Larger Spiders and Insects these Day's

[Cheyenne 09]

Has anyone else noticed that Spiders and Insects are much bigger than they used to be a few years ago. House Spiders in particular are much bigger than they were a few years ago and it is the same with the Insects. We don't usually get big Insects here in Scotland with it being much colder here.

[Miranda]

Hello, Cheyenne - the one insect that does seem bigger this year is the mosquito. There have been some really big fat ones about and lots of them, too.

There has definitely been a growth in the slug population and some of them are huge. I was watching a slug on the lid of the compost bin the other day and noticed that it was accompanied by a woodlouse - also saw a woodlouse crawling just inside a snail's shell. What are they doing? Here are the slug and the woodlouse: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/miranda_uk/blog1/companions.jpg

Haven't noticed that the spiders are much different, though the next month or so will tell more, as they grow. There are certainly a lot of them about, mind you. We spend a lot of time watching spiders - they're like unofficial pets - and have noticed that two of the three that have been living in the kitchen window have now set up home on the outside of the window frame. We think it might be because they got fed up of watching all the craneflies from the inside.

What else have you seen, Cheyenne?

[sue1002]

We have had big spiders around here for years, there was a nice big one in the bath the other day which didn't bother me, it was still in there after I'd had my shower, it's the human males around here that run away from them.

I've found huge slugs here this year, the other night when I let the dogs out after it had been raining, there were two big ones (they must have been about 3 inches long and a good inch thick) by the gate and next door's dog slipped on it.

[Neil Bromhall]

Great photograph of you're slug & woodlouse Miranda.
The large spider in the bath is a House Spider called Tegenaria gigantea. It's a male looking for a female. The females are bigger than the males.
You can tell the males as they have 'boxing gloves' called pedipalps which carry and transfer the sperm.
They look big and hairy but are completely harmless. I filmed them for a documentary called Arachniphobia

[digger]

If we get big spiders in the house one of the dogs usually chases and eats them Ughhh!. I am not over keen on spiders but i do tolerate them if they keep off me, years ago we had a big spider at work he lived in a crack in the wall, he had a web with a fine line tied around his leg so that if a fly went in the web he knew because the line would tug. we called him Sid and used to see him most days.

[Paul Narramore]

Spiders? Slugs? Pah! We had a ferret in our garden the other day. It was beige in colour and had a nasty neck wound. Also there were six or seven bluebottles harrassing the poor thing. Thinking it had escaped and caught mange, I kept out two ctas in then called the RSPCA. We trapped the animal in a laundry basket and fed it some cat food which it clearly needed. The RSPCA girl arrived and diagnosed that it probably wasn't mange but most likely it had been attacked. She took it away to a vets, then a ferret rescue place.

A good year for butterflies and moths, eh?

[Maire]

I'm too scared to look at the woodlouse/snail collaberation but am delighted to hear of freddy the ferret's rescue.

[sue1002]

We've got lots of Red Admiral butterflies this year, and although I've seen a few Cabbage Whites, they haven't laid as many eggs this year as they did last on the brassicas. The only brassicas to be affected are the purple sprouting broccoli (and it is covered with fine netting).

I've just remembered what I did with a slug I found the other day on the grass, OH laughed when I told him - I had collected some doggy dump in a plastic bag when I spotted the huge slug and that went in the bag too, then I tied it up so the slug couldn't escape, it would have been gassed to death I would imagine.

[Cheyenne 09]

Hello everyone, The reason Why i started this Topic is because the Spiders that you see inside the house are usually about two inches for females but the ones we have had this year are about Four inches. We really don't get big spiders or insects here because it is really cold up here and we don't get the Hot sunny weather you guys and gals usually get down south. I also haven't seen any mosquito's this year at all Miranda but the Slugs and snails are getting bigger every year. we've had a lot of butterflies though and even some hover flies i think pale blue in colour and about an inch long which are nice for a change. we also get Grey Squirrels in the Garden sometimes which can be fun to watch. :)

[Cheyenne 09]

Do any of you guys or gals have any problems with flying Ants we get these every year here in the West of Scotland. :)

[digger]

We have had big spiders in the house. Someone told us they were called wolf spiders, but they are big mingers... I have seen a couple of ants nests but not flying ants. As for grey blasted squirrels where i live we have a woods right at the back of the house and over the lane from the front garden is a hotel with a big wooded garden filled with squirrels, we are at the back of the hotel so luckily we don't get all the comings and goings from there but we get "raided" on a daily basis by squirrels, I have had things dug up peanuts planted hanging baskets wrecked etc. but there is little or nothing we can do so we just put up with it.

[Miranda]

We haven't had any problems with flying ants but for the last couple of weeks there have been zillions of small crane flies hatching. They dance outside the windows at dusk, just when I want them open in the kitchen.

We had a squirrel problem until we put baffles on the hanging feeders. You could try that, digger.

Lots of fat spiders about - orb weavers and house spiders. I like house spiders.

[Neil Bromhall]

The mass emergence of ants will only happen for an hour or two once or twice a year.

Their strategy is to emerge en mass so that they have a chance of finding a mate, mating and surviving predation.
This safety in numbers strategy is the same as termites.
It is even more amazing to know that ants co-ordinate this mass emergence over hundreds of miles so ants in the south of England will all come out at the same time and when conditions are just right up North then all the ants there will emerge together. I think it's is incredible how this happens.

Only a tiny number of queen ants survive and start a new colony as millions of ants are eaten by birds, wasps, spiders, mice and other ants.etc.
I would even suspect that if you were to put a powder on and kill the colony in your garden that it leaves the territory open for more Queens to take up residence in your garden.
When the ants emerge, if you look in the sky you will notice seagulls flying about picking off the ants as they fly higher as the queens only want to mate with the strongest males.
When they have mated the males die. The Queen looses her wings and starts her own colony from this single mating

[Cheyenne 09]

That's very interesting what you said Neil about Ants on their nuptial flight. I don't know if anyone here does use ant powder I don't usually I just leave them alone unless they come into the house. An alternative to Ant Powder and Chemical Free to Get Rid of Ants -- Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home,"and can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, esp. if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed! worth try if you get hordes of Ants in the Summer Time. :)

[digger]

We have two ants nests, but i didn't see the need to "evict" them. I know they can encourage aphids to be present for the honeydew and i am told they will kill ladybugs to protect the aphids, so at the lottie i just let them sort themselves out I don't have an aphid problem there.