How do spiders die in winter?
There are fewer bugs as the days get shorter.That doesn't mean these bugs are dead.Many insects survive Wisconsin's cold winters.
Mike Draney, a biology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, said that spider eggs can't survive being frozen.
Baby spiderlings spend the winter in the egg sacs to keep warm while their parents lay their eggs.Spiders have to undergo a process of cold hardening in order to survive in winter.
"So nights like this where it gets cold but it doesn't freeze, it sort of tells their body to start producing, actually, antifreeze compounds."Draney said that they build these up in their tissues and it lowers the temperature at which they freeze.
The spiders know they have to go to places that are sheltered, like leaf litter or cracks of bark.The places keep them alive in the winter.
Eggs are produced by a spider in the spring.Young spiders survive in the winter.They mate and produce eggs when the winter ends.There are wolf spiders, jumping spiders and running spiders in this category.The biologists said that none of them make webs.
There is a small winter community of spiders in Wisconsin that live in a hollow space between the ground and the snow, which is warmer than the air temperature.
It's not the best idea to put a spider outside in the wintertime.
"After it gets to be wintertime and consistently below freezing, exporting a house spider outside is pretty much a death sentence, because they really do need this time to build up the anti-freezing compounds," the Biologist said.
His recommendation?Leave the spiders alone.The spider needs to eat at least 40 insects in order to become a mature adult.
Draney said that if you can't stand the idea of spiders in your house, you should put them in the garage.
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