September is spider month, so pay attention. Because these creatures will soon come rushing across your doorstep again with their eight legs. Some find it terrifying, but is that justified? And is it true that every person eats about eight spiders in their life? We asked these questions to Sjef van Overdijk from Tilburg, a great spider enthusiast and spider photographer.
Even at a young age, he had his nose on top of all kinds of spiders in the garden. “I looked for ants that I then placed in the web to see what happened, pure fascination. I think they are beautiful, I always want to know which species it is and we can learn a lot from them.”
He read countless books about these arthropods and pored over scientific articles. Later he did research on spiders in South Africa and even discovered a new species, which was named after him: the Harpacirella overdijki.
First some facts about spiders. The Netherlands has a total of 658 different species. There are approximately 58,000 worldwide. They will come to our houses again in September, but… They have always been there, says Sjef. “Every house has a few hundred spiders. It’s been like that all your life. You just don’t see that.”
“A spider runs so fast because it walks in an open space. That makes it extra vulnerable.”
According to Sjef, there is really no need to fear spiders, because they are extremely useful for our nature. They catch a lot of insects and that ensures that we don’t have any more problems with mosquitoes. Moreover, they are more afraid of you than you are of them.
“’But I’m always so shocked when they run across the room,’ people say. It’s really scary when a horse suddenly runs through your house. A spider runs so fast because it runs in an open space. Then he is extra vulnerable.” For the truly faint-hearted, knowledge about spiders is therefore important. Because if you know more about spiders, you can place many things better.
Take the reason why those large house spiders walk into your house in September. This is because of the female spiders, they are often already in our houses.
They make a web and that web contains pheromones, which is a hormonal scent that is spread through the air. “The male spider is then sexually mature and wants to pass on his genes. He follows that scent and therefore enters your house. They are not there to bully you.” According to Sjef, mating is a matter of seconds to minutes.
“Spiders have cilia under their legs, think of it as a blind man’s guide stick.”
Another common fear is the idea of eating spiders in your sleep. A sandwich story according to Sjef. He once did a test with a DJ from a radio station. He let several spiders run over the face of the DJ, who at that moment pretended to be asleep. With his mouth open.
The moment the spiders came to his mouth, every spider turned around. “Spiders have cilia under their legs, think of it as a guide stick. Because they don’t see well, they respond to the cilia. And when you exhale, those hairs start to vibrate, so they move away from it.”
If after this fact you still get the creeps about spiders: sealing all the cracks is not of much use. They always come back in. “It’s better to put your energy into learning about spiders, it will be much more useful to you.”
He himself has a number of favorite spiders that might inspire someone else. Like the v-spot jumping spider. “A very beautiful little jumping spider. The male has to do a dance to convince the female. A beautiful scene.”
