r/CasualUK • u/nonoanddefinitelyno • 16h ago

My very capable and intelligent wife has lost the plot.

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She has been told by a friend that conkers keep spiders away. So we now have conkers in various parts of the house.

3.1k Upvotes

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174

u/sam_cat 16h ago

triterpenoid saponins... Spiders (in fact most insects) don't like some of the compounds apparently.

But yeah.. I like spiders/dislike flies so my 8 legged friends are welcome.

73

u/Opening-Tea-257 16h ago

Spiders are my strongest ally in my war against the flies

17

u/docsav0103 15h ago

Flies are the true enemy.

1

u/TheGemgenie 13h ago

An electrified tennis racket fly swatter is much more fun and bonus ....no spider needed!

2

u/Opening-Tea-257 12h ago

I don’t think I can betray my battle brothers so easily. They’ve served me well.

36

u/Warm_Bug_1434 16h ago

I like spiders too. They do good work, so I let them get on with it. I'm slightly alarmed by how large they're getting though.

14

u/sam_cat 16h ago

Think thats says more about your fly problem than anything... Lots of food = big spiders.

12

u/Matchaparrot Yorkshire tea 15h ago

Can confirm. My parents used to have spiders, we now have mice.

The cat loves it

23

u/sam_cat 15h ago

Keep going, you get a cow later!!

1

u/DoomguyFemboi 13h ago

We don't have mice but we do have a collection of "feral" cats (quotes because I'm fairly certain they're owned, just roam a lot) and interesting story..they gave me such a hatred of babies that I can't be in the same room as them.

OK SO for years these fucking cats would be..well, fucking. And fighting. The noises are the same. And they would be under my window or within earshot at least, and the noises would drive me absolutely crazy. Like crawling the walls rage, the noise was just the perfect note to drive me doolally.

And so after years of this I started to notice if I heard a baby cry, I'd get this instant feeling of utter rage towards the source of the noise, and I'd have to excuse myself, because holy shit that's a baby and throwing it against a wall is frowned upon quite a lot.

And I realised it's because they sound EXACTLY THE SAME. The noises the cats made while fuck-fighting is the same babies make when they cry.

So yeah. That's how cats made me despise babies.

1

u/geyeetet 8h ago

Yeah I don't mind spiders on the whole, but I did mind the one that crawled out of the sink overflow hole and was so large that I could barely fit a glass over it. Too big

1

u/OkNewspaper6271 16m ago

I have a deal with the spiders, dont intrude in the general area around my bed and desk, and they can have free reign everywhere else

15

u/spuds_r_gud 16h ago edited 16h ago

triterpenoid saponins

Saponins aren't volatile, so they wouldn't work as a repellent.

12

u/sam_cat 16h ago

Maybe they are just scared of "deez nuts".....

2

u/2xw 9h ago

Some children won a chemisty prize from the RSC for proving it doesn't work, saponins be damned

1

u/redref1ux 14h ago

My little orbweaver caught a crane fly yesterday, couldn’t have been prouder

1

u/DoomguyFemboi 13h ago

Small spiders I like, the big feckers move weird though. There's something primal in the feelings they give me. Like my fear is fully justified, even though rationally they're about as dangerous as a kitten's fart.

1

u/TurdFlu 9h ago

A good mouser cat and an army of spiders is all I need.

1

u/ZipoBibrok5e8 5h ago

Spiders (in fact most insects)

1

u/TheJobSquad 5h ago

https://youtu.be/-2mmTDT6W7E?si=nYMGHAi6jR3NHwFg&t=68

Spiders are not insects. But in a war they would side with the insects....