To the Rescue

It wasn’t so many years ago that I’d be in hopping up and down hysterics if a spider crossed my path. My mother was fond of telling the story of her little blonde munchkin standing in the middle of her living room, screaming at deafening decibels, with great big tears rolling down her cheeks, pointing to a dark spot on the wall no larger than the eraser head of a pencil. Yessiree, it was a teeny tiny spider cowering on the wall, undoubtedly sensing a great big disturbance in its universe.

So you can appreciate how far I’ve come in spider matters when a quarter-sized one went scuttling across my kitchen floor last night and all I said was, “Oh, hi spidey!”

It’s that time of year when my wolf spider (one of mine) population begins looking for winter living arrangements. They start appearing in my house around this time annually. The one that came calling last night was a half-grown one. One of this year’s crop. I like wolf spiders. They’re pretty and docile and harmless. And they work tirelessly to keep my gardens free of pests. The females labor mightily while carrying their enormous egg sacs around with them in the early summer and then tote all their hatchlings around on their backs until the wee ones are able to fend for themselves. I admire that kind of maternal devotion. I’ve read, in a number of places, that wolf spiders make good pets. If one wants a spider for a pet. I’d rather see them outside living their normal spider lives. But when a couple of them migrate indoors in the autumn, I’m rather pleased. They generally stay away from humans and cats, but occassionally make their presence known.

The adolescent spider, last night, explored the edges of the kitchen for a while. It finally ended up in a corner beneath the kitchen cabinets. And then I noticed it struggling. As if it was caught in something. Alarm bells went off. Autumn also brings daddy long legs spiders into the house.

I’m less sanguine about them. They would take over the house if I’d let them. Daily I vacuum corners and other places where they like to set up housekeeping and the next day there are another couple who have moved in and constructed a wispy web. I have no difficulty sucking most of them up in the vacuum, although I let a couple hang out in one or two ceiling corners in out of the way locations. They are formidable hunters and really do help keep other unwanted insects or spiders under control. Their favorite snack is other spiders.

So the half-grown wolf spider began struggling and I dived for the floor. And sure enough, a daddy long legs was zeroing in for the kill. I sliced my finger through the wispy web and pushed the wolf spider out onto the floor. It still struggled with bits of web still clinging to its two back legs. I grabbed the dustpan brush and used the tip to gently dab at the spider’s back legs, trying to pull the sticky webbing off. After a couple of tries, we had success and the wolf spider made off across the floor to someplace safer.

Well, hopefully safer. The life of a spider might be more dangerous inside than outside with daddy long legs setting up shop in out of the way corners and with cats on the prowl for fun things to eat. I hope the wolf spider has found a safe place to live.