Date anyone like this?

[Notmuchlonger]

Heh heh heh

Why female spiders eat their mates - LiveScience - MSNBC.com

I find spiders fascinating. Whenever I see one in the house. I try to scoot them outside alive.

[lazygood4nothinbum]

no, but reminds me of a cousin of mine. i've since had my life pesticided & insecticided so hopefully i will never again be, um, broadsided.

but really, i don't think of her as a black widow. rather i refer to her as the squid.

here is my cousin being studied by scientists to see what makes her, um, tick...

[mb]

It just shows that SIZE MATTERs !

Quote from the article:

It's all about size. If males are small, they're easier to catch and therefore more likely to be prey, say Shawn Wilder and Ann Rypstra from Miami University in Ohio. Big females eat their puny mates simply because a) they're hungry and b) they can.

Wilder and Rypstra found that among the wolf spider (Hogna helluo), large males were never eaten by their mates, while small males were consumed 80 percent of the time.

Discovering this, the researchers then pored over the literature and found the size rule to hold true in a wide range of spider species.

I think that all women have some characteristics in common with spiders. But like male spiders I'm usually willing to take my chances. Sort of a benefit/risk thing. Not sure what that says about us males?

MB

[lazygood4nothinbum]

sorry, can't resist: "if it's true that you are what you eat, then i'm going to be you by morning"~~saying

[bbbamI]

Burp...

[Rustward]

A couple of years ago after DW came in from doing some watering on the patio, I heard her root around in the kitchen cabinets for a minute, then she went back outside. Came in with this. She was found on a hose that normally resides on a hose hanger attached to the house. Don't know if she was a cannibal or not. She, the spider, that is.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger Heh heh heh Why female spiders eat their mates - LiveScience - MSNBC.com I find spiders fascinating. Whenever I see one in the house. I try to scoot them outside alive.

A fellow 'spider relocator'?

I've been doing that since I was a child.

[Gumby]

We just leave them in the house. They don't bother us and they eat any insects that might come in.

When I was young and lived in Hawaii, we let the lizards live in the house for the same reason.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby We just leave them in the house. They don't bother us and they eat any insects that might come in.

There was a big black one that lived in the basement. When I did laundry it would retreat under the washing machine.

Quote:

When I was young and lived in Hawaii, we let the lizards live in the house for the same reason.

I recall the lizards in St Croix; took a bit of getting used to.

[Shawn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby We just leave them in the house. They don't bother us and they eat any insects that might come in.

I usually leave them in the house figuring that they know what their doing. I don't want to interfere with their livelihood. I had a big brown one living in a well-established web by my back door for over a year. I named him McHenry McWilliams. If I find one that is trapped, such as in the bathtub, I'll take him (or her) outside. I've encountered two black widows inside my house. I took both of them outside. I had another black widow living in my yard waste container (e.g., grass trimmings) for a year and a half. Huge. I had to pile all my yard waste in the corner of my property until she either moved or passed away.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby We just leave them in the house. They don't bother us and they eat any insects that might come in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawn I usually leave them in the house figuring that they know what their doing.

Am I the only one around here that views this as a little creepy?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Nope, I do the same thing. Unless they're very much in the way or poisonous to people, I leave them be. Creeps out my wife a little but then I point out that they're likely eating a) flies, b) mosquitos, c) fleas, or d) some other bug that we really wouldnt like either.

[Notmuchlonger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny Nope, I do the same thing. Unless they're very much in the way or poisonous to people, I leave them be. Creeps out my wife a little but then I point out that they're likely eating a) flies, b) mosquitos, c) fleas, or d) some other bug that we really wouldnt like either.

Thats how I view them. As long as the widows don't get in my way of every day life I leave them. I draw the line at letting the poisonous ones inside

[epps]

Any spiders I find the in the house are "relocated" to Valhalla. One time I was using the "facilities" and a few seconds after I stood up a spider started crawling across the seat; he got a scenic tour of the sewer system.

I felt bad so I showed mercy to the next one I saw. 1st time in the dinning room. 2nd time in the guest room. 3rd time he dropped off the faucet as I was turning it on, scared the **** out of me and earned himself a watery grave.

I am not entirely without heart though, theres a pair (breeding pair?) of some long legs/short body variety living in the garage apparently having quite a feast on the armadillo bugs that come in from the garage door. Entire graveyards, I mean dozens upon dozens of corpses clustered in a couple of webbed areas.

"C'mon Jimmy, it must be safe to cross, whatever got all these other guys must have had his fill by now"