Big Hairy Fat Spiders

[Transk53]

I need some help here, perhaps a bad opening line, with my irrational fear. Over the past couple of days or so, papers like the daily star have been highlighting the fact that UK spiders have been gorging themselves silly, due to the unseasonal warmth over here. It was bad enough that three weeks ago while getting ready for work, I dropped my top on the carpet, and when I picked it up something brushed my arm. I looked down and noticed one of those sleek looking hunters on the carpet. Bloody thing must have at least two inch legs and a white spot on the back. I do not like to kill spiders, but it met a Pringles can.

Now this morning my work mate told me that last night, he dispatched a massive hairy spider and another was found dead this morning by his missus in the shower, albeit rather dead and a little smaller. Frankly I am getting afraid of opening the windows. I'm not as bad as when I was a kid, but this is making me feel a little uncomfortable and I am not sure how to get myself cured, or at least not crap myself when I encounter one. This is what my niece found on her bedroom radiator a few days ago. Pretty certain I could have beaten Richard Branson into space. Okay to some of you on this board, this would be a money spider or something, but to me this is like that one in the Lord of the Rings!!!!

View attachment $Spider.jpg

 

[Buka]

Oh, dude. I kinda wish I hadn't read this damn thread.

You gotta spray the house. Big time. Have to keep them in check.

I never liked spiders. In the seventies my friends and I bought tarantulas. Had them in terrariums, went to Boston's Museum of Science and learned all about them. Had a terrarium in the dojo with a couple of them for several years. Taught the kids about them. Taught them the proper way to feed them, care for them, pick them up and make them go into a torpor state. (if you do it to young ones, they can die)
Now, I'm no longer afraid....of tarantulas. I'm STILL creeped out by other spiders, though, and it only gets worse as I get older.

I lived on Maui a couple different times in my life. Last time, there was a sugarcane field behind the house. It was great.....until late summer. Mating season or something. Cane spiders come out and love to go into houses. Cane spiders are fricken huge. They were bigger than the tarantulas we had. And they move faster than any creature I've ever seen. That was the scariest thing, their speed. In Hawaii, they have been known to eat small birds and small fish. JFC! Right now, writing about them I have chicken skin all over.

Brother, you gotta go the chemical warfare route. At least set them back some. Before they start holding house parties for their friends.

 

[Gnarlie]

Put some mesh screens over your windows and screen doors over the doors. It also means you can have the doors open at night without moths coming in and you don't get wasps in the summer.

Also, maybe find a really small, slow spider and spend some time handling it with a glass and a piece of card. You will get over your fear a bit when you see that spiders prefer to run away from both movement and the heat of your hands. This means that even the fast moving ones are more likely to run away from you than jump in your face.

We're lucky in the UK that there's not much that's venomous. I don't know why we seem to be hardwired to fear spiders, it seems to be evolved in. Perhaps they used to be much bigger and more deadly way back when.

 

[Transk53]

Oh, dude. I kinda wish I hadn't read this damn thread.

You gotta spray the house. Big time. Have to keep them in check.

I never liked spiders. In the seventies my friends and I bought tarantulas. Had them in terrariums, went to Boston's Museum of Science and learned all about them. Had a terrarium in the dojo with a couple of them for several years. Taught the kids about them. Taught them the proper way to feed them, care for them, pick them up and make them go into a torpor state. (if you do it to young ones, they can die)
Now, I'm no longer afraid....of tarantulas. I'm STILL creeped out by other spiders, though, and it only gets worse as I get older.

I lived on Maui a couple different times in my life. Last time, there was a sugarcane field behind the house. It was great.....until late summer. Mating season or something. Cane spiders come out and love to go into houses. Cane spiders are fricken huge. They were bigger than the tarantulas we had. And they move faster than any creature I've ever seen. That was the scariest thing, their speed. In Hawaii, they have been known to eat small birds and small fish. JFC! Right now, writing about them I have chicken skin all over.

Brother, you gotta go the chemical warfare route. At least set them back some. Before they start holding house parties for their friends.

OMG, really wish I had not Googled that. Think I am just going to have to move to the Arctic, build a Dojo and train with Polar Bears. Seriously though, the Huntsman's have also penetrated the UK as well. I am hoping that being in a 3rd floor flat, there would not be an abundant food source, but yeah forgot Spiders like heights.

 

[Transk53]

Put some mesh screens over your windows and screen doors over the doors. It also means you can have the doors open at night without moths coming in and you don't get wasps in the summer.

Also, maybe find a really small, slow spider and spend some time handling it with a glass and a piece of card. You will get over your fear a bit when you see that spiders prefer to run away from both movement and the heat of your hands. This means that even the fast moving ones are more likely to run away from you than jump in your face.

We're lucky in the UK that there's not much that's venomous. I don't know why we seem to be hardwired to fear spiders, it seems to be evolved in. Perhaps they used to be much bigger and more deadly way back when.

Yeah maybe. I have been thinking of a trip to London Zoo to see the bigger ones. But of course, those smaller ones can be the deadliest. I remember a smaller one on my carpet a while ago, snuck up while I was watching a film. Banged on the carpet and it legged it and disappeared under the side skirting board. I suppose it does not matter what you do, they will get in if they want. I have been thinking of some mesh for a while.

 

[Tez3]

While big they are harmless, I have a few in the house, they are no problem. However I'd give up reading the Daily Star, every page looked at lowers your IQ.

To get over the fear of spiders give my mate Gary 'Smiler' Turner a ring ( you can Google him, I can't link at the mo) and he will sort I promise, you can stay and do a kick boxing session if you like, he's an ex world champion. he's up near Aldershot.

 

[jezr74]

Just looks like a huntsman spider, remember they always come in threes. But won't hurt you.

 

[Transk53]

While big they are harmless, I have a few in the house, they are no problem. However I'd give up reading the Daily Star, every page looked at lowers your IQ.

To get over the fear of spiders give my mate Gary 'Smiler' Turner a ring ( you can Google him, I can't link at the mo) and he will sort I promise, you can stay and do a kick boxing session if you like, he's an ex world champion. he's up near Aldershot.

Cool. Will do Thanks! I would not wipe my **** with the daily star if I had run out of toilet paper. Read the daily mail myself, well sometimes. Prefer reading books.

 

[Tez3]

Home - Gary 'Smiler' Turner

 

[Transk53]

Just looks like a huntsman spider, remember they always come in threes. But won't hurt you.

You reckon, thought Huntsman had bigger abdomens?

 

[Gnarlie]

We have mesh - I don't mind spiders, but my GF screams like she has found a corpse when she sees one, even if it's at 4am. So fitting mesh reduced my likelihood of a scream-induced heart attack in the wee small hours.

 

[Buka]

Another spider in Hawaii is the Samurai spider. They're smaller and kind of pretty. I googled it just now to show you a pic. I found this - which is really trippy.

 

[K-man]

You guys don't have real spiders!

Not all species are known to be dangerous, but several are renowned for their highly toxic and fast acting venom. The male of Atrax robustus, the Sydney Funnel-web Spider, is probably responsible for all recorded deaths (13) and many medically serious bites. This remarkable spider has become a part of Sydney's folklore and, although no deaths have been recorded since the introduction of an antivenom in 1981, it remains an icon of fear and fascination for Sydneysiders. - Funnel-web Spiders - Australian Museum

 

[donald1]

Spiders are spiders they are all scary, not as scary as the dark or anything else like that bit still... Probably either kill it or find a way to get it outside (that's what I'd do) if there's a lot of spiders get the house sprayed...

 

[Xue Sheng]

About the time I saw one of those things pictured in the OP crawling around my house I would have got my shotgun.

My ex-wife (over 20 years ago) wanted to get a pet tarantula, it cost $200, I told her that $200 was a lot of money to pay for a dead bug, cause I'd kill it.

I am not a fan of Spiders. Outside I leave them alone, in my house...they die

 

[Tez3]

Looking at the spiders I have in my house I guess you guys won't want to come to tea, at least two are as big as in the OP, lots of smaller ones around. I hate midges, mosquitos and flys. The spiders earn there shelter in my house by getting rid of them so they are more than welcome. I rescue them from the bath and the sinks though if the cat gets them I can't help much. Outside in my garden I have even more spiders hanging from plants, great for keeping pests down.

 

[K-man]

Looking at the spiders I have in my house I guess you guys won't want to come to tea, at least two are as big as in the OP, lots of smaller ones around. I hate midges, mosquitos and flys. The spiders earn there shelter in my house by getting rid of them so they are more than welcome. I rescue them from the bath and the sinks though if the cat gets them I can't help much. Outside in my garden I have even more spiders hanging from plants, great for keeping pests down.

I'll come.

 

[jezr74]

You reckon, thought Huntsman had bigger abdomens?

Looks a little young and awkward.

I remember walking into these webs at night or early morning when I lived in Queensland. You could bounce off the web they were that strong. And they could get to the size of your hand.

 

[donald1]

I don't know if it's dangerous or not but it looks potentially threatening so it's getting the shoe... Or if possible set free outside

 

[mook jong man]

When I used to lived in Sydney I had a few Chinese and Korean neighbours , and as is there custom they don't wear their shoes inside the house.

That was fine , but they used to leave them outside the front door , nothing more inviting to a Funnel Web than a nice cosy shoe.
Had to explain to them , to get into the habit of shaking their shoes out before they put them on , or else they might get a nasty little surprise when they put them on.