Same, I had two Joros this year. Their webs are LITERALLY gold, it's so cool. They really just chill. Imagine my disappointment when both disappeared before the New Year and I learned their lifespans. :(
Not native here, either, but supposedly not a real threat to anything. They're everywhere here now. Coolest thing I learned is that their babies can "balloon" and fly for up to hundreds of miles on wind currents. And the little tiny baby spider in the web isn't a baby, it's the little bitch-ass male. The size difference is insaaaane.
When they invaded Georgia they covered hiking paths and walkways. If I ever accidentally disturbed a web, they'd move the web up 3-6ft and hang a warning leaf from a 3ft long string coming off of their web.
Its like they knew they were invasive and wanted to come in peace.
We have a few mildly dangerous ones and I have kids.
Our rule is if the spider stays in his world we leave it alone, if it's in ours, they may be out of luck. The doorway is a neutral zone along with usually the entryway and questionably the kitchen.
That's why I only kill the roaches that venture into my house, if I see a roach in the street I leave it alone to thrive that way all future offspring will be selected for street only living.
In our house the rule is spiders can stay if they're out the way (up high, etc). When they get too close for comfort for my wife's tolerance limits, I pick them up and put them outside. Spiders are friends.
Good, we should make them even more reclusive and smarter.
Honestly, an army of highly intelligent bug killers specialized in keeping out of my sight hiding in the interstices of my house sounds like an awesome idea
Any flies that fly into my house are given a chance to leave. If I can herd them out the window, they get to live and make lots of new baby flies.
On the other hand, their chances of getting a close up view of the fly swatter increase exponentially with every minute they spend refusing to leave and ignoring the fact that I'm literally showing them the exit.
This is why you shouldn't kill rattlesnakes. If we kill the rattlesnakes that make themselves known, over time they adapt to not rattle before striking.
I have the same thoughts about hitting squirrels with my car.
Not that I do it on purpose or feel good about It, but I tell myself that at least the survivors will pass on their survivor traits to the next generation.
Deer kill more americans than any other animal. If anything they're becoming more top heavy and more lethal to make drivers hesitate before hitting them. Eventually evolution will make them explode and send a cloud of shrapnel out when struck by a car.
I think we have. In my area many deer during hunting season spend the time within city limits where it's illegal to fire guns. I am pretty sure they've figured it out.
The reclusiveness selection argument makes sense, but why intelligence? Brains are crazy metabolically expensive, and I can't see why a smart reclusive spider would survive humans any better than a merely reclusive one.
My house spiders are cool. They eat the flies etc and I fish them out of the way before I have a shower. The only disagreement we have is over their little lair in the kitchen. There's a tiny hole in the skirting board in one corner, and cobwebs gather there. Now and then I brush away the webs and plaster over the hole. A week later the hole is back and the webs too.
either way it's a showerthought about humans being the natural selection for spiders, killing only the ones that come out, effectively selecting them for higher reclusion and intelligence (sorry, on phone so writing the exact text is a hassle)
Ah that one works, thank you. Every time I selected to view the original post or the direct link, it wasn't that one. Maybe I'll try poking around to see if I can find an option that gives me that link.
As long as the spiders don't break our agreement they can stay. They eat the bugs and pests, and they can live in the corners of my house. As soon as they come to the floor they're dead.
I recognised this problem years ago and decided to also let them eat bugs in plain sight. Unfortunately my house isn't big enough to counter evolution on my own, but I feel there is more people out there who also stopped killing spiders because of this.
I think this every time I kill a mosquito or fruit fly but they don't seem to be getting any faster, smarter, or quieter. Where's Darwin when you need him to answer some questions?
Also we've been doing it for millennia. The evolutionary pressure is already there. These are just the ones with the random mutations that make them slow enough to slap.
It's like asking why gazzel aren't fast enough to outrun a lion.
Whenever I see a spider in the house, I don't kill it. I do however, pick up my cat and say, "look dude, move out along before she figures out how to get to you. She will murder your ass."
I did the same for a while.
But then I recently found out a spider (which was getting pretty big) ignoring bloodless mosquitoes and letting them fill up on me before eating them. I cleaned it up.
81 Comments
bebabalula@feddit.dk · 58 pts · 228d
Birds also only eat spiders they see. Not sure how that’s any different
The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org · 43 pts · 228d
well...birds aren't real.....soooo...
bebabalula@feddit.dk · 16 pts · 228d
Good point…
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 228d
you've been eating those spiders in your sleep
faythofdragons@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 228d
So that's why I get a funny taste in my mouth after an Ambien night.
fartographer@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 227d
Did you know that the average person eats 8 spiders every hour while they sleep?
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 227d
i'm not sleeping
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 228d
You're forgetting all the spiders that crawl into the bird's mouth while it's sleeping.
edible_funk@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 227d
Nah that's just spiders beord throwing off the averages.
ameancow@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 228d
sparkles@piefed.zip · 44 pts · 228d
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 228d
Same, I had two Joros this year. Their webs are LITERALLY gold, it's so cool. They really just chill. Imagine my disappointment when both disappeared before the New Year and I learned their lifespans. :(
sparkles@piefed.zip · 4 pts · 228d
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 228d
Not native here, either, but supposedly not a real threat to anything. They're everywhere here now. Coolest thing I learned is that their babies can "balloon" and fly for up to hundreds of miles on wind currents. And the little tiny baby spider in the web isn't a baby, it's the little bitch-ass male. The size difference is insaaaane.
sparkles@piefed.zip · 3 pts · 228d
bitwolf@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 227d
The Joros are very courteous as well.
When they invaded Georgia they covered hiking paths and walkways. If I ever accidentally disturbed a web, they'd move the web up 3-6ft and hang a warning leaf from a 3ft long string coming off of their web.
Its like they knew they were invasive and wanted to come in peace.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 227d
Yes! I walked face first into one or two massive webs and they all moved up a bit! So cool and courteous!
BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 228d
We have a few mildly dangerous ones and I have kids.
Our rule is if the spider stays in his world we leave it alone, if it's in ours, they may be out of luck. The doorway is a neutral zone along with usually the entryway and questionably the kitchen.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 22 pts · 228d
I don't kill spiders. They are my unpaid exterminators.
Fedizen@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 227d
They accept payment in flies.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 227d
They can have all of them they can catch. I'll even toss any I catch into their webs.
jpablo68@infosec.pub · 20 pts · 228d
That's why I only kill the roaches that venture into my house, if I see a roach in the street I leave it alone to thrive that way all future offspring will be selected for street only living.
Noite_Etion@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 228d
Don't think this uploaded correctly
sga@piefed.social · 7 pts · 228d
LeFrog@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 228d
Same for me:
HuntressHimbo@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 228d
Opening the link to this thread in browser works though, so maybe it just isn't federating properly from the piefed instance?
Edit:
Douple checked and it is broken in browser from Lemmy.zip, but accessing directly on piefed.blahaj.zone shows a complete image
HuntressHimbo@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 228d
This should be fixed for future images according to Blahaj admins. Please be sure to thank them for fixing it if that has made your experience better.
https://piefed.blahaj.zone/comment/2904719
Obi@sopuli.xyz · 15 pts · 227d
In our house the rule is spiders can stay if they're out the way (up high, etc). When they get too close for comfort for my wife's tolerance limits, I pick them up and put them outside. Spiders are friends.
tetris11@feddit.uk · 8 pts · 227d
That almost rhymed, how about:
In our house the spiders can stay
If they're out of the way.
If they get too close,
Then it's time to vamo(o)se
rbos@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 227d
Spiderbro does an important job eating the more annoying bugs.
GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 227d
edinbruh@feddit.it · 13 pts · 228d
Good, we should make them even more reclusive and smarter. Honestly, an army of highly intelligent bug killers specialized in keeping out of my sight hiding in the interstices of my house sounds like an awesome idea
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 228d
Yeah, I think it would be kinda cool if the next intelligent species on this planet after we kick the bucket is arachnid.
wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 228d
Children Of Time Intensifies
dddontshoot@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 228d
Any flies that fly into my house are given a chance to leave. If I can herd them out the window, they get to live and make lots of new baby flies.
On the other hand, their chances of getting a close up view of the fly swatter increase exponentially with every minute they spend refusing to leave and ignoring the fact that I'm literally showing them the exit.
eupraxia@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 228d
This is why you shouldn't kill rattlesnakes. If we kill the rattlesnakes that make themselves known, over time they adapt to not rattle before striking.
Dicska@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 227d
So they will be just called snakes.
Kellenved@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 228d
Huh, coincidentally,I just finished reading Children of Time
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 228d
Envious. The next two books are also great (fourth one coming in a couple months)
SlippiHUD@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 228d
I once tried making a similar argument to a game warden about only hunting deer during the day. They were not appreciative of the take.
This was after I hit a deer with my car while driving home from Thanksgiving, it was not a good time.
Admetus@sopuli.xyz · 9 pts · 228d
Why kill spiders? Oh, maybe it's Australia.
essell@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 228d
I'm asking myself whether the humans in Australia became extra dangerous in order to acclimate 🤔
Walk_blesseD@piefed.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 228d
Nah, still doesn't make sense. They kill the mozzies and the blowies for us.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 228d
Leave the big ones alone in Australia. They're harmless. The ones that need killings are tiny and super venomous.
Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 227d
I have the same thoughts about hitting squirrels with my car.
Not that I do it on purpose or feel good about It, but I tell myself that at least the survivors will pass on their survivor traits to the next generation.
Lightfire228@pawb.social · 7 pts · 227d
You'd think we'd have accidentally bred smarter deer by now
Fedizen@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 227d
Deer kill more americans than any other animal. If anything they're becoming more top heavy and more lethal to make drivers hesitate before hitting them. Eventually evolution will make them explode and send a cloud of shrapnel out when struck by a car.
ulterno@programming.dev · 1 pts · 227d
3310 Atomic Deer
Fedizen@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 227d
Evolution will eventually turn all deer into adorable looking mooses with nokia cell phone exoskeletons.
ulterno@programming.dev · 1 pts · 227d
Hehe, that was an unintentional Nokia reference on my side.
Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 222d
I think we have. In my area many deer during hunting season spend the time within city limits where it's illegal to fire guns. I am pretty sure they've figured it out.
texture@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 228d
this isnt true tho. we kill loads of them without seeing them.
i like the idea tho
tetris11@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 227d
I eat seven spiders every hour
texture@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 227d
wow, you must be jacked
Arctic_monkey@leminal.space · 8 pts · 227d
The reclusiveness selection argument makes sense, but why intelligence? Brains are crazy metabolically expensive, and I can't see why a smart reclusive spider would survive humans any better than a merely reclusive one.
rumschlumpel@feddit.org · 2 pts · 227d
Probably thought that you need to be smart to hide well, which is not at all how it works for most animals but IS how it works for humans.
Liz@midwest.social · 1 pts · 227d
It wouldn't. They just added that in there for the scaries and they probably didn't think it through much.
Coleslaw4145@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 228d
If I never know that the spider is there then we shall both live a peaceful life.
Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club · 5 pts · 228d
I like smarter spiders, but not the cost of getting there.
umbrella@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 228d
MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 227d
My house spiders are cool. They eat the flies etc and I fish them out of the way before I have a shower. The only disagreement we have is over their little lair in the kitchen. There's a tiny hole in the skirting board in one corner, and cobwebs gather there. Now and then I brush away the webs and plaster over the hole. A week later the hole is back and the webs too.
chefdano3@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 227d
Am I missing something here? Why is everyone talking about spiders
BunScientist@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 227d
open it in the original instance
chefdano3@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 227d
It's the same no matter where I open it.
BunScientist@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 227d
this works for me https://piefed.cdn.blahaj.zone/posts/Kj/vc/KjvcmUDWH6TS0E5.jpg
either way it's a showerthought about humans being the natural selection for spiders, killing only the ones that come out, effectively selecting them for higher reclusion and intelligence (sorry, on phone so writing the exact text is a hassle)
chefdano3@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 227d
Ah that one works, thank you. Every time I selected to view the original post or the direct link, it wasn't that one. Maybe I'll try poking around to see if I can find an option that gives me that link.
FryHyde@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 227d
what?
timeghost@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 227d
I catch them in a glass and cover the top with a piece of cardboard then dump them outside. Spiders eat bugs. Go be free little guy!
AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 227d
As long as the spiders don't break our agreement they can stay. They eat the bugs and pests, and they can live in the corners of my house. As soon as they come to the floor they're dead.
mavu@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 228d
fine by me. as long as i don't see them, they don't exist.
huppakee@piefed.social · 4 pts · 228d
I recognised this problem years ago and decided to also let them eat bugs in plain sight. Unfortunately my house isn't big enough to counter evolution on my own, but I feel there is more people out there who also stopped killing spiders because of this.
dragnucs@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 228d
Aren't they already smart?
Lemminary@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 228d
And cockroaches, too. They'll haul ass and scurry away every time. They know.
lucg@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 227d
I think this every time I kill a mosquito or fruit fly but they don't seem to be getting any faster, smarter, or quieter. Where's Darwin when you need him to answer some questions?
lightnsfw@reddthat.com · 4 pts · 227d
There's just so many that the relative few getting killed by swatting aren't having an impact on their genetics.
Liz@midwest.social · 3 pts · 227d
Also we've been doing it for millennia. The evolutionary pressure is already there. These are just the ones with the random mutations that make them slow enough to slap.
It's like asking why gazzel aren't fast enough to outrun a lion.
HeyMrDeadMan@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 227d
Whenever I see a spider in the house, I don't kill it. I do however, pick up my cat and say, "look dude, move out along before she figures out how to get to you. She will murder your ass."
The spider, always, leaves.
zeca@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 228d
I try to not kill them when i clean up excessive webs. Hope they appreciate the clean up and dont resent me for it...
ulterno@programming.dev · 1 pts · 227d
I did the same for a while.
But then I recently found out a spider (which was getting pretty big) ignoring bloodless mosquitoes and letting them fill up on me before eating them. I cleaned it up.
zeca@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 227d
Awww i dont judge my spiders merit to live based on their usefulness to me...
ulterno@programming.dev · 1 pts · 227d
It took me seeing it free a mosquito from its web...
Hirom@beehaw.org · 2 pts · 227d
I only kill spiders without opposable thumbs
stiffyGlitch@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 227d
yeah I accidently killed my pet invisible spider :( his name was bob
VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 227d
I always knew I was right to scoop them up and put them outside. My wife just murders them outright.
Sam_Bass@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 227d
Got bit on my left leg last week by a brown recluse I didn't see. Garage is probably full of them
SethTaylor@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 227d
We are also making serial killers smarter.
Zerush@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 227d
It depends also on the size. Not the same a cute jumper on the window or..
https://theworldhour.com/jba-fofi-unraveling-the-enigma-of-legendary-congolese-giant-spider-that-defies-science/
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 0 pts · 228d
I kill plenty I don't see, too, whenever I bug bomb my home.