The Giant House Spider

Life in a private house has its charms. One of them is spiders. Every summer and well into late autumn, the windows get so densely covered in webs that it feels like living in the Addams Family mansion.

Life in a private house has its charms.

One of them is spiders. Every summer and well into late autumn, the windows get so densely covered in webs that it feels like living in the Addams Family mansion.

🕸 There's no point cleaning them - as soon as you clear one away, by the next day a new one has grown in the same place, complete with a balcony.

I've already gotten used to being the first one up in the morning, walking from the bedroom to the bathroom and then to the kitchen, and collecting the night's fresh weaving with my face.

🕷 But this summer our spider-house welcomed new tenants - creatures that make even a seasoned spider-keeper a little nervous. They're simply called Giant House Spiders. That's right – Giant. House. Spiders.

🍬 Imagine a creature the size of your palm, with thick hairy legs and the athletic build of Usain Bolt. Our first encounter happened after the kids had gone to bed. A few minutes later my daughter quietly called:

• Dad, something is moving in the dark... 😳

After recovering from my initial shock, I spent about five minutes assessing risks and planning my maneuvers, and finally resorted to the ancient "glass method", heroically rescuing my daughter from the siege.

Since then I've been regularly catching these lovely creatures all over the house.

The creepiest moment happened one evening when I was sitting on the sofa in the quiet and half-dark, drifting off with a book… when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something huge and incredibly fast dart across the floor. First thought: "A mouse?!" Second thought: "Better if it were a mouse..."

I even googled it. Turns out this spider doesn't bite at all, and the more of them you have, the better - because they hunt other pests.

🦋 Like those creepy, gross night moths that fly in through open windows.

Weirdos on Reddit admire them, build little enclosures for them, and tenderly stroke these hairy beauties.

I thought I was the only arachnophobe in this country. But one morning, while taking out the trash, I witnessed a scene: the neighbors, the whole family in their pajamas, poured out into the yard shouting:

• Where is it? There it goes!
  
• Under the box!
  
• Catch it!
  
• Ahhh!!
  

They spent a long time outside barefoot, too scared to go back into the house.

Strange people. After all, it's so... aww sweetie, so cute and lil 😍