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A couple years ago I had an experience with a spider that entirely changed my perspective on them and most insects, and now I make a conscious effort to help th
by bryans 5y ago
A couple years ago I had an experience with a spider that entirely changed my perspective on them and most insects, and now I make a conscious effort to help them as much as possible, instead of kill or even repel them.
This particular spider kept running back and forth between my monitor and a window, and when it'd get to my monitor, it would wave its front legs at me. If I moved to the left, it would run across to the left side of the monitor and waves it legs again. If I stood up and moved closer to it, it would run back to the window, turn around, and waves its legs at me. From watching YouTube too much, I was always under the impression that this was either a sign of aggression or a defensive stance.
But after a few times of going back and forth like this, I realized there were approximately 50 baby spiders around a light by the window, which had been closed since the previous day. Normally this would be a nightmare for me (I've always had a fear of spiders), but after a while, I had this crazy notion that the spider was trying to get me to open the window. So I did, and it immediately ran to the babies, wrapped a single strand of silk around the old webbing, and started dragging swaths of the babies' webbing toward the window.
I have no idea if the room was just dry and they needed some humidity, or if the food had been too scarce for too long. Whatever it was, that parent spider was in full blown panic mode, and managed to effectively communicate their problem to a human. I haven't killed any spiders or insects since (aside from a few particularly asshole-ish mosquitos), and actually keep small water dishes in my bathroom for two spiders who've now lived with me for nearly a year. If any babies hatch inside and get close to me, I use my phone's flash to guide them back to a corner with a light on -- they are seemingly always drawn to the brightest light source.
Spiders are incredible creatures, and I deeply regret not realizing that sooner.
- 2ion 5y agoThis is a bit more elaborate behaviour than what I have observed from our (small) spiders here, but as a general rule, I don't do anything to spiders in my apartment as well. They keep their territory clean of other insects and do not get into my way, so I like keeping them. Unless the spider is really large, aggressive or poisonous, I do not get why so many people are afraid of them either. Perhaps that the Australian Exception :)
- iab 5y agoJust don’t eat them, you should be good
- mellavora 5y agoMothers love is the primal force of the universe. Not just mammals (including humans, of course but read up on other vertebrates such as crocodiles and birds). Another poster mentions gastropods (octopus). You see it in plants. Trees preferentially share of resources with their offspring. Thanks for sharing an amazing story. I'm not surprised to see motherly love in spiders.
- gpderetta 5y agoThanks for the great story, that's sound an incredible experience!
- michaelcampbell 5y agoWe have an influx of Joro spiders in our area (N/Central GA), and they are absolute nightmare fuel. I can't have them in my porch or where people are going to be; their webs are big and sticky, but I'm having a hard time bringing myself to killing them.
- culi 5y agoInterestingly the Joro spider is invasive to Georgia now, but their ecological impact is not known. They eat an invasive species of stinkbug however that the native spiders do not eat so they may actually end up having a net positive impact on the environment despite being invasive
- fignews 5y agoIt’s amazing how they are all over now with the first spotting being around 2015.. They look crazy but as far as I know they aren’t harmful to humans.
- michaelcampbell 5y agoEverything I've read says they are not harmful; they can bite, and will if they need to, but will get away if they can. I've killed a few, but I think I won't any more. Not necessarily because of this article, I just hate killing things. I never knew of them before this fall until a friend of mine went on "removal" spree at his place, and now I've seen a lot more of them in my own yard. One issue is we also have migrating hummingbirds, and the webs are big enough to foul them up. The spiders won't eat them of course, but I also can't have our hummingbirds dying over getting caught so I'll be knocking down webs in their area if I have to.
- whalesalad 5y agoIt’s SO cool when you have one of these experiences with a wild animal. A tiny little moment of true connection and communication. Thanks for the story.
- lux 5y agoI had a similar experience with a spider who had made an egg sack in a precarious spot along our back door that was definitely in hazard's way. I got a stick and a leaf and tried to detach and move her setup to a nearby spot that would be safer. She did not like that. At one point in the move, she got left behind and I ended up with just the egg sack to move. You could feel the panic and protective instinct in her movements. I got her onto the leaf and reunited with her eggs on a nearby plant and she quickly went to work finding the right spot and securing her sack to the underside of one of its leaves. I watched her there for a while in her new location, and there is absolutely more than just instinct at play. I didn't grow up liking spiders much, but gardening in particular has given me a new perspective on them. One measure of our garden's health is the amount of spiders we see, keeping other would-be pests in check.
- bryans 5y agoI had to do the exact same thing once -- the mother ran off as I tried to gather her and the sac into a box -- and you could see both the panic as she watched the sac being taken away, and the relief when she was reunited.
- whatshisface 5y agoAs a counterpoint, how could you possibly see panic on a spider's "face?"
- johnny53169 5y agoWe are all alive in the same way
- hoseja 5y agoThat's not really a given. Maybe arguable for mammals, but arthropods? What about sponges? Fungi? Trees?
- 5y ago
- malshe 5y agoThis is such an incredible story! It also made me emotional. Thanks for sharing it.
- stoned 5y agoThere is a Russian (Eastern European? Slavic?) superstition against kill spiders. You can kill insects all day, but you don’t kill spiders. You just leave them be.
- chayleaf 5y agoI'm Russian and I don't remember anything like that, so even if it is Russian it's fairly obscure
- stoned 5y agoThanks I’ve been wondering.
- ignasl 5y agoYes, killing spiders is a bad omen in Lithuania. Usually they're simply thrown out. Not sure how many people does this nowadays but it stuck with me.
- bugzz 5y agoI keep several tarantulas and a few other spiders, and they are absolutely fascinating! Your description of the spider waving its arms and running from side to side makes me think it was likely a jumping spider. This group of spiders have large eyes and don't build webs to catch prey, and are really cute!
- obiwan14 5y agoNice story. The interesting part is, if you'd been able to "talk" (actually thought transfer) to the spider directly, as a few people I know are able to, it wouldn't have needed to do all that leg-waving.
- User23 5y agoI'm quite certain that E.B. White's wonderful Charlotte's Web is based on the author's similar observations.
- Swenrekcah 5y agoA fascinating story, thanks for sharing. If you haven’t already, check out the novel Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
- horns4lyfe 5y agoThat’s all well and good until you live somewhere with a large population of brown recluse spiders, and a healthy fear of them can keep you from losing a limb.
- agumonkey 5y agoThere's something that gets to me anytime I see animals with their offsprings. A documentary about octopuses last moments in life, really shook me. It might be interpretation/anthropomorphism but anyway, apparently after laying eggs, the octo mom will breath out water (warmed by her body) around them. The process lasts a while and when she's exhausted she spends the remaining energy to swim as far as possible and die. The theory being she'd rather not attract predators with her corpse. A final step in sacrifice. I too now try to redirect life forms to where they can live better. I used to seriously arachnophobic but nowadays I can manage grabbing a box or a long piece of paper to move insects around or outside if needs be.
- culi 5y agoA lot of spiders have spread with humans and, depending on your environment, would probably not be able to survive outside. I usually ignore spiders I see in my house. I figure for every spider that's probably at least 3 less other bugs. One time we even let a daddy long legs care for its babies and watched as the hundred little eggs finally matured and hatched. Most of those babies probably died, but those that survived have probably helped keep the population of many other bugs down
- yumraj 5y agoI’m generally very lenient with DLLs but others freak me out, especially when one drops suddenly from the top.
- iscrewyou 5y agoYou’ll also love this radiolab episode then: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/octomom https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/octom... I don’t want to spoil it but it’s quite a story.
- agumonkey 5y agoThanks, I'll probably fetch it tonight.
- 5y ago
- tomerv 5y agoI used to let spiders live freely in my house, until one time I wanted to go to bed at night and noticed dozens of black spots on the bed cover. I looked up and saw hundreds of tiny spider babies on the ceiling. From then on, whenever I see a spider in the house I get rid of it. Sorry...
- _carbyau_ 5y agoNo problems from me! My policy is generally live and let live. But once they invade my space I take measures. Unfortunately, my wife is phobia level scared of spiders. So now if they bother her, by extension that is bothering me, and so I take measures to make sure they don't bother her. But I motorbike commute every day with webs around my dash/handlebars. I wish my little spider bro good luck every ride.
- culi 5y agomost of those babies will probably die on their own anyways. If they do survive to adulthood it's only because they managed to kill some other bugs. So it'd be a net of less total bugs in your house if you just let them be
- bryans 5y agoDon't get me wrong, I still find families of baby spiders to be absolutely terrifying in every way, and it takes every bit of my willpower to fight the urge to remove them from existence. But at the end of the day, the key word is family. It's a group of living things, with parents that apparently have the emotional capacity to care about them. Hopefully when you say "get rid of it," that means gently coaxing them into a box and putting them outside.
- poisonarena 5y agoYou are assuming very human or even mammalian qualities and constructs like "parents/family/emotion" to invertebrates that have no problem cannibalizing their offspring and mates. If they were big enough they would kill you and your family without any hesitation or emotion.