A couple days ago, I posted about my favorite lifer for the week , a southern house spider. Now she is dead. I think that she is the same spider who was hiding behind my towel earlier this week, who fell into the shower when I took the towel to dry myself. I rescued her from the tub and she seemed o…

There’s really no way of knowing for sure, but it could have just been the end of his (that spider is actually a male) lifespan. My house growing up was (and still is) full of these, we always just left them alone as they are harmless and help control pests, and they can actually live a surprisingly…

Adult male spiders typically have a pretty short lifeapan and in many short lifed spiders they will die within few weeks after maturing. Very generally speaking: In web building spiders many males will stop producing webs and thus catching prey (sometimes they will steal food from the females web,…

[image] sethshively: (that spider is actually a male) Hmm… I was looking for the enlarged palps which I associate with male spiders and didn’t think I saw them. As it turned out, last night he was ‘only mostly dead.’ He had lain still and curled up all day and looked dead; but when I tried t…

Did you try to offer water? Often the climate indoors is very challenging for spiders

[image] ajott: Did you try to offer water? By the time I thought of that, it was too late.

[image] jasonhernandez74: By the time I thought of that, it was too late. Then it’s a clear case of negligent arachnicide.

So now I have another Southern House Spider – this one in the living room, possibly living behind the bookshelf. How do I go about offering it water? Just put out a shallow dish nearby, or is there a better way?

One way is to soak the end of a Q-tip in water and then put the wet end in front of the spider. If the spider is thirsty it will come up to the Q-tip and suck water out of it. A similar method is to use a cotton ball, although wet cotton balls are more unwieldy to handle. You can also take a plant m…

yeah, I would probably put some wet toilet paper out near the hide in the evening. Do you know if it is male or female?

Toilet paper is held together using water-soluble glue (in order to make it decay rapidly in the plumbing). Idk if that glue solution is good for animals, probably not. I’d recommend using other porous materials.

Why did the spider die?

Nature Talk

papernautilus April 2, 2025, 9:42pm 7

Then it’s a clear case of negligent arachnicide.

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Why did the spider die?

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