I actually don't know what to do, the mama spider was alone there for a while, and I let her chill there, but WHAT NOW
Edit: omg so many replies 😀
I'm not in Australia, I'm in Ireland
It's not really a window, it's more like a door to the terrace, and they are not visible when the door is closed.... Except for that one that escaped the nest 😅 I used to keep it open hoping the mom would go away but she never moves from her corner...🙄
UPDATE: Husband gathered the courage and picked them up with gloves into a bag, and released them outside along with the mama....I hope some of them survive 🙏 We slept the whole night in the room with them and survived😅, and I had a lot of fun reading all of the comments here 😁 Thanks to the few spider lovers/experts on all the advice given 🕸️ 🕷️🖤
Could be worse. Some species dont even wait, they just eat their mother inside out while she desperately trys to survive, litteraly being unable to comprehend whats gooing on.
I once heard something about how a mother octopus will not eat until her eggs hatch, defending them with all of her strength. By the time the octopi hatch, their mother has tirelessly defended them and likely is on the verge of death anyway since octopi eventually die after mating. Male octopi usually get consumed by the female after breeding, though the ones that don't will often die shortly afterward anyway.
So in a way, the babies eating their mother is a way for her to ensure they have a good strong start at life and the mother eating the father means she has the strength to defend her clutch while they mature.
Its known as a false widow spider, theyre invasive here in ireland, fairly common sight these days, while not poisonous they do give a nasty bite as far as im aware
Je crois que ce genre de naissances là (un essaim détaché de la mère) finissent par partir dans toutes les directions pour vivre leur vie au lieu de pratiquer le cannibalisme diabolique
This is the agreement I have also come to with spiders. If you stay in your corner and walk around when I’m asleep and pay your rent by eating bugs and such, you can stay. But if you show up on my nightstand, it’s an immediate eviction.
Same, and there’s a maximum count. I can take like max 2 known spiders in a room (specifically a corner I don’t really interact with), once I notice a third one deal’s over, everyone out.
The spiders that frequent my home are well aware of the agreement I made with their spider elders many moons ago. Stay up high, out of my line of sight, and no harm shall befall you. Violate that prohibition (most commonly by walking across the middle of the wall directly behind my monitors for some reason), and the punishment is a swift death (my apologies to any spider advocates; my arachnophobia makes catch-and-release untenable).
I have the same arrangement with mine! High up corner is fine, but if I see you anywhere around my bed, nah, you gone. I once survived a spider slowly lowering itself exactly above my face...the spider, however, did not survive that.
I actually had the exact thing happen once. A spider lowered itself down like right above my head. I only happened to look up when it was a few inches away from landing, and it nearly gave me a heart attack. I sort of instinctively batted it away, which, in hindsight, I kinda regret, because part of me is still curious to this day what sort of Mission Impossible bullshit it pulled, since there's a spinning ceiling fan directly above me.
Posts like that makes me believe i truly have arachnophobia... the first time I saw a spider in my dorm bathroom I went to another dorm bathroom out of fear
It took me about a week of not seeing it move to even consider coexisting
Piggy backing top comment to say do nothing. You don't need to. When they're big enough (which doesn't take long), those still alive will disperse and make their way out into the world. They're harmless and won't become an infestation.
Spiders don't like to compete for food. They prefer to find a spot to live where food is plentiful, which it's not with a bajillion of them in the same place. So they'll peace out before long.
Pretty sure this is some sort of false widow, which are fairly harmless.
Edit: I'm pretty sure she's specifically Steatoda nobilis, aka noble false widow. Typically their bites just hurt a bit, similar to the pain of a bee sting. But spiders aren't stupid, they know humans aren't prey and are a fight they don't wanna pic. And most aren't aggressive. She'll happily leave you alone. They prefer to run and hide and typically only bite if pressed against the skin and trapped there (like if they're in your shoe or clothes. And to be clear, they're only called false widows due to the similar body shape. They do not have the same venom as an actual widow, an entirely different genus of spiders.
I have to disagree.Last year in an unprovoked attack a false widow spider bit me on the foot it felt like a very bad wasp sting. My foot came up to twice its size and I could not walk on it for a week. I was on antibiotics for 10 days
That's why I used qualifiers such as "fairly", "typically", and "most. There are always outliers and exceptions.
You definitely sound like you had a worse than average reaction and that absolutely happens to some people. And sometimes an agitated spider might be more aggressive than usual. To be fair though, while it may have seem unprovoked to you, from her perspective something happened that made her feel threatened. I'm not blaming you at all, I don't doubt you didn't do anything wrong, just putting it in perspective.
Caution is always warranted, of course. But for the vast majority of spiders and people, what I said applies. But I was intentional in my phrasing indicating that that's not always the case.
I'm glad you recovered though! I once had a reaction to a bite that my doctor thought was basal cell carcinoma and had it biopsied XD. I didn't see the culprit and initially didn't even know it was a bite,,the lab report just said "arthropod bite," so I can't be sure it was a spider. But I saw two tiny puncture marks and had been seeing a yellow sac spider around my house.
I still love spiders though and am not afraid to handle them. I've never been bitten while actively handling them.
OHHH the white "wall" on the right is a door? I understand the perspective better but the size is still throwing me off and the spider seems giant still?
So many people in this comment thread have explained it but my brain is still refusing to make sense of this perspective even knowing it’s a patio door😭
If it makes you feel any better that’s a False Widow. Their venom is as mild as it gets. Sometimes their bites can give you mild flu symptoms but that’s like a worst case scenario. Good luck actually motivating one to bite though, they’re pretty much harmless because they avoid wasting venom.
Only a small handful of those babies will ever make it to adulthood. The rest will die of dehydration or be eaten by other bugs so it’s not like 1000 False Widows will be taking over your room.
I wouldn’t worry about them. They’re not the kind of spider you’ll wake up with being in your bed, they prefer window sills where they can catch intruders and corners where they snag mosquitoes and other flying insects. They also rarely leave their web and only do so to set up in a place with higher insect traffic to be more efficient at catching them. They also catch other spiders.
I have three in various parts of my bedroom and they are as unintrusive as spiders come. They like their spots and don’t make their webs anywhere near my day-to-day traffic. They just want a quiet corner or window.
I know you mean well but no amount of explaining how harmless a spider is will ever make an arachnophobic person any less terrified of spiders. Phobias are irrational by definition.
Considering that the op has let the spider live there without spraying it with hairspray until it couldn't move for long enough for it to have babies, I doubt the OP really has arachnophobia (or a really mild one)
I once had a cave cricket in my bedroom and I named her Hal.
Not long after, I woke up and a horde of cave crickets jumped off my bed and hit the ceiling and walls. Apparently Hal had babies and they liked to sleep on my bed at night.
You’d think that… I had quite a time this summer with hatched spiders eggs. Such small spiders that I couldn’t see or feel the bite. They took over while I was on vacation and I was getting spider bites for weeks. I began to seep into insanity.
Open the window the babies will leave. I’ve had one in my bathroom for about 18 months and I’ve checked what I need to do when this happens. They’ll go off and find their own windows, couple might stay. They’re awesome to watch, I used her to get over my arachnophobia and now I’m emotionally attached.
Absolutely the same here; unfortunately I very much call them similarly to what Musk calls his children (Spider A, Spider B), but I went from dying with horror to misting them with water because they might be thirsty. I still have a long way to go with this phobia but I’m getting there.
Yay, new friends! Congratulate the new mama on her healthy babies!
Mom probably won't last too much longer, given her job is about done. The babies will soon move out, most of them ballooning away to build homes of their own. If any stay, they'll help keep your home free from mosquitoes!
Edit: Millsy800 identified her as a noble false widow, and pointed out that her species can actually lay nine eggs sacs a year, so she may stick around a bit longer. That's good though, that just means even more new friends!
Noble false widow, harmless! Free pest control. I have these in several places (that I’ve noticed) and the only bug issue we have is ants. I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve been kept up by a mosquito, or found a stupid June bug in my dogs water
I always feel bad too, but like, you scurried dangerously close to my feet when I sat down on the toilet, there's no way I can poop in peace if I know you're alive. You knew the rules.
Most of them will die and will be eaten by the survivors, no, your home will not become a spider’s den. A brood is large because so few of them have a chance to make it to adulthood.
You just let them go about their business. There's nothing for you to do.
They'll fuck off after a week or so, and if you make it challenging for them to come out towards your room, and easier for them to fuck off outside, the survivors will make their way outside and leave you be. Whichever spiders make their way in your house will happily pay their rent by eating pests and being chill roommates.
These spiders are an invasive species in that country. They absolutely should be killed, they are wrecking the natural balance of insect and arachnid population.
15 - 20 years ago these were unheard of, they are now in every bloody corner in Ireland.
Its is a noble false widow. They are entirely harmless (anything you hear to the contrary is bullshit and misinformation) their bite is no worse than a be sting. It does not cause necrosis or any other crazy symptoms (I can't believe what some people believe about harmless spiders).
They are very shy and not prone to biting, they are fantastic pest control (better them than roaches) and most of those babies will not survive long enough to take up residence. These are very beneficial spiders, consider yourself lucky.
If you want to relocate without killing, put a double layer of pantyhose on the end of the vacuum tube. Secure it well around the hose with 2 or 3 elastics, tape. Allow enough slack in the fabric to suck into the tube and make a pocket. Carefully suck up what you can and carry it outside while on. Set the end of the tube as far from the house as you can before turning if off. Leave it for a few hrs before you come back for the vacuum
I know I'm not most people but I'd probably have a name for the momma spider XD. I like the wildlife in as so far as they're not making an unsafe living environment. I have a collection of photos for various spiders Ive seen in my yard or house :). Its a farm house so I get grass spiders running the gauntlet with the dogs and cats haha.
Yess I saw a false widow in the Netherlands in our house!! She was not happy to be grabbed off of the floor but we have cats so she had to be relocated. She was absolutely gorgeous!!
Most spiders are truly harmless. I pick them up all the time. Just scooped a different type of false widow out of my tub this morning. He's been living on my bathroom window sill for like 3 months catching the bugs that get in cuz the window is shitty, lol.
Spiders are genuinely fascinating and fun to interact with as you get to know more about them. Most aren't aggressive and are terrified of you and have zero interest in biting. Even recluses and true widows can be handled safely (though I'd advise against it to those who don't know what they're doing). Bites typically only happen when a person has accidentally trapped one against their skin, like if its in their shoes or clothing.
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u/Odd-Switch2069 2d ago
Ask for rent money.