And this year it grows hot.
Nearly 30 degrees C forecast for today in the UK!
At some point I expect to see an iridescent stealth alien leaping from tree to tree with his collection of skulls rattling at his side!
But we have another alien species to contend with here at Moonbase. It moved in a few years ago and had taken hold.
I'm referring to the Daddy Long Legs. No, not the dangly Crane Fly that occasionally flies in and flops around the place like a wig. I mean the Daddy Long Legs spider, the Pholcid, an alien arachnid not native to the UK.
We'd never noticed them before but then a few years back we began to see these new spiders in the high corners of the rooms. They were thin and had long legs like a Harvestman.
At first we thought they were Harvestmen straying into our house but these 'thinnies' as we called them were something different.
And they breed like hell. No sooner have you brushed them out of the cornices they're back and everywhere.
And some are huge!
Some thinnies are clearly doing well and maturing into big ones. Still thin they spread out their long legs like a hand across almost invisible webs.
These webs are in the corners, along the arches, under the bath, beside the bath, next to the bookcase and even across the kitchen sink.
For animal lovers like me and the Missus this poses a problem. We hate harming wildlife but these arachnids are taking over. Moonbase Junior loves to find them with his torch when he's over!
Even normal house spiders, Tegenaria, have retreated somewhere else ..... or possibly worse, they've been eaten by pholcids.
It doesn't help that just when this leggy problem has settled twitchilly upon our brains that I watch a film called Itsy Bitsy on the telly. Yes, Itsy Bitsy spider .... the flick, about a ancient demon mother spider trapped in an urn and once freed terrorises a home, completely freaked me out and I had to turn it off!
The pholcids are getting to me!
This year it grows hot!
Do you have thinnies?
Generally, I do not mind spiders, but then this is New Zealand and we do not have a lot of poisonous spiders. It is those nasty, six-legged insects I can not stand. The spider I know as the Daddy Long Legs is not that large, but the name may apply to a different type to a British Daddy Long Legs. There are not many, and I leave them alone - after all, they eat those nasty insects.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you don't have many poisonous spiders Paul. I thought there'd be loads! Out of interest do you have the Dingo or is that just Oz?
DeleteWeve got a few pholcids in da house, ive seen two at least so far, very unusual. I assumed the were harvestmen, but apparently not! The bane of my life are bluebottles, swarming in everytime I have the back door open and buzzing around like black copters
ReplyDeleteIf you have 2 already then prepare for more. They're hatching a plan as we speak Wote! I bet you don't have any House Spiders.
DeleteMy garage harbours loads of spindly legged, small bodied spiders. Not sure what breed they are.
ReplyDeleteCan't understand why though, since there's nothing in there to eat, such as flies or moths.
Perhaps they're cannibals !
Mish.
There are only a couple of poisonous spiders in NZ. Of course, I have never been bitten, so that may be why I do not mind them. No Dingos in NZ, unless there are some in zoos. Not a lot of dangerous animals in NZ. Native fauna is mainly birds, lizards, insects - the only land mammals are two species of bat, both rare. Everything else was introduced by Man (including Man).
ReplyDelete