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Invasion of the Tiny Spiders

februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 640
in Wildlife gardening
So, this past week I've been setting up a half barrel pond and filled it on Tuesday. Within a couple of hours there was a diving beetle and within a couple of days a copious amount of mosquito larvae. Went out this morning and there was what looked like clusters of eggs in the folds of the pond liner (I haven't stapled it yet). I gave them a light blow and they scattered. Turns out they're baby yellow spiders.




I have no idea how they got there, the pond liner was brand new and in a sealed bag 🤷‍♀️ The staples for my staple gun have arrived and I don't know what to do. Is there any way of moving these critters on so I can staple the pond liner to the barrel?

Posts

  • didywdidyw Posts: 2,743
    I had these appear overnight at my potting station in the kitchen, attached to a cloth and something else, can't remember now.  Took everything outside, left it for a bit and the spiderlings all disappeared.  If you can hold off on the stapling they should be gone soon. Congratulations on getting a diving beetle so quickly.  Let's hope the mosquito larvae end up as food for other things!
  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    You might want to brush them off in case they all dive under the liner and get sealed in...  Just a thought.

  • Alan Clark2 in LiverpoolAlan Clark2 in Liverpool Posts: 1,994
    They are orb-web spiders, Araneus diadematus, and they look completely different from the adults. They will disperse within 48 hours.


  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 640
    @didyw I could sit and watch the diving beetle dart around all afternoon. I managed to get a few seconds of it on video, so cute swimming around the forget-me-not!

    Thanks everyone for the advice, I'll staple the other side of the barrel and leave the rest until the spiderlings have gone on their merry way.
  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 577
    Wait til you see the great diving beetle nymphs! They hang off the surface of the water by their tail, so you can't miss them. Once they get big, if you gently waggle a stick in the water front of them they'll attack it!
  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 640
    @borgadr I look forward to it! I do seem to have acquired a great diving beetle today. I saw something several times bigger than the diving beetle I'd been watching and I wasn't sure whether maybe it'd been pigging out on the mosquito larvae or hitting the steroids 😂 Turned out it was an entirely different beetle as they were both scuttling round the bricks and stones. I'm grateful that they've set themselves up in my pond but still baffled as to why it's only taken a few days. I could understand it if there were any nearby ponds or rivers but there aren't!
  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 577
    It's amazing how quickly they find water. This time last year I was sitting outside in my old garden in my previous house (which had no pond) and out of nowhere a common diving beetle plopped into my glass of wine and started paddling around.
  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 640
    @borgadr 😂 What happened to it? I imagine it must have become intoxicated pretty quickly!
  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 577
    I took it out pretty quickly.. I expect it would have needed a couple of coffees before trying to fly off again
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