Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Entangled Messiness

I like the word entangled, I use it in my thesis to describe my cohort of writers. It has a messy web of meanings which adds to its flair. Unfortunately I am entangled in a little bit of a less lovely battle, tis quite the quandry really, and it is all to do with the resident balcony garden arachnids.



It has been a particularly bad year for spiders in South Eastern Australia. The weather has meant they have been prolific and I've noticed a surge in numbers on the balcony. Now I am a rather large arachnaphobe. Having been bitten twice I am most definitely shy of them. Redbacks and Whitetails have no room in my life, if I see them they get squished, end of story. Although things like Huntsmans and Daddy Longlegs do a great service to the house I do not wish to see them. They can lurk and hide and do their jobs, just dont come near me or I will let out the most ear piercing squeal and hide in the corner and cry until someone removes them. I am less fearful of little baby spiders, those cute little red mite-like ones for instance. The problem comes with garden spiders. I don't mind the little ones that scuttle away when I turn over a pot with my gloved hands. They can get a little bigger and although I will shudder and get nervous when I see them it isn't squishville for them. No I have a different type of garden spider, he is aggressive and comes at me with all guns blazing. Yes he is just being territorial and I do have a tendency to pull down his web so I'd understand the animosity. It is just that I have no time for a spider like this, oversized, over-aggressive and not welcome on the balcony garden.

Currently he lives in the metal railing of the balcony and I have little chance of catching him and either squishing him or releasing him somewhere else. If only he wouldn't be so aggressive and the webs are becoming a problem. The tricky question is do I spray them to eradicate them or just let nature be? Should I just let Mr Aggressive Arachnid live his life?

5 comments:

Elena said...

Bitten twice! Oh, my God...bad luck.

Ivynettle said...

Ugh, spiders! We don't really have any that bite here in Austria (OK, so the garden spiders can bite, and I think they got me twice, but it's rare and not dangerous), but they still scare me! They're definitely not allowed in my balcony garden, either.

Kate said...

I feel your pain - spiders are definitely gross! Maybe you can encourage him to move to your neighbour's balcony???

Dogwood trees Tennessee said...

I agree with you Kate..
Thanks for sharing..

Gergely said...

Spider do good in your garden against some bugs/flies. Let him live :) just be cautious.
I also have a balcony garden, and would welcome some spiders, cos many tiny flies are living in couple of the pot, and when I do the watering, the just start to fuzz around.
Maybe you could send me that spider in a box of matches :)