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Fred the spider… we may have to evict him

post #1 of 57
7/20/09 at 5:43am
Thread Starter 
We have this humongous spider that has taken residence outside our front door. We have two thin but door height windows on each side of our front door and he made his web in one of those windows. Even though I am terrified of spiders I decided this guy could stay since he was there for at least a month before me and my boyfriend had an actual discussion on if we should get rid of him, it was then that we named him Fred.

Fred has grown in the two months he has lived with us, but he is also taking advantage of our niceness. He decided that he is now going to take up almost the whole porch to the point where I am afraid to go out of the front door. Not only that, he has moved in his whole family. I never knew spiders were pack animals. There are about 5 little Fred’s (they look just like him and by little i mean smaller then Fred, they are still big by my standards) that hang out with him on his web.

Even though I am terrified of him (picture every time I leave the house I usually end up screaming and shaking my hair out thinking he fell on me… the neighbors always laugh at me) I don’t want to kill him. My boyfriend refuses to move him in a humane manner and has told me if I want Fred and family gone he is taking the hose to them.

So, I know we have spider folks out there. What would you do? Is there a spider trap? If we hose down half his web and keep his window web is he going to move in more of his family and make more webs? Is there a way we can move them without touching or being close to them? Any advice would be helpful.

And yes, I know I’m a huge weirdo LOL.
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post #2 of 57
7/20/09 at 5:55am
I'm sorry, but I can't help but laugh at this. Not at you, but at the situation!

I have no advice for you, but are you sure you have a "Fred" and not a "Freida" or "Fredericka"
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post #3 of 57
7/20/09 at 5:59am
Thread Starter 
LOL no worries, I am laughing at myself for this whole situation. So is everyone else i tell and my nieghbors who are enjoying the morning maddness of me leaving my house lol.

Oh my gosh… you may be right. Fred may be a Frieda! That would explain the little Fred’s that have arrived, they might have just grown overnight. There is enough mosquitoes at my house to feed a millions Fred’s or Frieda’s LOL. I’m guessing there is no way to tell.
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post #4 of 57
7/20/09 at 6:03am
I don't know if spiders in your area are much different from where I live, but I'm guessing Fred is probably Fredricka and the smaller spiders are love struck suitors trying to get brave enough to make a few hundred more Freds.

Chances are the reason the web has expanded is to catch more bugs, she'll just rebuild if you tear it down. If you leave a porch light on at night that attracts bugs, turning it off might slow down the construction.

We get some here, the proper name is Agriope but they're known as Rune Writers because the male builds little zig zag webs in the females huge web. I've seen the girls to grow as big as the palm of my hand! Very bright colored, and really hard to convince to move. If it's one of those you're in luck because they don't tend to fall or jump out of the webs for anything, and if they bite they are slow to do so.

My middle daughter is also terrified of spiders, but these are so non aggressive that I've even convinced her to let them live. In fact, we have a system. If a spider invades her house I will go and put it outdoors, if a wasp comes in mine she comes and kills it.
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post #5 of 57
7/20/09 at 6:14am
Yeah, as much as I hate spiders too, I try to avoid killing them as well; It's just trying to make a living, too, eh.

However, taking into consideration the complex squatters statutes that govern his taking residence there, I would defintely be in favor of relocating him elsewhere, on the grounds of "OMFG THERE'S A HUGE !@# SPIDER OUTSIDE OUR DOOR!!!111!!"

How to go about this, however, I have no idea. Wouldn't get near it.
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post #6 of 57
7/20/09 at 7:08am
I think if it's a variety of spider that doesn't tend to jump the easiest way to move her would be with a broom. Just gently scoop her off her web, and set the broom down as far from the porch as you can get before hysteria takes over. Then set about sweeping away all the web on your porch before she comes back to it. If she's a jumper, sorry I don't know how to relocate them, they scare me too!
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post #7 of 57
7/20/09 at 7:45am
Thread Starter 
LOL thanks for all of the advice guys. It looks like we have the “Paris Hilton†of spiders then. My boyfriend just called me and told me we have 3 more spiders. So you’re telling me they all want to mate with her? Sheesh, I hope she’s not easy or we are going to have 50 billion spiders running around.

Ill take a picture of her later on and post it if I can, maybe someone can recognize her breed and I can do some more research. Thanks for all of the advice. I would love to keep her but I can’t have her taking over the whole front porch. She has until I get back from my work trip on Thursday, if she has more boyfriends or has taken up more of the front porch ill have to move her. Thanks for the broom idea, I won’t be doing it though, ill recruit my boyfriend for eviction duty LOL.
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post #8 of 57
7/20/09 at 8:33am
You've already gotten some great responses

I would love to see a pic if you can get one.

I do not know how your porch is, but on mine I've had to relocate spiders before.... I have a garden right in front of the porch so all I did was take a broom and using the handle, I got the web and spider hooked on..... I put em both in the garden....

They will make a new web, probally within hours (talented lil boogers) because of their current one being touched.

Another thought, since you are going on a work trip for a few days, without touching the spider itself, use a broom handle to detach the web from most of the surfaces, and see if she will relocate herself because her web is wrecked OR see if she just builds a new one, in which case, you'll have to relocate her.

Good luck
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post #9 of 57
7/20/09 at 8:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BaloneysMom View Post
LOL thanks for all of the advice guys. It looks like we have the “Paris Hilton†of spiders then. My boyfriend just called me and told me we have 3 more spiders. So you’re telling me they all want to mate with her? Sheesh, I hope she’s not easy or we are going to have 50 billion spiders running around.
I'm getting evil looks from all the cats whos naptime was disturbed by my outburst of laughter. Tell her to just say no and keep all eight legs crossed!
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post #10 of 57
7/20/09 at 11:35am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bookworm View Post
I'm getting evil looks from all the cats whos naptime was disturbed by my outburst of laughter. Tell her to just say no and keep all eight legs crossed!
HAHAH too funny!! Maybe closer to the truth then i would like though! At lunch i headed home and went to look for her to take her pic. She was all the way up in the corner, her legs were scrunch in close to her body and there was something else there, i think another spider... im not sure though. Either she was mating, or eating, or doing some spider thing i have never heard of ( i know nothing of spiders so that could be a lot lol). I couldnt see clearly due to the glare and some puffy stuff in the web.

I thought of this post when i saw that and started laughing. Keep all eight legs crossed!! Lol.
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post #11 of 57
7/20/09 at 11:52am
Actually, for all I know they cross their legs while mating! She may have been both eating and mating. I've read that while it's only the Black Widow who gets the bad press for it many female spiders eat their mates, and then wrap their own body in the egg sack to provide food for the young when they hatch. Pretty gross, but no one can accuse them of being unconcerned parents!
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post #12 of 57
7/20/09 at 2:04pm
Thread Starter 
Well we have changed her name from Frieda to Frederica (I have a family member named Frieda, not too close to her lol).

My boyfriend keeps threatening to take the bleach to her when i am gone!! I know he won’t though. I took some photos of her below. If you can see the mass in the upper hand corner of the pic, that’s what we think is the eggs... if that’s the case, we will have to get rid of that. What do you all think? Also, anyone know about the stance she is doing? It looks weird, she still has her legs up.

I am sitting here twitching, ever since i looked at the photo i keep freaking out that there are spiders all over me! LOL im such a weirdo.

Do you think the stance is her mate in her belly? Pretty weird lol.




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post #13 of 57
7/20/09 at 4:30pm
Ugh she's a scary looking chick! Definately not one of our pretty rune writers, if it were my porch I think she'd have to move on. I don't know why she seems to be holding her belly. Wonder if something that stings got caught in her web? Maybe it's some mating ritual or part of the web spinning chores?
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post #14 of 57
7/20/09 at 5:12pm
EWWWWWWWWWWWW! Fredericka would definitely have to go if she was on my porch! I did some searching to try and identify her. To me, she looks like a black widow, only brown. Creeps me out. I have had to move a good number of widows from my old home, I don't like to kill things either. For some reason though Fredericka looks even yuckier than a widow.

This is what I think she is:
http://pestcontrolcanada.com/Questio...tification.htm

Go down to the second picture of the cobweb spiders. Looks pretty much like Frederica. Bleck.


Gives me the heebie jeebies and I am thousands of miles away from you. I hope your SO sweeps her and her buddies right out the door and down the yard a ways.


BTW Keycube and Bookworm, you both had me ROFLMAO, until I saw that creepy picture!
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post #15 of 57
7/20/09 at 5:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kittymonsters View Post

BTW Keycube and Bookworm, you both had me ROFLMAO, until I saw that creepy picture!
I know, it isn't so funny anymore once you get a look at her. You know there is a brown widow too, they just aren't venemous. There is a spider here in Georgia that I can't find on any website that is pretty but downright scary, and will literaly rear up on it's hind legs and wave it's front ones at you! (Which is how I've come to learn a bit about spiders, trying to identify it.)
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post #16 of 57
7/20/09 at 6:10pm
Ok, I live in the woods, so we have tons of spiders.

Your spider is just a common garden spider and her buddies are her offspring.

We get her kind here all the time and, yes they are annoying. But they are beneficial in getting rid of pest insects.

Yes, she's kinda ugly and will give spider-haters the heebie-jeebies, but she won't do you any harm.

Get the broom as many have suggested and dismantle her web, making sure you snare her and as many of her babies as you can and relocate her and them as far away as possible. She will set up a new shop close to where you relocate her.

Oh and just be aware, she will attempt to run to her hiding spot when you try to snare her with the broom, so be quick.
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post #17 of 57
7/20/09 at 6:31pm
Thread Starter 
Hahaha I had to laugh at your posts. I do have a tendency to try and save the ugliest, weirdest things on the planet and I usually get the same reaction. You guys expected a beautiful colorful spider and she turned out to be pretty nasty looking.

Now I have the heebie jeebies with the spider pic your posted LOL I am going to be shaking my hair out all night! Blah, I hate spiders! For some reason though I just don’t have the heart to have the boyfriend kill her.

It’s going to take a lot of convincing, and maybe a special dinner to get my boyfriend to safely remove her, but I am going to try, I’ve grown fond of the ugly girl even though I am terrified of her LOL.

I really dislike my neighbor’s kids, they are always bothering Bruno and throwing balls at our cars, I am trying to bribe him by saying we can leave her on their lawn LOL.

Thanks for all the help guys, I told you at the beginning! I’m a weird chick! LOL.
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post #18 of 57
7/21/09 at 4:30pm
Oooo leaving the spider and her group of suitors on the kids' lawns sounds like a wonderful idea! Serves them right for being so nasty.
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post #19 of 57
7/22/09 at 12:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BabyWukong View Post
Oooo leaving the spider and her group of suitors on the kids' lawns sounds like a wonderful idea! Serves them right for being so nasty.
The little boogers would just kill her
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post #20 of 57
7/22/09 at 2:44am
This thread has renewed my curiosity as to what type two spiders I have encountered over the years are, and I spent over two hours (on a slow computer) searching for pictures of them last night. I totaly creeped myself out, and apparantly picked up some adware on one or the other site because the computer finaly froze up and is slower than ever this morning. Or is the machine afraid of spiders? The two spiders remain unidentified, but I had some really unpleasant dreams, lol.
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post #21 of 57
7/22/09 at 8:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natalie_ca View Post
The little boogers would just kill her
Agreed! You are going though all this thought process and boyfriend cajoling to save her, dont put her where the nasty kids will just squish her outright, or worse.
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post #22 of 57
7/24/09 at 6:10am
Thread Starter 
Well I am back from my business trip and Fredericka is still just hanging out. I don’t know if she mated already because I didn’t see any of her many boyfriends, but then again I really only glanced quickly this morning. Ill get a better look when I go home.

I really should try and get better pictures of her, in the photos she looks like she is just an ugly brown but I noticed on Tues while leaving the house when the sun shines on her, her legs have some orangey color to them. If I can manage to get home for lunch today ill take some more in the sun.

As funny as it would be to put her on the neighbor’s lawn, you guys are probably right, the kids are boys and I don’t recall young boys being all that scared of spiders. We live in a new area, behind us there is still no home, just long grass and weeds. Problem is, a lot of birds live there so I am not sure she would survive long. I really don’t know what to do with her but we cant keep her. He web is slightly bigger then before and that mass she built in the corner of my window scares me that it is eggs.

Thanks for all the advice guys, ill see if I can show you her colors in a picture.
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post #23 of 57
7/24/09 at 1:37pm
Well, I don't think that death by bird is as bad as death by little boy, at least she has a chance at evading a bird.
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post #24 of 57
7/25/09 at 10:19am
Could you get either your BF or neighbors to video you leaving your house I would love to see the mad dash!!
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post #25 of 57
7/25/09 at 12:14pm
Do we really want to set a precedent like that? I'd hate to find myself and the contortions i go through to avoid a wasp (or something flying that might be a wasp) on U Tube one day!
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post #26 of 57
7/25/09 at 12:23pm
I have my own Fredrica - only she keeps trying to move into the washing machine!
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post #27 of 57
7/26/09 at 12:59am
Yeah, looks like a common garden spider to me. Probably the least harmful spider you can ever encounter. They pretty much set up shop and stick around. My friend had one in her house. She lived on a houseplant. My friend caught flies for her. Then one day, a friend of hers was over and went, "ack! Spider!" and squished her.
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post #28 of 57
7/26/09 at 1:43am
I am DEATHLY afraid of spiders, but I also don't like to kill them because they eat other bugs that I am also afraid of. Let me just say if that thing was on my front porch I would have found a new way to enter the house. You are a lot braver then I am.

What I do is put a cup over them leave the room lock the door if possible and wait for Eric to get home so he can take it out side. Seeing that your spider is above you I don't know how you should move her. I don't want to say my fear with the broom theory because I don't want to freak you out.
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post #29 of 57
7/26/09 at 2:03am
Ok, that thing on the upper left corner does look like eggs, so....... don't be surprised if those few become a few hundred sometime soon
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post #30 of 57
7/26/09 at 2:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by badkelpie View Post
Then one day, a friend of hers was over and went, "ack! Spider!" and squished her.
How presumptious to kill anything in someone elses house! People who know me consider me to be so crazy they would probably not kill a mosquito in my sight. I do draw the line at biting things or bugs that tend to reproduce rapidly, no problem killing skeeters or flys indoors.
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