TACON019@ysub.ysu.edu (Fred Ullom) (02/11/91)
Ok, I've been killing these little brown house spiders every chance I get,see, and my wife said about a month ago that I shouldn't kill them cause they eat other nasty insects,see... BUT I said that in the house, their only predator is man so its my job to keep the spider population down. SO, I decided to quite killing spiders for awhile and sure enough I now have 5 or 6 spiders on the bathroom ceiling instead of 1 or 2. So, what limits the house spider population in the world if humans don't intervene? and what do these little monsters live on when they seem to spend their whole life wandering about my bathroom ceiling? Thanks, ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tacon019@ysub.ysu.edu (Fred S. Ullom) Youngstown State University ------------------------------------------------------------------------
szarekw@lonexc.radc.af.mil (William J. Szarek) (02/12/91)
In article <91042.103943TACON019@ysub.ysu.edu> TACON019@ysub.ysu.edu (Fred Ullom) writes: >Ok, I've been killing these little brown house spiders every chance I > >So, what limits the house spider population in the world if humans don't >intervene? and what do these little monsters live on when they seem to >spend their whole life wandering about my bathroom ceiling? > Everyone knows the "little brown house spiders" (previously known as "little brown cave spiders") have been with us since the dawn of time. Their only other natural enemy is the Hoover. It is a large and powerful creature that is usuially dormant and emits a loud howl when it is in search of prey. Spiders are carnivores they eat creatures smaller than themselves. It has been postulated that they prefer to inhabit the bathroom so that they can capture the tiny parasitic insects that scurry off our bodies when we bathe. The population is self limiting in that if there are not enough parasites to go around they will dine on their neighbours thereby correcting the imbalance. Hope this answers your questions. buzz
kuento@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (02/19/91)
In article <2511.27BC86A6@ofa123.fidonet.org>, rick@ofa123.fidonet.org (Rick Ellis) writes: > On <Feb 11 15:39> Fred Ullom writes: > > FU> So, what limits the house spider population in the world if humans don't > FU> intervene? > > Scarcity of food. > > > -- > Rick Ellis There is a bit more to it than that - in addition to food limitation, there is (a) aggressive competition between spiders - they'll eat each other if they get the chance (b) there are *lots* of spider parasites in the world, and while any given house might not have all of them, they still can be quite important...just because they're microscopic don't mean they ain't there! -------(please include "DY" in subj header of mail to this user)-------- Doug "Speaker-To-Insects" Yanega "UT!" Bitnet: KUENTO@UKANVAX My card: 0 The Fool (Snow Museum, Univ. of KS, Lawrence, KS 66045) "I'll employ my resources to make your puny lives miserable! I'll crush your pitiful dreams and ambitions like bugs in the dust!" - Calvin
hardend@lonexb.radc.af.mil (Debbie D. Harden) (02/23/91)
In article <2511.27BC86A6@ofa123.fidonet.org> rick@ofa123.fidonet.org (Rick Ellis) writes: >On <Feb 11 15:39> Fred Ullom writes: > > FU> So, what limits the house spider population in the world if humans don't > FU> intervene? > >Scarcity of food. > > >-- >Rick Ellis >Internet: rick@ofa123.fidonet.org >Compuserve: >internet:rick@ofa123.fidonet.org >BBS: 714 939-1041 >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our three cats do a great job of limiting the house spider population. _____________________________________________________________________________ Debbie Harden "And oh, when I'm old and wise. Heavy words that Rome Laboratory tossed and blew me, like autumn winds will blow right through me." -- Alan Parsons Project