Garden Spiders

The Garden Spiders are here! Few things startle a homeowner more than to spy a dusty streamer of cobwebs dangling from the ceiling when they have the "company" of garden spiders. With a cloth on the end of a broom, or a vacuum cleaner, they wage continual war on garden spiders that have invaded the home. Garden spiders frequently escape by darting into a hideaway or lowering themselves by threads of silk to the floor where they may vanish until things have quieted down. Some spiders are drawn to water, so check your fountains for webs. We've found concrete wall fountains to be the most spider resistant.

But in damp basements, in infrequently used rooms, in attics, between window casings, beneath benches, and in garages or other out buildings, many garden spiders live interesting lives. Several kinds of garden spiders live in and around homes and offices but most common of them all, in almost every part of the world, is the House Spider. It incessently spins webs in the corners of ceilings and walls, and under furniture -- webs so delicate as to be invisible until coated with dust. These garden spider webs are made of crisscrossed lines of sticky silk anchored at the ends and to each other so as to entangle any flying pest, that comes near. Garden Spiders hide in crevices or in little enclaves of silk. As soon as a fly comes in contact with the garden spiders' web, the garden spider leaps to action, flings more silk over and around it with special combs on the hind legs, stabs it with her tiny poison fangs, and then injects powerful digestive juices. When these juices have liquefied the fly's entrails, garden spiders suck them dry, leaving only empty shell, legs and wings. Often, where spiders dwell, there is not much emphasis on cleaning, or it is in a neglected area of the home.