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NEBLINE PESTS & WILDLIFE October 2019 • Page 4 I Spy a Spider: Common Spiders Around the Home their web each morning and then build a Wolf Spider then after the spiderlings hatch, carrying Jody Green, PhD new one at night. Orb weavers get noticed them on the top of their abdomens for Extension Educator during late summer and fall when they are several weeks. at their largest size. Female orb weavers This article focuses on three spiders generally remain in a particular spot with Control Methods often seen this time of year. The spiders the goal of leaving an egg sac filled with Management for spiders consist of mentioned in this article are not aggres- hundreds of eggs before dying at first minimizing food, eliminating shelter sive or harmful to humans and pets. On frost. and harborage and excluding them from occasion, spiders may be found indoors, entering into buildings. but generally, they remain outdoors where Grass Spider/ • Minimize prey by turning off exterior prey is plentiful. Spiders are nocturnal Funnel Weaver lights at night, reducing leaf litter, sani- predators that readily consume flies, tation of landscaping, cleaning gutters crickets, ants, silverfish, moths and Tiger wolf spider with spiderlings on her and downspouts. beetles. Because of their ability to remove back. • Practice exclusion techniques by sealing a great number of pests, they are consid- cracks, and installing weather stripping ered beneficial in the landscape. Wolf spiders (family: Lycosidae) are under doors and around windows. the largest spiders in Nebraska with their • Inspect items like plants, firewood and Orb Weaver Spider total body size ranging between 1/4-inch moving boxes brought into the home. to 1-1/4-inches long. Rabid wolf spiders • Vacuum or sweep windows, corners resemble grass spiders due to their smaller of rooms, storage areas, basement and size, but others such as Carolina or tiger garages. wolf spiders are large-bodied, robust • Reduce harborage areas by reducing spiders, with striped and spiny legs. All clutter, using air-tight storage wolf spiders are solitary, active hunters containers, and keep boxes off the floor with superb camouflage and excellent and away from wall. vision. Their eight eyes, which glow at • Remove unsightly webs from around the night when a light shines on them, are building and ornamental plants. Grass spider on its sheet web in grass. arranged so they can see all around them. • Insecticides are not the most effective Wolf spiders hunt on the ground and way to keep spiders out, as spiders can Grass spiders (family: Agelenidae) do build webs, though some may hide in avoid residues if not sprayed directly. are also known as funnel weavers because burrows. They can be found under stones, Sticky glue boards are a non-toxic way Photos by Jody Green by Photos the web they construct is a horizontal landscape timbers, firewood, leaves and to remove spiders with proper place- Spotted orb weaver with its prey. sheet with a small funnel-like tube off to other debris. Although large and some- ment (indoors adjacent to walls, close to the side or center. They are brown spiders times frightening, female wolf spiders are possible entry points). Orb weavers (family: Araneidae) are with two thick, dark, longitudinal stripes known to provide exceptional parental • Remove individual spiders using a jar named so because of their web-spinning through the cephalothorax and tapered care since they can be observed carrying and piece of thick paper. behavior. They spin the classic, vertically abdomens with long, prominent spin- round, egg sacs on their spinnerets and flat, circular web that people commonly nerets. Grass spiders can be 1/2–3/4-inch associate with spiders. Orb weavers may long. They are not considered large, but vary in size and shape. Their sizes range they are very quick. from 1/4-inch to over 1-inch long (total The funnel is a protected place to Spider Bites Are Rare; for Defense body length, not including the legs). They hide. When an insect falls or lands on Spiders are not poisonous; they are venomous*. The purpose of spider venom is are known for having a large ball-shaped the non-sticky sheet web, the spider for the spider to subdue and feed on prey, which are usually insects and other abdomen, small eyes and hanging out rushes out to take it back into the funnel. small invertebrates. Though the thought or sight of a spider is enough to elicit fear and anxiety, spider bites are rare and occur when a spider is accidentally in the center of the orb web. They are The webs, which become visible when pressed against a person’s body and/or defending itself from harm. slow-moving, passive hunters that wait for covered in dew or debris, are constructed flying insects to get caught in their sticky in bushes, grass, flowerbeds and wood *The term venomous is applied to organisms that bite or sting to inject toxins webs. piles around windows, light fixtures and (i.e. snakes, bees and wasps), whereas the term poisonous applies to the Webs may be anchored to a building, corners around the house. A large number negative affect the toxins have when an organism is eaten, licked or touched (i.e. poison ivy or poison dart frogs). tree branches, tall grass or other types of of grass spiders can live in a small area, vegetation. Some orb weavers consume but each web has only one female. Invasive Species: American Bullfrog bullfrogs. Crawdads will eat bullfrog eggs Some people describe the meat as a cross Soni Cochran and sometimes tadpoles. People also enjoy between chicken and fish. Others say Extension Associate, Lancaster County eating bullfrogs. the legs taste like chicken with a texture similar to chicken wings. I had bullfrog Statewide, there are 11 different Bullfrogs as Food legs this summer and they tasted more types of frogs and toads in Nebraska. To help keep down their populations, like fish than chicken to me. The meat was All of them are native species, except consider trying American bullfrogs as very lean and you have to be very careful one: the American bullfrog (Lithobates a food source. American bullfrogs are not to overcook it. catebeianus). American bullfrogs are an a game species in Nebraska and many invasive species and they are causing people enjoy hunting them. The season Other Ways to Reduce problems. These invasive frogs are no for hunting bullfrogs runs from August 15 Bullfrog Populations different than other invasive species through October 31. You still have time (think Japanese beetles or zebra mussels). in Lancaster County Extension Robertson,Konnie Nebraska to get out and try your hand at hunting If you don’t want to eat bullfrogs and It is important to decrease their numbers, The frogs breed late April to June. bullfrogs. Bullfrog hunters must have a you have a backyard pond, reduce the while increasing the number of frogs and One female bullfrog can produce up to current, valid Nebraska fishing license in number of fish in your pond or remove toads native to Nebraska. The American 20,000 eggs. The eggs float on the surface order to take or attempt to take them. all fish. Fish do not like to eat bullfrog bullfrog is currently the only frog species of the water in a cluster. Tadpoles are There are limits on the length for any eggs or the tadpoles because they are listed as invasive in Nebraska. large and can be over 6-inches long. It is bullfrog that is captured. There are also distasteful. Fish will eat plenty of our not uncommon for young bullfrogs to limits to how many legal-sized bullfrogs native frog and toad tadpoles. Without About Bullfrogs move to nearby ponds in order to escape you can have in your possession. Capture fish in the pond, native frogs and toads The bullfrog was originally brought cannibalistic adults. These frogs hibernate of bullfrogs must be by hand, hand net, or have a better chance of making it to to far southeastern Nebraska in the 1800s in winter by burying itself in the mud and hook and line. Gigging (using a multi- adulthood. You can also remove bullfrog by French fur traders as food stock. emerging in spring. pronged spear), spearing or shooting with egg clusters and adult frogs, but make sure They became established statewide and Bullfrogs will eat anything they can a firearm or bow is not allowed. If you you know how to identify bullfrogs since throughout the western United States as a put in their mouths. This includes birds, hunt frogs, Nebraska law allows for the native frogs may look similar. result of fish stocking and farms that raise fish, crustaceans, bats, snakes, turtles, frogs to be transported alive or gutted, frogs. small mammals and other frogs. In areas but the entire body of the frog must be Sources: • http://wildlife.unl.edu American bullfrogs are found in where bullfrogs have been introduced, the left intact during transport. For more • Nebraska Game and Parks Commission reservoirs, ponds of all sizes, cattle tanks, frogs are blamed on the decline of native information on regulations to harvest bogs, and areas where rivers and streams frogs, snakes and amphibians. Bullfrogs American bullfrogs in Nebraska, contact are sluggish. Although bullfrogs are the will also eat other bullfrogs. Bullfrogs Nebraska Game and Parks, 402-471-0641 FOR MORE INFORMATION largest frogs in Nebraska (7–8 inches have their own predators including birds or visit http://outdoornebraska.gov. University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s identification guide to snakes, turtles, long), they have the smallest home range.

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