Heard baby spiders make sound like screaming children

timewerx · Feb 25, 2023

This happened almost 30 years ago before smartphones.

Huntsman spider eggsac hatched in our bathroom and the seemingly thousand spiderlings filled the entire bathroom walls. This happened past midnight where everyone is asleep and not a sound can be heard around.

Then I started hearing this noise, like the faint noise of a thousand children screaming. The noise changed when I moved and the only thing(s) nearest my head and my ears are a bunch of a hundred spiderlings.

I noticed the noise went a bit louder when I moved closer to them. So I tried waving my hand very slowly over the spiderlings and true enough, the noise kept on changing each time I waved my hand which confirmed the source of the noise, it was the spiderlings. It went on for a few nights until the spiderlings have dispersed and only very few remained. I figured they can only make the noise audible enough when there's dozens of them making the noise at the same time.

It only crossed my mind recently, searched the internet, and found NOTHING about baby huntsman spiders making these screaming children noises.

I never hurt another huntsman spider since after that incident.

Landon Caeli · Feb 25, 2023

timewerx said:
This happened almost 30 years ago before smartphones.

Huntsman spider eggsac hatched in our bathroom and the seemingly thousand spiderlings filled the entire bathroom walls. This happened past midnight where everyone is asleep and not a sound can be heard around.

Then I started hearing this noise, like the faint noise of a thousand children screaming. The noise changed when I moved and the only thing(s) nearest my head and my ears are a bunch of a hundred spiderlings.

I noticed the noise went a bit louder when I moved closer to them. So I tried waving my hand very slowly over the spiderlings and true enough, the noise kept on changing each time I waved my hand which confirmed the source of the noise, it was the spiderlings. It went on for a few nights until the spiderlings have dispersed and only very few remained. I figured they can only make the noise audible enough when there's dozens of them making the noise at the same time.

It only crossed my mind recently, searched the internet, and found NOTHING about baby huntsman spiders making these screaming children noises.

I never hurt another huntsman spider since after that incident.

I find myself reluctant to kill insects anymore, after some on my patio seem to have gained some 'trust' in me. At first it was the spider next to my favorite chair, who lived beside me for nearly 6 months. I would feed it tiny insects that I caught once in a while. Now it's the wasps, who have returned to their old nest right above my chair - something wasps are not known to do. I looked it up, and they are said to abandon their nests every year.

For some reason, these insects seem to either trust me, or for whatever reason, choose to remain near me - a large apex predator.

As for the screaming..? I believe it.

Landon Caeli · Feb 25, 2023

Here's one of my wasp friends that came out a few weeks ago, when I was having a night-time bbq:

...They usually only come out during the day, but it got a little smokey. So they got concerned.

Occams Barber · Feb 25, 2023

timewerx said:
This happened almost 30 years ago before smartphones.

Huntsman spider eggsac hatched in our bathroom and the seemingly thousand spiderlings filled the entire bathroom walls. This happened past midnight where everyone is asleep and not a sound can be heard around.

Then I started hearing this noise, like the faint noise of a thousand children screaming. The noise changed when I moved and the only thing(s) nearest my head and my ears are a bunch of a hundred spiderlings.

I noticed the noise went a bit louder when I moved closer to them. So I tried waving my hand very slowly over the spiderlings and true enough, the noise kept on changing each time I waved my hand which confirmed the source of the noise, it was the spiderlings. It went on for a few nights until the spiderlings have dispersed and only very few remained. I figured they can only make the noise audible enough when there's dozens of them making the noise at the same time.

It only crossed my mind recently, searched the internet, and found NOTHING about baby huntsman spiders making these screaming children noises.

I never hurt another huntsman spider since after that incident.

I've been around huntsnman spiders all my life and I've never heard the sound of spiderlings screaming...

but.....I checked Wikipedia. Apparently male huntsmen can create a sound audible to human ears by vibrating their abdomen as part of the mating process.

You learn something new every day.

Males of Heteropoda venatoria, one of the huntsman spiders that seems to easily find its way around the world, have recently been found to deliberately make a substrate-borne sound when they detect a chemical (pheromone) left by a nearby female of their species. The males anchor themselves firmly to the surface onto which they have crawled and then use their legs to transmit vibrations from their bodies to the surface. Most of the sound emitted is produced by strong vibrations of the abdomen. The characteristic frequency of vibration and the pattern of bursts of sound identify them to females of their species, who will approach if they are interested in mating. This sound can often be heard as a rhythmic ticking, somewhat like a quartz clock, which fades in and out and can be heard by human ears in a relatively quiet environment.[11]

Huntsman spider - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

OB

Diamond72 · Feb 25, 2023

Landon Caeli said:
I find myself reluctant to kill insects anymore

I had a big nest of spiders in my yard once and I could not kill them. I had spider webs all over that summer that I kept walking into single strands of them. But I had no bugs in my garden and they can be just as bad as the spiders. If I had to do it over again, I most likely would have had my wife get rid if them. Usually mice we live capture them. Although we have feral cats that trap things like that.

SelfSim · Feb 25, 2023

Landon Caeli said:
I find myself reluctant to kill insects anymore, after some on my patio seem to have gained some 'trust' in me. At first it was the spider next to my favorite chair, who lived beside me for nearly 6 months. I would feed it tiny insects that I caught once in a while. Now it's the wasps, who have returned to their old nest right above my chair - something wasps are not known to do. I looked it up, and they are said to abandon their nests every year.

For some reason, these insects seem to either trust me, or for whatever reason, choose to remain near me - a large apex predator.

As for the screaming..? I believe it.

Hmm .. 'a large apex predator' not fulfilling his natural function, eh?

.. Just ain't natural ..

Why do you choose not to nuke 'em, (if I may enquire)?

Landon Caeli · Feb 25, 2023

SelfSim said:
Hmm .. 'a large apex predator' not fulfilling his natural function, eh?
.. Just ain't natural ..

Why do you choose not to nuke 'em, (if I may enquire)?

They're my only friend's... Whether they know it or not, I only want the best for them.

SelfSim · Feb 25, 2023

Landon Caeli said:
They're my only friend's... Whether they know it or not, I only want the best for them.

Hmm .. I talk to magpies that eat insects.
I don't think I respect insects enough to hold them as my 'friends'.
The magpies are my enemies but I keep the lines of communication open with them because I can predict their behaviours by listening to 'em. (I can gather intelligence about their next moves to thwart me).

A screamin' baby spider doesn't seem to be trying to engage with me .. It seems they're just screamin' at their females, so its the insect spray for them!

Landon Caeli · Feb 25, 2023

SelfSim said:
Hmm .. I talk to magpies that eat insects.
I don't think I respect insects enough to hold them as my 'friends'.
The magpies are my enemies but I keep the lines of communication open with them because I can predict their behaviours by listening to 'em. (I can gather intelligence about their next moves to thwart me).

A screamin' baby spider doesn't seem to be trying to engage with me .. It seems they're just screamin' at their females, so its the insect spray for them!

Well, my spider friend was very predictable - he would just sit there in his web all the time and wait... For 6 months he waited.

And the wasps, they only come out and visit once in a while, but it's always the same guys. There's only 4 of them.

I'd say our relationships are on a very personal level. And lasting relationships at that, where I've been present for their entire lives.

Landon Caeli · Feb 25, 2023

It's not often you get to spend an entire lifetime with someone, you know.

timewerx · Feb 26, 2023

Landon Caeli said:
I find myself reluctant to kill insects anymore, after some on my patio seem to have gained some 'trust' in me. At first it was the spider next to my favorite chair, who lived beside me for nearly 6 months. I would feed it tiny insects that I caught once in a while. Now it's the wasps, who have returned to their old nest right above my chair - something wasps are not known to do. I looked it up, and they are said to abandon their nests every year.

For some reason, these insects seem to either trust me, or for whatever reason, choose to remain near me - a large apex predator.

As for the screaming..? I believe it.

We don't have wasps thankfully!

Something really strange happened after that event. The huntsman spiders evacuated our house completely, even though there is an abundance of insects (for spider food) in our house.

Our next door neighbors still had huntsman spiders. But these spiders have kept clear of our residence. Giving our house a wide berth. We still have plenty of other spider species like jumping spiders and several other species, all of them small.

What's creepier than a big spider next to your face is a whole species of big spiders avoiding your house completely. Something weird is definitely going on. Like some of the huntsman spiders live socially which can hint some sort of collective intelligence of a high level of sorts. Back when they're still living in our house, I rarely see them because they're so good at hiding between tight spots. But whenever one appears, I would see them in a dream the night before they make an appearance. It's just crazy weird.

timewerx · Feb 26, 2023

Occams Barber said:
The characteristic frequency of vibration and the pattern of bursts of sound identify them to females of their species, who will approach if they are interested in mating. This sound can often be heard as a rhythmic ticking, somewhat like a quartz clock, which fades in and out and can be heard by human ears in a relatively quiet environment.

Everything checks out except for the type of sound being made maybe because they tested an adult, instead of the babies.

Spiders seem to behave strangely around me anyway. I've been chased by a jumping spider before. I was walking and it just kept leaping towards my shoes. I tired to catch it so I can take it some place far and then it went for my hands so I had to chase it away with a stick. I've been chased by an adult huntsman spider as well and it is scary. They're big and fast but fortunately, they don't have good stamina and gets tired quickly.

Now, huntsman spiders avoid me completely but jumping spiders will get close if opportunity presents itself.

Heard baby spiders make sound like screaming children

the village i--o--t--

I ♡ potato pancakes and applesauce

I ♡ potato pancakes and applesauce

Newbie

Dispensationalist 72

A non "-ist"

I ♡ potato pancakes and applesauce

A non "-ist"

I ♡ potato pancakes and applesauce

I ♡ potato pancakes and applesauce

the village i--o--t--

the village i--o--t--

Similar threads