Technology
Sex-crazed spiders are on the verge of invading British homes in their thousands – how to get ready
IT’S around that time of year again when hundreds of spiders begin invading UK homes in search of love.
This so-called “spider season” normally begins in the first two weeks of September and ends by the first week of October.
Alamy The UK’s spider season has officially begun[/caption]
Alamy Live News The Giant House Spider (pictured) is one of dozens of species of house spider in the UK[/caption]
Male spiders go into hiding all year and come out in force in search of a mate.
They may have already been living in your home but their presence is more noticeable at this time of year as they begin to wander around.
That’s why you might see them crawling across the carpet.
“The ones we see scuttling around in the house – they’re usually the male house spiders,” the author and self-proclaimed “bugman” previously told BBC Newsbeat.
“The ones you see running across the carpet in front of you freaking you out, most often it’ll be a male out on some sort of amorous pursuit.”
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House spiders are descendants of African and Mediterranean arachnids, and so are built for warmer climates.
As a result, they prefer hiding in cosy homes over building webs in the garden.
The eight-legged creatures are usually born indoors where they lurk for most of the year, fattening up on bugs before breaking cover during mating season.
Richard said most UK spiders are nothing to worry about, as they can’t bite humans.
He said a spider’s jaws are so small that nipping a human would be like trying to take a bite out of a basketball.
However, there are exceptions.
The terrifying false widow spider, found largely in the south of England, has been known to chomp on unsuspecting Brits.
But don’t panic just yet – they’ll only bite you if you really annoy them.
There are 650 types of spiders in the UK, and of those only 12 are harmful to humans.
According to Richard, even small and well-cleaned British houses may be home to 40 spiders at any on time.
That number skyrockets if you live in an older building, where thousands could be lurking at any one time.
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Deadly animal sex facts
Here’s some shocking facts you probably didn’t know about animals who die for desire…
If female ferrets don’t have sex they will die of aplastic anaemia unless medical intervention occurs
Some female spiders eat male spiders after they have finished mating with them because they want to use them as a form of nutrition to feed their offspring
Both male and female octopuses die shortly after they have mated, the male dies a couple of months after and the female dies shortly after her eggs hatch because she starves herself to spend all her time protecting them
Drone bees exist purely to have sex with the queen of their hive and then they die afterwards
Female Pacific salmon die almost immediately after mating while the male salmon survive a little bit longer to protect the eggs
In other spider news, spiders are reportedly getting angrier as a result of an evolutionary trick to survive extreme weather conditions.
This terrifying flying spider slingshots its enemies at speeds 100 times faster than a cheetah.
And, Nasa once gave spiders illegal drugs – here’s how their webs changed when high on marijuana, caffeine and LSD.
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