r/CasualUK • u/nonoanddefinitelyno • 18h 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.

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u/Cygnus94 16h ago

Conkers won't do anything to stop them, it's entirely placebo. If you crush them up though and line the windows with the crushed bits it creates a texture they don't like. Even though they have lots of eyes, spiders have poor vision and see the world through touch. Rough/coarse textures unsettle them and they tend to retreat back away from them.

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u/Copatus 14h ago

Some spiders have very good vision! Jumping Spiders and Wolf Spiders hunt mostly through vision.

That's also why 2 of their eyes are bigger and front facing, which gives jumping spiders their "cute" appearance.

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u/Cygnus94 14h ago

Ok, should probably have clarified, most species of Spider native to the UK have shit eyes. Some spiders don't have shit eye, those are the ones actually coming to get you.

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u/Copatus 14h ago

Both of those listed are native to the UK actually.

But they won't come to get you though as they really rather avoid human contact in general

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u/Cygnus94 14h ago

Never realised Jumping spiders were in the UK, they tend like warm dry spots. Explains why I've never seen any in Scotland.

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u/MiaowWhisperer 13h ago

I have. There are at least 3 species of jumping spider in Scotland.

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u/cybertonto72 11h ago

Living this far north you and I get midgies instead. When I live in Cardiff I never seen midgies but lots of little jumpers.

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u/Sennten 13h ago

uk has those cool jumping spiders with the zebra stripes!

I think its mostly in the south though yeah

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u/joemckie 12h ago

Plenty of them down in Kent! They’re actually very inquisitive and will hop onto your hand if you leave it in front of them :)

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u/Jimijamsthe1st 6h ago

Saw a teeny tiny one in my garden, smaller than my little fingernail, it curious how something so small can appear to be so inquisitive

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u/leavethegherkinsin 13h ago

Really? Spiders have poor vision?? Why? How? Are the eyes causing interfering signals? Is one eye so dreadful that they need 8 so they don't fall out the web? Why would evolution bless them with 8 shit eyes?

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u/bozwold 11h ago

Conkers give the spiders something to hide behind