Spidery Halloween

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This year, we chose our Halloween theme to match our surroundings: Spiders and their Webs.

We've seen so many around the house that:

  • the usual practice is to scream first, then handle the situation with calm and a smile, AND
  • we bought specialized guns [see bottom of post] which make it possible to do the after-scream smiling.

We also discovered something absolutely hilarious, according to Gaius (click the link to get straight to it).

Our yard is taken over by spider webs.
Ignore the fully-dead grass, it's a severe drought around here so lawn took the first hit.

Resident [Evil] Spider

One particular spider has a hobby of setting up his web exactly where Elena will be walking the next day, usually at face level for extra scream points. He's had his web between the van and the bushes, between the fence and the house on the walkway, between the recycling bin and the doorway etc.

Greg refuses to kill it: "He's this big because he's successful. He ate a lot of the bugs we don't like around the house."
So we just relocate him every time.

Most recently, the spider moved up a level - right in front of our bedroom window in plain sight. Luckily, that means there is glass between him and Elena's face. Still creepy, but not scream worthy.

Giant Home-Made Spider Webs

In honor of this creepy tenant of ours, we are decorating our front yard by embracing his craft. The total project cost us around 7$ but it didn't exhaust the supplies so it was practically cheaper than that.

The process of weaving the web is quick and easy - it took about 20 minutes end-to-end. All you need is cling wrap, and to follow these instructions.


What we love about it is that it looks and feels quite realistic: it's elastic but clingy, translucent/white, and so relaxing to weave!

Close-up of the weave.


Gaius and Willow were quite helpful with the process, with foot-wiggles and tail-wiggles respectively.

First web!

Bonus: Creepy Spider Eggs

These are easy, fun, and quick to make. They look like hollowed out cocoons, translucent and lightweight.

Supplies:
  • balloon (reusable)
  • cling wrap
  • packaging tape
  • scissors
Instructions:
  • inflate the balloon
  • cover it with cling wrap
  • add packaging tape on top of the cling wrap, all over
  • deflate the balloon and take it out of the transparent sphere
  • [optional] add spider larvae inside - we had some glow-in-the-dark bugs from Greg's childhood
  • seal the sphere with some more tape.

Here are photos of the process, as Mara was doing it:
Cover a balloon in cling wrap.
Add a layer of packing tape.
Take the deflated balloon out and stick your hand in for fun.
Finished spider egg.

Gaius had a great time watching the process, you'll see below what I mean.


You can also make shells with more complicated objects using this technique: our next attempt was a shell of Mara's white teddy bear, which we put as prey in the one of the webs. The change is that you make a straight cut along the back of the bear, enough to get the toy out, then you patch it up with some more tape.

Time for a comedic interlude:

Do you know what's funny? Tape.





Guns Against Spiders

Now, do you remember us saying anything about guns for spiders? We meant it.

BugZooka is a bazooka for bugs, and our favorite house weapon. It creates a vacuum that sucks the bug into a little transparent cartridge, most often without even harming it! Then you can inspect and release as you like.
We also loved that the instructions specifically mention a list of problem/solution pairs; including:
Problem: not enough suction; Solution: aim closer to the bug, within 1-2in.
Problem: bug is too big. Solution: RUN!!
I guess we would use that latter piece of advice for the spider who made the giant web in our yard.

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