# Are spiders really afraid of conkers?



## Cranwelli (Mar 24, 2009)

Old wives tale I'm guessing. :no1:


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## Incubuss (Dec 19, 2006)

I have no idea where this myth came from, but its funny, lol. What on earth would a spider be scared of a conker? lol


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## Cranwelli (Mar 24, 2009)

Someone do an experiment. Put a conker in one of your tarantula's enclosures.

While you're at it, leave some garlic out. If no vampires come in during the night, solid proof.


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## Incubuss (Dec 19, 2006)

Cranwelli said:


> Put a conker in one of your tarantula's enclosures.


Ewww, now that sent a shiver. . . .


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## Cranwelli (Mar 24, 2009)

Great now I'm turned on.


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## pixieboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Scientists launch study to find out whether conkers really do keep spiders out of your home | Mail Online

Not sure if this link will work(not tried to add a link before)But The Royal Society of Chemistry are trying to find out if its true.


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## ph0bia (Feb 21, 2009)

Perhaps I should actually read my RSoC journals when they come... I stopped reading them as I stopped doing my chemistry course at uni, but they keep sending them. Perhaps I should be reading them! xD



> However, the RSC may have picked the wrong year to carry out its experiment.
> 
> This autumn has seen a bumper crop of spiders entering British homes and spinning webs in gardens.
> 
> ...


Hooray for spiders! Don't worry ma'am, they'll be eatin' them thar moths too!


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## Jamie (Nov 18, 2007)

Spiders scared of conkers? !!

Also, cats can't walk backwards and you can keep moles from digging up your garden by having carrots for dinner on a Wednesday.


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## Jamie (Nov 18, 2007)

Mind you, conkers can be quite scary sometimes.


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## ph0bia (Feb 21, 2009)

Jamie said:


> Mind you, conkers can be quite scary sometimes.
> 
> image


I think you're completely conkers, Jamie...


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## Cranwelli (Mar 24, 2009)

It would not surprise me if that experiment showed that spiders are really afraid of conkers. The tree is the spider's natural enemy.


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## ph0bia (Feb 21, 2009)

It does make sense that a conker would maybe have a chemical in it that acts as an insecticide, or similar. There are wasps and other insects that bore into fruit and nuts, and just as many that lay young on or in them, this stops the tree reproducing.


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

A lot of our horse chestnut trees are dying or severely weakened due to a leaf mining caterpillar. This causes the leaves to drop early and fewer conkers to be produced.

Maybe the caterpillars are being paid by the spiders?


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## ph0bia (Feb 21, 2009)

garlicpickle said:


> A lot of our horse chestnut trees are dying or severely weakened due to a leaf mining caterpillar. This causes the leaves to drop early and fewer conkers to be produced.
> 
> Maybe the caterpillars are being paid by the spiders?


It's a possibility... It's like a symbiotic relationship, if the caterpillars kill the tree and reduce the chestnut count, the spiders won't eat the caterpillars and might let them come hang out on the web sometime to surf some forums.

Sweat deal.


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

As a wild guess, it might be the tannins. Tannins usually cause a brown colouration to plants which could be (I have not checked) the source of the colour in conkers. 

If they do contain volatile tannins, then arthropods are really not keen on them, they are natural pesticides.Some arthropods can respond to plant volatiles in ppb (barts per billion) which would really not need a lot of chemical escaping to reach in a room. I know that plant galls contain high [tannins] and they also have a brown/tan colour, so perhaps that might be a factor in it. 

Whilst some species of parasitic wasp larvae are somewhat tolerant of tannins, spiders have had no real pressure to evolve tolerance to them which might explain the repulsion. 

Of course, this is all moot if chestnuts don't actually contain (volatile) tannins! :lol2: Of course, there is also the possibility that the chestnuts harbour parasitoids of spiders which elicit this response!


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

ph0bia said:


> It's a possibility... It's like a symbiotic relationship, if the caterpillars kill the tree and reduce the chestnut count, the spiders won't eat the caterpillars and might let them come hang out on the web sometime to surf some forums.
> 
> Sweat deal.


Barring the notion of intent on the spiders behalf, that isn't as unlikely as it sounds at first glance. 

If the caterpillars are poisonous after consuming the chestnut tree material, then natural generalist predators (spiders) will avoid them (perhaps they are distasteful after consumption), and the population would have one less pressure upon them, hence possible increases to them and decreases in conkers.


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## ph0bia (Feb 21, 2009)

My God... I may have actually hit upon something???


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

ph0bia said:


> My God... I may have actually hit upon something???


No. You had it backwards....I twisted it to make ecological sense....:Na_Na_Na_Na:


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