Let's face it, it's cold outside. If you were a spider you'd want to live in your house too. Here's why you might not want to usher them out just yet.
Hi, this is Iain MacLeod from New Hampshire Audubon, bringing you Something Wild.
Winter has arrived and it seems as though everything is hibernating. Inside, however, it's a different story. It's actually a perfect time to observe our native household spiders as they continue to go about their business of hunting for food.
There are often three types of spiders at work in many homes: web-builders, active hunters and passive hunters.
House spider. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
Web-builders weave intricate nets to capture their prey. The small Cellar Spider has a gray or tan body and very long legs. It builds messy webs where it quietly sits, unless it's disturbed by something too big to eat. Then it shakes the web violently until the spider and the web are a blur, rendering both nearly invisible - a great means of protection.
Active hunters are often the spiders that startle you, since they actively chase down prey and they're fast! They may build a web to use as a resting retreat, but they do not use it to capture food.
A common example of an active hunter is the Jumping Spider. Small, dark and hairy with stocky bodies and short legs, jumping spiders can launch themselves many times their own length in a single bound. Because they move so quickly, they may seem frighteningly aggressive, but you only need to worry if you are their favorite prey - small insects.
The passive hunters sit quietly and wait for unsuspecting prey to pass by - then they pounce on it. Crab Spiders usually reside in your garden but you may find them indoors. They look like tiny crabs and can walk forward, backward or sideways. They also have excellent eyesight, which helps them to identify insects that are unlucky enough to get too close.
Use the quiet winter months to observe these small ferocious predators in action. They will eat many times their own weight in unwanted household pests - an excellent reason to keep them around!
Something Wild is a joint production of New Hampshire Audubon, New Hampshire Public Radio, and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. For Something Wild, I'm Iain MacLeod.
If you have a natural history question that you would like answered on Something Wild, email us at somethingwild@nhpr.org.
