- Joined
- Jan 1, 2000
- Messages
- 35,596
- Reaction score
- 8,576
- Points
- 113
- Age
- 59
- Website
- www.sat-elite.uk
- My Satellite Setup
- A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
- My Location
- UK
Whilst the current climate is mild, there has been a cold snap two weeks ago and the next few days round here are going to be decidedly chilly.
What I do have though is a spider that is living wihin the secondary glazing of the bedroom.
Not an indoor (wolf ?) spider, nor the usual penny spiders busy weaving their last annual webs a few weeks back, so I assumed it was a normal house spider.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegenaria_domestica
This one however is decidedly nocturnal, only appearing between 1 and 6 in the morning to check the horizontal web and pull debris off it that falls down from the vent above, then quickly shifting back into a hovel in the timber. It's also a lot larger than the average, with the body being nearly 15-17mm in length.
What is surprising is the temperature at which she (I assume) is living. The bedroom is heated indirectly from the gas fire in the living room below, I don't have central heating on at the moment and the temperature in there is a steady - and comfortable for sleeping - four to five degrees.
Outside though it's no more than two degrees at the moment and getting progressively colder. Two weeks ago it was minus four or five on a couple of nights and I thought the spider would have perished or moved on as between the glass it would be more like the outdoors.
Whilst I have had wolf spiders survive indoors throughout the winter and into spring, those living near the gas fire have a tendency to turn up at the beginning of February, this one is new to me . She can continue living her life there as far as I'm concerned, but do others here know if certain spiders remain active at such low temperatures and over the winter periods ?
I'll try to get a couple of pictures in the next day or so.
What I do have though is a spider that is living wihin the secondary glazing of the bedroom.
Not an indoor (wolf ?) spider, nor the usual penny spiders busy weaving their last annual webs a few weeks back, so I assumed it was a normal house spider.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegenaria_domestica
This one however is decidedly nocturnal, only appearing between 1 and 6 in the morning to check the horizontal web and pull debris off it that falls down from the vent above, then quickly shifting back into a hovel in the timber. It's also a lot larger than the average, with the body being nearly 15-17mm in length.
What is surprising is the temperature at which she (I assume) is living. The bedroom is heated indirectly from the gas fire in the living room below, I don't have central heating on at the moment and the temperature in there is a steady - and comfortable for sleeping - four to five degrees.
Outside though it's no more than two degrees at the moment and getting progressively colder. Two weeks ago it was minus four or five on a couple of nights and I thought the spider would have perished or moved on as between the glass it would be more like the outdoors.
Whilst I have had wolf spiders survive indoors throughout the winter and into spring, those living near the gas fire have a tendency to turn up at the beginning of February, this one is new to me . She can continue living her life there as far as I'm concerned, but do others here know if certain spiders remain active at such low temperatures and over the winter periods ?
I'll try to get a couple of pictures in the next day or so.
