I usually let spiders be, but one night as I walked down the steps to retrieve something from the yard I saw this spider that freaked me out and I stomped on it. Immediately dozens of babies went scurrying. Turns out it was a wolf spider ... totally harmless. :(

I also have a couple of resident Black and Yellow spiders. Mine are right outside the window of my sewing room - I don't know that I could have let them stay inside though.

Most critters don't bother me, as long as they are not poisonous. If they are dangerous, they gotta go....

I have come across Black Widow spiders recently in one of my garden beds. THOSE do freak me out and they DO get squished! I've wondered if they could bite through a glove and I try to remember to watch for them. They are very sneaky and elusive.

We like spiders here. We had a crab spider on a yellow daylily in spring, and it blended to the same beautiful bright yellow as the lily. Very successful at catching the unsuspecting nectar sipper! My favorite spiders used to be the ones that spun the cylindrical tunnel webs. They were HUGE where I used to live and just fascinating to watch. Haven't noticed one here yet. In fact, most of the spiders I've seen here are pretty tiny. The kids still aren't OK with spiders in the house all the time, but we're working on that!

Practicality tells me that I should like them, but anything with eight legs and fangs just isn't going to be on my buddy list. They are exceedingly creepy, in my book, but I definitely respect them and let them be when I come across them outside or in the barn (No black widows around here). In the house, it's crunch city.

ThinMan

You are a brave lot!
I hate spiders (and snakes)! Bugs don't bother me in general though, nor do rodents.

If the spider is outside I let it be. If it is inside it is an all out war. There are hobo spiders in the den, which I think are poisonous (?). Boy, are those buggers SMART! They seem to just know when you are nearby. These kind are large enough to trip over (okay, maybe I exagerate)!!

A few weeks ago I was in the den, sprawled out on the sofa watching tv. I saw this quick movement out of the corner of my eye. This huge spider was crawling up the side, just inches from my head! And a few weeks before that there were two spiders in two days that dropped down (plunk!) on the coffee table! OMG!!

I am freaking out just thinking about this. 8^O
CMK

Ew ew ew ew!!!! these stories just gave me the heebie jeebies. I only like them outside, but they cant touch me! Inside, i vacumm them up. A few months ago i got in the shower without looking and there was the biggest spider EVER lol crawling from the drain . I freaked out so much my husband said he thought it was somethhing "serious!" lol now i look in the shower before i get in.

This is the first summer that I didn't have those black & yellow garden spiders. (Never knew their correct name; thanks, thyme2dig.)

I grew up terrified of any kind of spider, but cured myself of that phobia with EFT. Still don't want them in the house, or crawling on me, but don't mind them at all outside. I came across a wolf spider while on my knees edging the lawn last year. I'm not sure which of us was more startled. He/she went one direction & I went the other.

I like them! There's one that has a big web next to the house connecting to a tall evergreen tree and I go visit it to make sure it's still there. They're very interesting little critters. Isn't there an expression "Spiders are the gardener's friend"? I always let them be.

However.....like you said, if it's crawling on me, then I'm whacking it!

This is a very timely post for me! Last night DH came into the kitchen and said he saw a spider run under our bed. Action was called for......we have Brown Recluse Spiders here and they are very poisonous. So we pulled all funiture out from the wall, vacuumed removed all things from under the bed. and I sprayed a pyrethrin spray under the furniture and along the baseboards. Now today, everything comes out of the closet where you can't even see the floor for stuff. That's where they hide in dark places. We used to buy bug bombs but I don't think they sell them anymore. I did find the Recluse and another unkown one who are no longer with us.

Garden spiders or any outside, I just leave be. I do hate walking into the webs outside though.

We plan to pull all furniture out into the middle of all rooms and clean and spray well. This is the time of year spiders are seeking warmth (I think).

I heard they taste like chicken. Ha!

I don't mind spiders too much. I think most of the spiders here are not poisonous, but I could be wrong. I have the spiders that TM showed us in the garden, and tend to dispatch them, as they prey on pollinators. We have lots of 'daddy long-legs', and I co-exist with them in the house. Dock spiders at the lake are creepy. We had one we called 'Charlotte', she was the size of my hand. She built a nest strung between gladiolas at the boathouse. We went to the far docks through the boathouse that summer, lol. When anyone came near, she did that 'Alien' thing with her front 2 legs. Ewwwwww.

Nancy.

Like is a strong word. I respect them as long as they aren't harmful to humans and they are outside. i used to be terrified because the biggest wolf spider I've ever seen in Mississippi crawled out from under my pillow when I was about 8 and scared the SH*& out of me.

I'll have to come back and post some pics of the gorgeous garden spider I had nesting between my glad stalks for the past couple of months. She picked a good place, because the moths and bugs have been all over the lantana that sits right next to them.

She had her last hurrah yesterday. I noticed she wasn't in her web and looked around to find her guarding an egg sac on my shutters. Today she was gone. Unfortunately I'm painting the shutters as soon as the wasps go bye-bye, so I'm going to try and move the sac without damaging it.

For those of you who deal with poisonous spiders I don't even know what to say. That must be quite scary coming across them in the garden or house. Gldno1, I can't even imagine having a poisonous spider in my bedroom. I think I would have to sleep in my car. I don't think I ever really thought about what poisonous spiders may live in NH but these replies make me think I should know that answer.

Backyardgrown, CMK and Lilyfinch, I think that is the worst when they sneak up on you or show up or drop in when you least expect it. They are pretty creepy crawly.

Deanna, those spiders that you describe with the tunnel-web, are they here in NH or did you live in a different state prior? They sounds so interesting.

Outside, I leave them be. I like to watch the writing spiders. There was one out front that I was keeping an eye on. But it is gone now. It was close to the side walk, so I suspect someone knocked it down.

Inside, I kill them. I am concerned that they might bite the dogs.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:753431}}

I think some spider's look down right beautiful. I am lucky I live far enough north that I don't have any bad 1's though. I'm fine with them being in the house too, my hubby and daughter on the other hand will kill them (if they are small enough for them to handle, LOL) if I don't get to them first. I let them back outside if they are really bothering them (too big, LOL)

I can pick them up on my own no problem (yes, they really do fascinate me that much), but if I do happen to get 1 crawling on me I don't regonize, I do shudder a bit, before removing them.

God's creatures big and small are beautiful and serve a purpose...............unless it's a rat.......I HATE THEM!!!!

Melissa1977

I respect them but won't go near them because I'm scared of them. I have been bitten by a poisonous unknown spider which caused my arm to swell up and break into hives. Thank goodness no harm done but it just made me more cautious.

I do hate house spiders especially when I used to live in Asia. The ones I am referring are larger than one's hand. Imagine seeing one like that jump out of your closet or hanging on a wall.. Makes my skin crawl I tell you. I once spotted one as large as one's face.

I also don't like the tropical spiders that live in jungles. They spin large webs which you won't see until you walk right into one. These spiders are as large as one's hands a well.

If I ever tell you the kinds of insects and creatures I encountered in Asia, it would probably cause lots of heebie jeebies.

I leave them alone. I enjoy watching their progress as they build webs in my garden. I had a bad reaction to a brown recluse about 10 years ago; was on medication (steroids? and other drugs) for a year and a half. But I just try to keep my skin out of their fangs. I don't think they want to bite us unless we scare them or do something stupid.

They eat our bad bugs. So the offing all the spiders would mean an overabundance of earwigs or some other horrid thing that eats our good plants.

Leave them alone - they have an important job to do!

Mickie

PS - We don't typically have brown recluse here in SW Ohio; this one came in with a new bed we had just bought.

Brown recluse, black widow, hobo spiders, NO THANKS! I do not like spiders in the house, especially poisonous spiders!

That being said, I don't mind spiders that aren't poisonous. I live on a farm and in about a week or two, there will be hundreds of baby spiders drifting through the air as they hatch, crawl along the electric wires of the horse fence (doesn't seem to bother them) and let go and drift through the air. It looks kind of like the end of Charlotte's Web :)

My motto is, I don't come into your house, please stay out of mine. Except for the little guys mentioned above (who always seem to find a way to end up on my ceiling and drop down while I'm walking by) I haven't had too many problems. However, we don't have a basement. My parent's house had a basement and there were always a variety of spiders coming into the house in the fall.

I'm reminded of time when my husband and I purchased a newly built home here in Ontario and my daughter was just born. I discovered a spider climbing out of the ear of my sleeping daughter. Although it was harmless, that incident still freaks me out. I guess a number of spiders started nests while the house was still being built and it was some time before we managed to eradicate them all.

It also makes me think of those incidents in some parts of the world where spiders can actually inject their eggs in human hosts. Yuck

Oh, Ianna - that would change my opinion! Many years ago I travelled with friends to the island of St. Lucia. I was bitten twice, by what I was fairly sure was a spider - I never saw it. It raised on the back of hand and my cheek what looked like a white 1/2 raspberry, with red 'seeds' in the centre. The only time I have ever had a similar reaction was to a jumping spider, which caused my whole instep to swell, but had the same blood sac in the middle. My travelling companion said she killed the spider with a toilet brush - she wouldn't tell me how large it was!!!! lol. I have been to Arizona in the mating season of the brown tarantula - imagine the breeding season of frogs on the backroads of Ontario - same thing, but with huge spiders. Yuck.

Nancy.