Autumn brings some unwanted house guests — spiders are fully loaded and looking for love

At this time of year, it can seem like spiders and crane flies are invading your home...

You can identify male house spiders by their large ‘palps’ — little clubs — at the top of the head. Before he sets out to look for a mate, he spins a small web, on which he deposits a drop of sperm, and loads it onto his palps and then he’s off, fully loaded, looking for a girlfriend.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a blurry, fast-moving, dark brown creature scurrying across the floor. For a second, I thought it was a house mouse, it was so big. But no, it pauses before hiding under an armchair and I see it is just a rather large house spider. 

Phew! A lot of people don’t like spiders, but they’re much easier to deal with than catching a house mouse.