Big Spiders
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rshdunlop
Posts: 1,111
Joined: Jun 2008
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19-08-2009 05:39 PM
Anyone else being invaded by very large spiders? I expect to see one or two in the house in late August / early September, but in the past week we have had two or three scuttling around the house every evening. And they are the largest I've ever seen. Large bodies (at least a centimeter long) and very long legs. Last night one one strolled out from under my bed just as I was turning the light out - with its leg span, it was as large as my palm. We are on Mayow Road, just opposite Forest Hill Boys School.
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calvin
Posts: 62
Joined: Feb 2006
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19-08-2009 06:24 PM
How funny - we were just saying the same two nights ago! Those things are FAST, too. Once I thought it was a mouse running across the floor. I am aware that I sound a little strange, thinking a spider was a mouse, but they are giant and speedy.
We're on Stanstead Road behind the Co-op.
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Cellar Door
Posts: 356
Joined: Oct 2007
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19-08-2009 06:33 PM
Yes. The Hob had one in the beer garden. It was a big one. And lived in a type of funnel web sort of web thingy just near to the window that looks out into the beer garden. I teased it out by gentle touching the outer web with a twig and got the fright of my life when it appeared. We nodded at each other and now give each other a respectful wide berth. These aren't local spiders. I think they have come across on the banana boats from the Americas.
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rshdunlop
Posts: 1,111
Joined: Jun 2008
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19-08-2009 06:39 PM
Glad it's not just me. And yes, Calvin, they are very fast. I'm not generally a wuss about spiders and insects, but I'm getting decidedly unnerved by these boys.
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shzl400
Posts: 729
Joined: Oct 2007
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19-08-2009 07:08 PM
We had one that rated a pint glass sized eviction!
Phwoar, said Mr. shzl400, look at the size of the palps on that!
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roz
Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
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20-08-2009 09:24 AM
I'm coming nowhere near you lot and your houseguests!
We were just saying how we hadn't seen any at all for some time. You must have nests. We used to have a cat who was a great catcher so that was very handy. The largest I have ever seen in the UK was in a bedsit in Perry Vale where I used to live some years ago. Went through
There are also things on the market called spidatrap (for those who hate writing the word itself obviously,as actors will never say the word MacB@~$) and something else with a handle which you can trap them with. Glue paper as for catching mice is also meant to be good however I don't know how I'd feel if I actually found one struggling to get off one. I've read about plugs that send electrical impulses around the house to scare them off and also bringing conkers into the house as they don't like the smell.
Have you thought about trying to catch one and taking it to the vet? It might be an unusual breed or one which has grown larger than normal due to weather and habitat conditions.
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Cellar Door
Posts: 356
Joined: Oct 2007
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20-08-2009 09:36 AM
Roz, I've got a bug catcher that I bought from the gift shop at The Horniman Museum. I took it down to The Hob to catch my funnel web type of spider but he/she must have got wind of it and had packed up and moved on by the time I got there. I don't know what I would have done with it had I caught it. I must have been feeling all "Sir David Attenborough" at the time.
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Johnc
Posts: 138
Joined: Jan 2007
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20-08-2009 09:40 AM
These are probably just very large house spiders - Tegenaria domestica - they fatten up over the summer and come out at this time of year looking for a mate
Totally harmless, but a bit disconcerting nonetheless
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michael
Posts: 3,261
Joined: Mar 2005
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Cellar Door
Posts: 356
Joined: Oct 2007
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20-08-2009 09:47 AM
Oh, the number of bats around our backyard is amazing this year. They are the little ones that start darting about just at dusk.
With all these spiders and bats, have some witches moved into the area?
All I need now is a some black cats and some toads to join the bats and spiders and then I will officially call for a witch hunt. Just in time for Halloween.
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rshdunlop
Posts: 1,111
Joined: Jun 2008
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20-08-2009 10:07 AM
Some of them have been fat house spiders but others have been different - really really really long slim legs - as long as half my middle finger. Nice picture though! Haven't seen any bats yet - we usually get a few so must take a look this evening. I'll confess I use the hoover when I see one, because my son has a serious case of arachnophobia.
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Happysnapper
Posts: 93
Joined: Aug 2007
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20-08-2009 11:37 AM
A couple of friends of mine who live in Surbiton were telling me about this HUGE spider they had in their flat. They had to get it out using a MEASURING JUG as its legs wouldn't fit into a pint glass. They said the body was about an inch long!!!
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dipsolala
Posts: 69
Joined: May 2008
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20-08-2009 11:53 AM
I don't think I'll be sitting on any tuffets for a while
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calvin
Posts: 62
Joined: Feb 2006
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24-08-2009 11:12 PM
We have house spiders (fine), and then we have some of these guys (not so fine)... These are different - they're black, not brown, and are not found on the walls or in corners, but running across the floor at high speed. Two more yesterday, and they definitely wouldn't fit under a pint glass!
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rshdunlop
Posts: 1,111
Joined: Jun 2008
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24-08-2009 11:15 PM
Yup, those are the ones. Not had any for a couple of days now - almost safe to walk around with no shoes on. And the cats are getting into the action now. I keep finding fat, squashed spiders outside my bedroom door in the morning, by way of feline offering. And moths too - fat brown ones.
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