Deseret News | Reader comments: Saratoga Springs creeped out by spiders

Reader comments
Saratoga Springs creeped out by spiders

Culprit | 12:46 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

I'm waiting for someone to blame George Bush, Republicans, global warming, or the LDS church for the cyclical appearance of these spiders. Every few years we get an infestation like that. It's natural, but creepy too. Keep your place clean and be ready to smash them if they crawl inside.

Mitt Romney | 4:34 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

You forgot to put Mitt's name in there to blame. Demos would!!

arc | 6:16 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Now this is a surprise?
Before this new city was built, the area west of Utah Lake would periodically have millions and millions of spiders spin their webs in the sage brush. So many, it was on the news. I remember driving past and looking.

Hobo spiders are very dangerous, but they have never been reported acting like orb spiders.

Other areas of the state get spiders. I know I get them, but not in the numbers that west of Utah Lake has had them for as long as I can remember.

I hate to say it, but they were there first.

Comments continue below

georgiaonmymind | 6:35 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

That is a great comment Culprit! I needed a good laugh this morning!

Cranky | 7:32 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Absolutly right arc - the spider "bloom" is a normal occurence and has been occuring for many, many years. Isn't nature fun. The next thing you know people who've built houses near Utah Lake are going to be "surprised" when the lake level rises after a really wet spring. I'm sure someone can find a way to sue the developers.

Nan B | 8:20 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

We used to have these orb weavers in our farm yard in Colorado. They caught 100s of flies, and I really miss them. Black Widows have messy webs and a distinctive appearance not resembling orb weavers at all. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to learn how to determine the difference between these spiders and hobos and blown recluses as well. Spiders are part of nature.

arc | 8:21 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Who says hobo spiders are "very dangerous"? There's an ongoing debate regarding their toxicity.

Re: arc | 9:51 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

So were the Native Americans

well.... | 10:30 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Well there's another reason to not move out to west of Utah lake. you guys built there and now you have to deal with it! haha! I'll stay in the riverbottoms! haah! have fun w/ the spiders! :)

Just.... | 10:39 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

think, the flies and grasshoppers will get caught in the spider web. Natural pests control......LOL!!

That's right! | 10:50 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Yep arc - I've been over on West Mountain in the middle of so many spiders it was unbelievable... and then a couple of days later there was an article in Desnews about it... but I guess developers over on the west side didn't want to tell residents about spider blooms.

Oh well, the next thing the west-side residents will say is "Hey, we just noticed that we only have one two lane road from Lehi out to our homes - we need a better road - the access is terrible" and "Oh, there is a giant lake over here that we think we should build a causeway across".

Enjoy the west side, your commute, the misquotes, and your spiders! ;-)

Enough belly-achin | 10:48 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Maybe someone out there should explore pest control?

Madness | 11:26 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

I don't know why we are having a spider epidemic , but our house is loaded with HOBO's, Yellow-sacs, and black widows. I have been bit twice this summer while gardening and have spent half my summer in bed from being sick from spider venom. I keep my house clean but we still have ton's of spiders, and spiders in many sizes and colors. And when the spiders aren't killing and eating each other, they are biting me. I finely decided to go to the store and buy some spider traps, and that worked for about a month or more. But the spider traps had finely reached there total limit of at least 100 spiders per trap, so I then had to go and buy some new traps. By now though, I am quite paranoid of crawly things that bite in the the dark.

Riverbottoms | 11:35 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Well isn't it nice to see someone who lives in the Riverbottoms laugh at someone less fortunate. I hope you don't call yourself a christian.

Their coming to get you. | 11:39 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Natural human control too. I wonder how many people die from poisonous spider bites each year? which they go undetermined by medical doctors? Salt Lake has way too many spiders this summer, and they seem to be everywhere, and nothing gets rid of them. I have tried everything including the spidie traps.

Helga | 11:55 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

When I lived in Springville, Utah I had to sleep with Black Widows or they slept with me. But after a while they disaperd and neither my 7 year old Son nor I have been bitten or botherd by them.

Anonymous | 1:03 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

I remember fondly camping just south of Saratoga Springs while growing up. There always were tons of spiders near the lake and plenty of rattlesnakes in the hills. It is good to see that even though man has intruded on their nesting grounds the spiders have thrived to keep the real pests like mosquitoes in check.

yuck | 1:08 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

I live in CA and tarantulas live nearby. I haven't ever seen one in suburbia, only on field trips to the mountains with my kids and a docent was holding one. Apparently they live underground and only come out in the fall during mating season. A lady in my ward built a HUGE, gorgeous home in the foothills. The first fall they were there, they discovered they were in the migration path for those big hairy fellas lookin for love. There were hundreds of them in her driveway and yard. They'd fall in the pool and drowned and then clog her pool filter. She even found one in her house. Forget a live in maid, I'd want a live in pest control dude!!!! Personally, dream house or not, I'd move. However they stuck it out and it got better each year. The monsters found a safer way for sex. Aint love grand?

Creepy | 1:12 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

We all need to get together and figure out what to do about the spiders in S. L. City, this year, they await us all.

I knew a kid who went to the hospital years ago who had paralysis from being bitten by a black widow. They found that this kid had rolled over on the widow spider and killed and smashed it, but it had bit him first.

Randall | 1:14 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

You say that the native americans were there first. I don't think they spent their time in that part of Utah county. They hunted better animals than spiders.

Spider man | 1:36 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Utah should be called, and declared, the spider state and not the beehive state.

Take action... | 2:13 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Call Spider Spray. They're a great company--we have them come a couple of times a year and have had no bug problems since. Their costs are pretty reasonable, too.

aaron | 3:34 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

As the winters get warmer with global warming, insect and spider populations will get larger and larger.

Steve | 5:43 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Watch out for the hobo spiders. I got bit by one this summer and the flesh around the wound deteriorates and leaves a horrible scar. The hobe spiders are pretty big and their bite is small, but after a week or so, the bite grows and festers up, really huge, and then oozes pus and your flesh drops off. Nasty spiders, Oh yeah, you get real sick for about 2 weeks.

Anonymous | 6:40 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

It is the Global Cooling otherwise these spiders would fry. I saw them today out by Pelican point.

Mark | 6:50 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Orb spiders are not a threat. They look menacing but will eat bugs until the first hard frost, then die. Think of them as early Halloween decorations.

jenesca | 7:32 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

i was just at utah lake and the sider problem is HUGE!!!! overnight they had layed nests in all our cam gear, food, and wet suits. poisonous or not the spiders are out of control!!!

funny | 8:13 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Gracious be! Spiders are outdoors, and come inside too. Gracious be!

Ok, listen carefully. Black widow spiders are dangerous: if it is black, stomp its back.

Browns are clowns. Yes, you probably have a zillion of the famous brown recluse in your house. Serioulsy. But they call them "recluse" for a reason. They don't really want to come out and meet you. If you are stupid enough to put your hand where you can't see -- then you might get bit. But the odds are awfully high against it.

The spiders mentioned in the article are the ones my mother would not let me kill. She knew that though they were huge, they would not kill me. She knew that they massacred the flies, gnats, mosquitos, and grasshoppers.

Sometimes the new urbanites need a little education, and to lay off of the caffeine. I have spiders all over my lawn. I can tell that in the morning because of their ground webs. And... they trap all of the nasty biting little insects that jump me when I sit out eating a sandwich.

Black stomp its back: no questions asked. Other than that: live and let live yah idiots.

Peanuts | 11:18 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

I saw a good spider movie, and It was one heck of a movie too. Although the spiders in the movie ate people instead of bugs, and that was pretty darn scary to watch. I really don't like spiders. They may be small, but they can do a lot of damage. They do have teeth you know?

My advise to everyone is to either burn them up with a fire lighter or stomp the heck out of them. And make sure they don't try to crawl up your pants leg.

rightascension | 11:34 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Every year around Utah Lake and in the west desert bordering Utah Lake the orb weavers get big, get numerous, and get big webs to gather food in the last months of their lives. If one buys a house in orb weaver territory -- get real -- you will get orb weavers. The spiders are our friends: they eat their weight in various buggy creatures, notably the flying buggy creatures that get into their webs and become guess who is coming to dinner.

Black-Widow | 9:50 a.m. Aug. 18, 2008

Re funny...That was not funny try again.

However, peanuts may have it right to stomp the heck out of them before they bite. Burning Black Widow eggs would be a brilliant idea. I think there is something like around 400 spiders per Black Widow, egg sac.

Does anyone know how many hobo spider's in one egg?

James J | 1:58 p.m. Aug. 18, 2008

Ortho Home defense max is a great product for keeping crawling things out of your house. If they are not in your house please let me live as they are beneficial to our environment. Without spiders the world would be overran by insects in a matter of days.

Kyle | 5:23 p.m. Aug. 18, 2008

Re James J
It's the spiders that can cause death that we are concerned about, and that we don't want in our homes. Somebody with frail, bad health, or a bad heart condition could die from a poisonous widow spider bite. If I happen to across a spider it's life will be wiped out in a matter of seconds. BESIDES, many of us cannot handle using pesticides. They can endanger human life.

Gary | 1:37 p.m. Aug. 19, 2008

I would suggest that you buy the devices that can be purchased at Home Depot to keep mice out of homes. You simply plug in the device to an electric outlet by a door opening. The devices send out a signal that humans cannot hear but Mice, and insects like spiders cannot stand the sound. This has helped me keep the mice and spiders down to a minimum at my home in Herriman. Very rarely do I see a spider in my home and I have never seen a mouse in my since since installing these devices!

Informed in Utah County | 5:37 p.m. Aug. 19, 2008

To those that say leave the spiders to consume the other bugs: If you take away their food source ie. other bugs (by having pesticide sprayed) they will move on to an area (your neighbors, etc) where food is available. We have a company come spray our house and they are friendly,knowledgeable and you don't have to book weeks in advance. Their number is 229-BUGS.

John C | 11:12 p.m. Aug. 19, 2008

If you really want to get a good look at these guys, drive out to Antelope Island. Since there is a tremendous abundance of sagebrush out there, there are literally thousands and thousands of these spiders all networked together. It looks like something out of a horror movie. Makes for some amazing pictures if you don't get to freaked out by them though.

Jane | 1:16 p.m. Aug. 20, 2008

I have had a quite a few Hobo spiders on the main floor of my home this year. This has been a first in the 8 years I have lived here. I always see spiders in the basement but not on my main floor and this year they are Hobo spiders. My cat always sees them before I do and he watches the spider intently, once he has eyed them they rarely get away, or often times he just alerts me that the spider is there which gives me a chance to spray it or vacuum it. I think it is our cat that has really protected us this summer. Spider traps are great but the cat seems to be a first responder to the intruder.

Tim Isaksen | 8:51 p.m. Oct. 23, 2008

I was out fishing on the west shore during the full moon in august. I couldn't figure out where the spiders would get enough food for so many of them. 5-20 spiders per bush. Then the sun went down and the flies hatched out of the shallow waters of utah lake. Billions of flies hatching during the full moon feed those spiders. Maybe if someone studied when the flies hatch you could guesstimate spider outbreaks.
The other thing I noticed were a lot of wasps stinging the spiders then burying then in holes after laying eggs on them.

FreAk | 5:05 p.m. Nov. 15, 2008

Uuuggghhh.... I hate spiders..!

Add your comment

Comments are monitored. Any comments found to be abusive, offensive, off-topic, misrepresentative, more than 200 words or containing URLs will not be posted.

Words Remaining

E-mail address: For internal use only. We may want to contact you to publish your comment (not your e-mail address) in the newspaper or for a separate story idea.