House spiders

[ralphchadkirk]

??? I'm not sure I follow your question. All spiders are poisonous (venomous), but don't all have fangs long/strong enough to penetrate human skin and even if they do, the venom they inject isn't powerful enough to do much more than a mild itch to something approaching a nettle sting. Of course some species in some other parts of the world can do much more damage.

Generally poisonous means you cannot eat it, whilst venomous means they carry some sort of toxin to hurt you. At least, that's the case for snakes - some are neither, some are both, and some are one but not the other.

 

[DiscoStu]

Anyone had a time where they've put the plug in the bath, let it run get in, and than you feel an itch on your chest. You look down and a huge spider trying to stop itself from drowning crawling on you!

I absolutely shat myself when that happened to me!

Erm, no, can't remember that ever happening to me

 

[DiscoStu]

I stumbled across this little beauty a few years ago in the toilet at a campsite in Nepal a few years back ... I needed a poo, but just settled for a slash in the end. I didn't want to turn my back on it!!

Sorry, attached the wrong picture and don't know how to delete it!! hahaha

 

[SouthEastern-465]

Erm, no, can't remember that ever happening to me

I've had it done to me twice now and I've nearly had a heart attack, I can't see why I didn't notice it before I got in.

 

[DiscoStu]

Here's the photo (I hope!)

 

[DiscoStu]

I've had it done to me twice now and I've nearly had a heart attack, I can't see why I didn't notice it before I got in.

There'd be lots of thrashing and splashing around if it did ever happen to me

 

[Barrett M95]

Generally poisonous means you cannot eat it, whilst venomous means they carry some sort of toxin to hurt you. At least, that's the case for snakes - some are neither, some are both, and some are one but not the other.

Ah OK - I see your distinction. Interesting point - I don't know if any spiders would be poisonous if eaten.

 

[red circle]

I had a real beauty at home years ago.Every night when I got home I would lift him out of the bath and he would scuttle back behind the laundry basket.One day I arrived home and went straight to the bathroom only to discover a pathetic little pile of legs and a load of muddy pawprints...B****y cat had ate him.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Here's the photo (I hope!)

That just seems like the run of the mill house spider to me. The first photo that you posted seemed to have something lurking in the shadows at the bottom right of the picture that looked far more menacing.

 

[DiscoStu]

That just seems like the run of the mill house spider to me. The first photo that you posted seemed to have something lurking in the shadows at the bottom right of the picture that looked far more menacing.

"Run of the mill"?

Mate, it was massive. Maybe there's nothing in the picture that gives it a sense of size perspective. I think the fact that I saw it, turned round, walked all the way back to my tent just to get a camera gives an idea of how big it was

It was definitely the biggest I'd ever seen.

 

[Madge Wildfire]

Found this as to why is may have been paying me a visit

They become more noticeable in autumn, which is their mating season. The males are often seen scuttling across a room or falling into bath tubs as they move around in search of a female. The males have longer legs than the females, while the females have broader abdomens than the males.

Thats very true, and the reason why the males appear from all parts of the compass is that the females start emitting pheremones which we cant detect, but the males can from many metres away.

The males are attracted to the scent, then will mate with the female which is likely to eat the male afterwards. Still, I could think of worse ways to go.

I have seen first hand the spindly cellar spider at work. There was a large black spider in a relatives bathroom when I was there one night, but at the same time there was a daddy long legs type spider hanging in the corner of the window. I visited the bathroom again early in the morning and the spindly spider was still there astride its rather chaotic web - underneath it and lying dead and upside-down was the big black spider.

 

[trentside]

Well, I had another spider incident last night.

As it was getting late, I was going to the bathroom when I noticed a large spider on the wall. I went to get the spider catcher, but the spider had moved into the corner where I couldn't catch it. I managed to knock it off the wall, at which point it ran into my bedroom and under my bed. I left it, hoping it would reappear, but after a couple of hours it was still under there - and it was big enough that I didn't want it there. I tried to coax it out with the handle of the catcher, but it wasn't having any of it. Sadly, one of these attempts killed the spider - it's a shame, but at least it wasn't going to appear on my pillow in the middle of the night.

I'm going conker hunting soon, spotted some in the road the other day but decided it wasn't worth being run over for

 

[Scotrail84]

Anyone had a time where they've put the plug in the bath, let it run get in, and than you feel an itch on your chest. You look down and a huge spider trying to stop itself from drowning crawling on you!

I absolutely shat myself when that happened to me!

Sorry i laughed quite a bit when i read this post.

 

[starrymarkb]

you need to encourage these - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellar_spider which eat these - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_house_spider

 

[Heinz57]

But then you get left with a load of daddy longlegs which are just as anoying as normal spiders. It's a vicious circle!

I hate spiders, I'm not scared of them or anything. I just find them anoying. I mean what purpose do they serve? Are they actualy here for anything except to just anoy the hell out of us? And arn't they big now? It seems every spider I see now looks like its big enough to down me whole and still have room for coffee.

Did anyone see that movie eight legged freaks? Its a warning. The spiders are taking over!

 

[jon0844]

Do spiders drink coffee?

If they do, perhaps the huge increase in coffee shops is linked to the increase in spiders?

And, as a forum troll might then say; 'show me proof that this isn't true'.

 

[90019]

BI mean what purpose do they serve?

What purpose does any animal (including humans) serve?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Remember I mentioned this in post #18? By coincidence these were in the news yesterday and there is an excellent quality photo of one in the report.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-15182118

All I can say is, if the Milton Keynes council officials are in such a panic because of finding one such spider, they ought to come down here to Surrey to have a look round... they'd probably insist on everyone wearing full biohazard suits!

you live in the southern part of the UK one to watch out for is the False Widow, which looks a bit like an Orb Weaver except that they are rather bigger and are a shiny black colour with a red or yellow pattern on their back ( same sort of shape pattern as the dark brown one on the Orb Weavers ). They live outdoors in very tangled looking webs, often under windowsills and in similarly sheltered spots.

These are a bit more "interesting" and have put a few people in hospital, though again they are not dangerous as such; it's more a chance of an allergic reaction than a venomous effect. I managed to get bitten by one in our garden May 2010 and it took about 3 - 4 months for all the itchy swellings and red marks at the bite location to completely vanish...!!

They are an introduced species which got into the country in the south west a few years ago and have gradually been spreading ever since. You are unlikely to find one indoors, though and when they do set up a web they tend to stay in that one location rather than move around - thankfully!

 

[starrymarkb]

 

[deltic1989]

I've noticed that house spiders have got bigger this last summer, caught the cat playing with one as big as my hand a couple of weeks ago. I can also kind of vouch for the conker method my 4 year old son brought some round last week, and after the cats batted them under the furniture, not seen a spider in the house since.

 

[chris89]

Since having 4 cats i rarely see spiders, but have seen some rather big ones, which quickly got caught by a prowling cat, i get more Daddy long legs or moths then anything. Wish also get caught very quickly

Chris

 

[es373]

Moths?! Christ I hate them things... Not so much the smaller ones but the ones which are golf ball like in size!

 

[Hydro]

Moths are ridiculously irritating. Ever had one fly into your face whilst you are asleep? I have, and nearly ruined a clean set of sheets.

 

[es373]

Haven't had that but I cant stand it when they bounce off of the lightbulbs! Whack the little flying turd with a newspaper and it leaves this horrid dust on the wall.
My mum's dog chases them and they pop when he finally stamps on them LOL

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The dust is the scales off their wings...

 

[Barrett M95]

The dust is the scales off their wings...

Fact of the day - right there.

 

[es373]

The dust is the scales off their wings...

Looks like another Captain Obvious!

 

[deltic1989]

In the last couple of mins one of my cats epically failed at catching a moth an face planted the wall. Wish I'd had my phone handy at the time to share the laughs. (disclaimer: I in no way find animals getting hurt funny.However if they do it to themselves through thier own fault,then like if a human falls out of a tree, i will giggle.)

 

[es373]

Why would you add a disclaimer to it?