Now living out in the country brings about all sorts of multi-legged inroductions. To me, the spiders (excluding black widows and brown recluse) are the most special and get to live in the house until they get coaster size, then they are tossed outside.

This morning i attached the hose to the vacuum and went around all the baseboards. I couldn't believe all the spider trash piles i cleaned up. The skeletal remains of those millipede bugs(yes!) along with all sorts of other remains of tiny bodys i would never see to squash.

Made me think of my co-worker who kills ALL bugs she happens to run across including the spiders. If she only realized that if she let these useful little creatures live in her house, all she would need to do is occasionally vacuum dead bug piles in the corners of bathrooms and kitchens.....

-- Buk (spidersare@good.com), May 04, 2002

Answers

Thanks, Buk, I'd always heard that spiders in the house were "good luck"! Now I know why.

-- Bonnie (51940@aeroinc.net), May 04, 2002.

Absolutely, spiders are fascinating and useful. I miss the spiders we had around Vegas, along with some of their interesting relatives. No tarantulas, Vinagaroons, scorpions, centipedes and the like here (well, really little centipedes)in western Oregon. Some very pretty crab spiders though, and the occasional nice garden spider. :) LQ

-- Little Quacker in OR (carouselxing@juno.com), May 04, 2002.

I like my spiders, too. They weave window screens for me and entertain the children who catch flies to feed them. I encourage them in my garden and they get more bugs than chemical ever would.

When they get coaster size I pick them up with my hands and put them outside while my daughters do the spazz dance. Yeah, spiders are REAL entertaining!

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@somewhere.com), May 04, 2002.

my home is yellow and had several big yellow & black garden spiders living on the eaves when i bought it. the selling realator, said don't worry we can spray for the bugs when she saw me look at them, i answered that i would remove my bid if they even took a broom to the eaves ! after she saw the pile of wasp bodies under the web by the front door she was amazed at the usefullness of spiders!

but always remember kids that spiders do not like to be weeded! yikes :O

i stopped & grabbed an errant grass clump in my flower bed & got the most painful bite i've had in a while. my knuckles swelled up something fierce, but soaking my hand in cool salt water brought that down pretty fast & i only have a little mark where a fang got me. & i've been real good about wearing my gloves since. :)

-- bj pepper ,in central MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), May 04, 2002.

Ive been known to name those furry fly catching little jumping spiders and get them so used to me I can pet them. 'Harry' spent most of the year in the kitchen last year. Wolf spiders go outside, black widows get the heel treatment.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), May 04, 2002.

I love spiders, too! We just let them live in the house with us. Haven't seen any coaster-sized ones though. I used to have a poster with a haiku in my kitchen, it said :

"Have no fear little spider, I keep house Casually..."

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), May 04, 2002.

Enjoyed reading all your responses and am glad there are more out there that see the benefits of having these guys around (even in the far corner of our living rooms!) I just can't relate to my co-worker that kills every bug she sees; obviously doesn't reside in the country!

I've also been known to throw a grasshopper in those big webs outside under the eaves of my home. I've grown some pretty fat spiders doing that.....

Love some of the stories you all told! Little did that realtor know those spiders increased house value..ha! And naming the little guys(and petting!); cute! And, shannon, i need that little poster...absolutely precious! I can see that saying in a cross stitch, framed next to my kitchen sink (where resides a tiny spider under the sill).

-- Buk (spidersare@cool.com), May 04, 2002.

I'm so glad I'm not the only spider lover out there! You wouldn't believe the pains I go to NOT to remove their webs. (My friends and relatives already think I'm crazy so I don't bother to explain anymore.) I really love watching them construct their webs - they're just incredible in their precision. My favorites are the little jumping spiders - I love the way they watch you with their little blue eyes. And as luck would have it, I'm probably one of the few people who is not sensitive to the bite of the brown recluse (I've been bitten many times but have never had more than a tiny bump as a reaction). Maybe it's the reward I get for being friendly to them?

-- Deborah Stephenson (wonkaandgypsy@hotmail.com), May 06, 2002.