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Showing posts from November, 2008

Pre-baited hobo spider traps?

What are "baited" spider traps?   I saw a package of "Pre-baited Hobo Spider Traps" at Home Depot the other day. Hobo spider is a species here in the northwestern US that many people are concerned about.  So what are these "baited" traps all about? First a little background. Only a few spiders ever wander very far from their webs. Most construct complicated silken webs that they use to capture prey. Because of this sedentary existence relatively few species of spiders end up indoors . Some spiders, however, spend all or part of their lives away from any sort of permanent web and wander in search of prey or mates, and thus sometimes do enter homes. Two spiders that move readily from place to place are the brown recluse spider and male hobo spiders (drawing above). Brown recluse spiders build a simple web generally hidden away from activity. They spend daylight hours in the web but wander away at night in search of food. Hobo spiders make a more permanen