Creepy Crawly Fun


Some folk are very welcome in my home.  Others, not so much.

For example, I recently wanted to run a bath but found two spiders in the tub.  One was a wobbly daddy-long-legs spider (he only had five legs) and the other was a lot smaller but known by me to give a particularly nasty bite.  So before I turned the tap on I gently removed the daddy-long-legs and set him down behind the cupboard, where I know he will find plenty of food.  Then I turned the tap on and washed the other dude down the plug hole.

“Discrimination!!” I hear you shouting.  Well I don’t care.  I have been up close and personal with and chased and bitten by a large variety of South African spiders in and around our home (yes, I know they’re South African by their accents) and I have learnt which I can trust, or not as the case may be.

I LOVE the beautiful orb spiders that patiently build their hefty webs each night, from the rafters to the ground, only to have them blown down, rained down or run down by a dog or a (usually screaming, air-beating) human, the next day.  And I will happily escort the rain spiders who wander in from time to time and spend a week or so dashing up and down the passage at high speed, back outside.  Sometimes they move along on their own otherwise I physically relocate them to somewhere with a plethora of goggas.

There was once, but it was only once, that I was forced to kill a spider that was outside.  In fact, it was two spiders and I would do it again, if I had to.  I had been trimming back a bougainvillea so that our electric fence could be erected and when I wanted to remove the trimmed branches I discovered a violin spider residing near the base of the bush.  Things escalated at an alarming rate when said violin spider charged at me.  Fortunately I run a lot faster (heck, I would have flown if I had to) and I tore inside for a tin of goggo-spray.  Not only was the cheeky bugger waiting for me when I got back but he'd brought reinforcements in the form of his mate and they both charged at me.  By the time the Doom tin was empty I had already yelled for Jerry to bring me a replacement (which she hastily did) and I saw the two scary monsters off.  To this day I can't tell you whether they died inhaling poison or I drowned them in too much spray.

“It’s an outrage! They were protecting their home.”  Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a toss.  I was bitten by a sac spider once and despite treating the affliction within 30 second it still took nearly 8 months for the wound to heal.  I have heard, although I can’t confirm, that the violin spider (which, like the sac spider, contains a cytotoxic or necrotic venom) has a meaner bite than the sac.  I wasn’t about to find out.

So yes!  We live in relative harmony with our eight-legged friends.  Except the necrotic buggers: they can go and find another home to terrorise.

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