations?
Click to expand...

We see a pretty healthy 'flush', year round (I mean, duh, it's California.. ;) but August is about 'peak' for Our fav..

Steve-The-TRant.jpg


..My Boys and I would catch 'em every Summer on the Family camp-trips, and bring 'em home as pets.. They're Wonderful little creatures, and a blast to 'feed' / watch..

Females can get a bit 'testy', especially if cornered (..Interesting 'parallel', no? :p <jd ducks> ) but once 'trust' is gained, they're a fascinating way to teach yer kids, both from a 'learn to Not "fear" - yet still respect - Nature'-perspective (like we've also done with Honeybees :cool:), but also they Always made for Great 'school-report projects'..

Even Widows we generally leave alone to their business, but.. Recluses? Yeah, they get the boot - not much 'value as pets', with those guys, and 'necrosis' is no joke..

.02
jd
 
They're back! All those big fat spiders on my porch in September had little babies.

This morning there are 100's of little webs on the shrubs by my porch. It's also very foggy this morning, looks creepy.


spiders 10dec 4a.JPG
 
Peanut said:
The odd part this morning... we've had 4-5 heavy frosts in the last 2 weeks. I'm amazed that many tiny insects survived. I'd have thought they'd be holed up for the winter.
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We've had a few light freezes, but it warms right back up! Lots of bugs, and roads and lizards still around (probably snakes too)! Even some trees with a little green left on them!
 
phideaux said:
I've learned that spraying "Home Defense" all-around house doesn't even bother spiders. Nasty insects.

Jim
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Neither does WD-40. I shoot down wasps with it all the time. Dead in 15 seconds.:oops:
It takes about 10 rounds to kill a spider. More like drowning them minutes later.:mad:
Maybe someone will post something that is lethal to spiders besides smacking them with a shoe.
frying-pan-smash.gif
 
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