I knew it!
Spiders are much smarter than you think
181–190 of 220 posts
Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
A tip if you are scared of spiders: Trap them in a glass, then slide some hard surface underneath. You can now move the spider (like out a window) while holding it trapped with the lid. This has actually eliminated much of my arachnophobia, since I find myself studying the spider, safely confined inside the glass before letting it out. (This is actually one way they treat phobias clinically, a kind of desensitization…
Much quicker and more convenient is a spider catcher like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001356203377.html With that I can easily pick them up and drop them out the window or whatever. You can do it at well over arms' length too. It doesn't seem to harm them, as there's a space within the grabbing cage that they get directed to. Small spiders can crawl out between the cage bits but usually stay on the end…
My favorite is a vacuum. Just use it with the handle extension mode and bare floor setting. When you get near them, due to the air movement they try to hold on tighter to the wall and don’t move, which makes it easier.
Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
A tip if you are scared of spiders: Trap them in a glass, then slide some hard surface underneath. You can now move the spider (like out a window) while holding it trapped with the lid. This has actually eliminated much of my arachnophobia, since I find myself studying the spider, safely confined inside the glass before letting it out. (This is actually one way they treat phobias clinically, a kind of desensitization…
Much quicker and more convenient is a spider catcher like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001356203377.html With that I can easily pick them up and drop them out the window or whatever. You can do it at well over arms' length too. It doesn't seem to harm them, as there's a space within the grabbing cage that they get directed to. Small spiders can crawl out between the cage bits but usually stay on the end…
That video ad is something else:
> "It's fast, easy and eco-friendly!"
It's a piece of plastic that will be shipped halfway around the world, to do what could just as well be done by a glass and a bit of cardboard.
It might be fast, easy and particularly convenient, but "eco-friendly" it most certainly ain't.
Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had a similar experience with a spider who had made an egg sack in a precarious spot along our back door that was definitely in hazard's way. I got a stick and a leaf and tried to detach and move her setup to a nearby spot that would be safer. She did not like that. At one point in the move, she got left behind and I ended up with just the egg sack to move. You could feel the panic and protective instinct in her mo…
>I watched her there for a while in her new location, and there is absolutely more than just instinct at play. One could also conclude the opposite. What we perceive as concious thought or emotion is just instinct.
> One could also conclude the opposite. What we perceive as concious thought or emotion is just instinct.
Pretty sure this is what doctors said as their justification for not using anesthetic on babies during medical procedures.
"Oh, they're just crying and screaming because baby, duh"
We now look back at that as being quite a barbaric practice/way of thinking.
Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think
#185Spiders have a higher https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalization_quotient than humans. Brains are so important, some species babies have brains extending into their stomachs and even their legs.
IMHO the big barrier for spider intelligence and technology is their solitary nature.
Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a Russian (Eastern European? Slavic?) superstition against kill spiders. You can kill insects all day, but you don’t kill spiders. You just leave them be.
I'm Russian and I don't remember anything like that, so even if it is Russian it's fairly obscure
Thanks I’ve been wondering.
Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think
#187I once had a huge spider problem. Spiders all over the deck, etc.
Called an exterminator, and he laughed. He said you don't have a spider problem, you have an ant problem. The ants inhabited the wood interior of the deck, and the spiders were eating them.
The ants completely hollowed out the deck, though they left the paint alone, so it looked fine. I was horrified that I could just push a screwdriver through it. It had to be completely replaced.
When I sawed it off of the house, it collapsed into a heap of wood chips and sawdust. I didn't load the lumber into a truck, I shoveled it in. I'm amazed the deck never collapsed under my weight.
My deck is now iron and concrete. No more spiders.
I also had yellowjackets everywhere. In the house, around the house, everywhere. The exterminator told me the problem was the wood roof shingles, as yellowjackets liked to nest in them. Replaced the shingles with asphalt ones, no more yellowjackets.
I tend to leave the spiders alone because they eat the other annoying insects.
Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
A tip if you are scared of spiders: Trap them in a glass, then slide some hard surface underneath. You can now move the spider (like out a window) while holding it trapped with the lid. This has actually eliminated much of my arachnophobia, since I find myself studying the spider, safely confined inside the glass before letting it out. (This is actually one way they treat phobias clinically, a kind of desensitization…
Much quicker and more convenient is a spider catcher like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001356203377.html With that I can easily pick them up and drop them out the window or whatever. You can do it at well over arms' length too. It doesn't seem to harm them, as there's a space within the grabbing cage that they get directed to. Small spiders can crawl out between the cage bits but usually stay on the end…
I just pick spiders up in my hand and throw them out. But I live in the UK. I would be hesitant to do that if I lived in Australia!
Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh please. Animals don't even have the empathy to outright kill a prey before eating it and will have it dismembered, bleeding out and alive no problem. Nature is beautiful but let's not pretend it's caring or loving. Cats play with their food. Spiders liquefy their preys, melting them from the inside out. Crabs eat their newborn offspring. Do any of these feel bad at all about it? No. Find me an animal who went vega…
> Cats play with their food oh my cat don't even eat the animals it brings back inside the house. Birds, baby rabbits (these ones survives for it can catch them but not kill them), lizards by the metric ton, spiders, mice... It brings them back to me and let them in the living room. Sometimes I get two animals a day. I don't know: maybe the cat understood we do the cooking and somehow thinks we're going to cook all i…
> I remember an old blog where some coder who also had a relentless cat (I'd say at least 10 years ago) set up face a webcam and face recognition for its cat inside the pet door and wouldn't let the door open if the cat had something in its mouse.
I've got to find that blog post! Luckily my cats don't bring back half a dozen animals a day anymore but I'm still tired of chasing squirrels and mice around my house once a week.
Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you enjoyed "My octopus teacher" you might also find this book interesting: "OTHER MINDS: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life" Godfrey-Smith The last common ancestor between humans and octopus was a flatworm. So their intelligence has evolved comletely separately from ours in a totally different environment. So they are truly an alien intelligence, here on earth.
Does anyone know what the theory is about octupuses being solitary? It seems like a strange place to end up for highly intelligent creatures. (Although, now that I think about it being smart and specializing in/in charge of your own private hunting ground doesn't really sound like such a bad way to live.)
The book I reference above says that octopus intelligence is a bit of a paradox due to their short life span and lack of sociability. Pretty much all other intelligent animals are long lived and social.