Thread about spiders (not for the arachnophobic!)

[N_igma]

Found this wee bad boy in my garden when I was living in oz. Anyone know what it is?

 

[gentlegreen]

Syndey funnel web ?



http://www.australiangeographic.com...stralian-spiders-the-10-most-dangerous_image1

 

[N_igma]

Syndey funnel web ?



http://www.australiangeographic.com...stralian-spiders-the-10-most-dangerous_image1

This was Perth so about 2,500 miles the other way lol.

 

[debsinleeds]

I love spiders - especially the ones that make the fancy webs - I always apologise to them if I have to walk through their webs and try to move them intact if I can.

My house has been full of daddy-long-legs ones over recent years - I watched a whole family hatch on the low ceiling over my computer and I still get the odd one belaying down in front of me.

I confess I'm squeamish about the ones that look like black widows - I have one of those on the ceiling over the bath, and I put a bog roll escape ladder in the bath yesterday to let a big hairy one escape so I didn't have to touch it.

bog roll escape ladder

 

[albionism]

Found this wee bad boy in my garden when I was living in oz. Anyone know what it is?

Could be a Huntsman?

 

[N_igma]

Thought that initially but this one looked more like a tarantula than a huntsman. Strange ole one huntsmen are pretty cool and pretty harmless too despite the scary name.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I'd have loved to go to this if I'd known about it - a Crufts for spiders!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-27460591

 

[Epona]

Unfortunately I do not have any interesting spiders living in full view this year

However, my dad did get bitten by a false widow when he was demolishing one of his sheds a week ago and accidentally put his hand right on the spider and was bitten on the hand. Knowing my interest, he gave me a full report. Apparently the bite hurt kind of like a wasp sting initially but no worse, that pain then subsided, but the bite mark itself was red and inflamed. About an hour later, he started to get pain radiating from his hand up his arm towards his elbow, slight nausea and headache. He panicked a bit at this point (as you do) thinking that he might be having some sort of bad reaction and checked online to find that is normal and expected after a bite. He took some paracetamol for the pain (this was also advised on many spider websites) and had a lie down for a couple of hours, after which point the symptoms had subsided completely and didn't return.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Glad your dad is OK.

 

[Epona]

Glad your dad is OK.

Yeah he's absolutely fine, he's in his late 60s but very fit and well, it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience for 3 or 4 hours. Just wanted to relate the tale as a bit of an antidote to all last year's Mail-esque "killer spiders" type bullshit that was rampant last summer

 

[Leafster]

Epona , glad to hear your dad didn't suffer to much from his bite. I've mentioned before I have false widows. I moved a bookcase recently in the bedroom and found one behind it. I didn't think it was the "best" place for it so re-homed it in the garden.

 

[Epona]

Epona , glad to hear your dad didn't suffer to much from his bite. I've mentioned before I have false widows. I moved a bookcase recently in the bedroom and found one behind it. I didn't think it was the "best" place for it so re-homed it in the garden.

The point of my tale is that they are not generally dangerous. I often rehome spiders outside but that's more to rescue them from the cats than anything else.

 

[Leafster]

The point of my tale is that they are not generally dangerous. I often rehome spiders outside but that's more to rescue them from the cats than anything else.

I agree, what I was trying to say (in a very poor fashion!) is that I've lived with them for years and continue to come across them in unexpected places. I've not been bitten yet, or if I have, it wasn't anything to worry about. I had a nasty bite from something on my leg a couple of years ago which became inflamed but I guess that could have been anything!

I treat them with respect when I spot them but haven't bought into the hype so don't panic.

 

[Chilli.s]

Where I live seems to have had a large rise in False Widows over the last few years. they must be fairly hardy and well equipped to take over suitable places. I've not had a bite yet and would avoid it! Antihistamine on hand for this kind of thing though.

 

[Epona]

We have come full cycle. Last summer I watched my bridge spider in some detail - her web-building, eating, and mating behaviour. I was sorry that it came to an end in autumn when she died.

Apart from it didn't come to an end - the other morning I got up and went to get a drink of water, and there on a very small and loose web outside my kitchen window were around 20-30 newly hatched bridge-spiderlings They have all gone now, I didn't see them do it but apparently baby bridge spiders spin a long thread and parachute off in the breeze to find somewhere new to live.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

This is a pretty type of spider. Found in Thailand, and called Simaetha sp.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

And I liked this picture of a spider being creative in its choice of home.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

And a nice metallic green spider.

 

[Epona]

Can anyone do basic ID from webs? (Not expecting to know the spider's family background and inside leg measurement, just what type of spider it may be!)

I have a loose and messy web in the corner between 2 walls above the draining board, it sort of looks like a very narrow and messy hammock.

I have caught a glimpse of the spider responsible, and it is small and brown with no really remarkable features!

 

[Epona]

There was an absolutely massive teg on my living room ceiling yesterday, unusual to see them indoors this early in the year. I only noticed it because the cats were making hunting chirrup noises and staring up at it.
I don't know where it is now, I hope it found a safe place to escape!

 

[Epona]

This year something different is going on in the space occupied by my bridge spider on the outside of my kitchen window last year.

I currently have 3 false widows in different corners of the window, taking advantage of the superior insect-catching qualities of the site (what with my kitchen light staying on all night).

It took me a while to properly ID them, because I couldn't see their abdominal markings well (a silhouetted spider-shaped blob is no good!), I had to wait for them to be facing the right way and for the light to be good for a proper ID. They have not proven to be very interesting to watch so far.

Indoors, in the corner of the kitchen window, and another one living behind the toilet, I have woodlouse spiders, this probably explains why I haven't seen a woodlouse indoors in a while. It's not their usual habitat, but their preferred prey is available here and they have made a good go of it. They hunt without a web, and I often see them on the prowl, then scuttling back to their respective hiding places when they detect my presesnce. General wisdom suggests that they eat woodlice exclusively, but I have witnessed one snacking on a silverfish, so perhaps they are a little more adaptable than supposed.

 

[iona]

I woke up the other day and found one of the really big house spiders from my room stuck to the bed in a tangled squidge. Think I squashed it while I was asleep

The others are probably doing ok judging by the amount of flying things invading my room and getting caught in their webs, but I wish they'd do something about the cricket that keeps crawling onto my face at night and making its freaky noises at me.

 

[Epona]

There was this ruddy great big... thing... today/yesterday, lurking on the frying pan that was in the washing up rack.
It was fucking massive, it didn't look like a teg, more like the one that N_igma posted a photo of earlier in the year.

Sad to say that when I had to get a colander from the rack it jumped and I squealed a bit and dropped a couple of saucepans on the floor, one of which hit my foot

 

[farmerbarleymow]

There was this ruddy great big... thing... today/yesterday, lurking on the frying pan that was in the washing up rack.
It was fucking massive, it didn't look like a teg, more like the one that N_igma posted a photo of earlier in the year.

Sad to say that when I had to get a colander from the rack it jumped and I squealed a bit and dropped a couple of saucepans on the floor, one of which hit my foot

What, no picture of the new beastie?

 

[MrSki]

From Jersey in the Channel Islands.

 

[gentlegreen]

I was surprised by a fairly big one living under my draining board the other day..
I really must start to look for a Segestria florentina in Bristol.

 

[Epona]

It got even better, the next day the OH went to do some washing up and I was alerted to a problem in the kitchen due to shrill screaming noises.
The big spider had been on a tea towel, he'd picked it up and the spider had run up one arm, across his back (shirtless!) and down the other arm before dropping to the floor.
The kitchen looked as if a bomb had gone off, there was washing up water all over the floor.
The spider was unharmed and appeared to be smirking at us

 

[farmerbarleymow]

It got even better, the next day the OH went to do some washing up and I was alerted to a problem in the kitchen due to shrill screaming noises.
The big spider had been on a tea towel, he'd picked it up and the spider had run up one arm, across his back (shirtless!) and down the other arm before dropping to the floor.
The kitchen looked as if a bomb had gone off, there was washing up water all over the floor.
The spider was unharmed and appeared to be smirking at us

I hope you laughed at him.

 

[gentlegreen]

So then..

Is this a false widow ?

 

[Epona]

Discovered some sort of false widow holiday camp behind the loo, I managed to relocate about 5 outdoors (using the glass+postcard method) but there are still several that managed to evade capture.

I've honestly not seen them in London in this number in previous years (they've been in the shed at my parents' place in Surrey for a few years now though), perhaps something to do with the mild winter we had last has boosted their numbers.