These past few days there have been these big spiders out in my driveway and in my yard.
They are about as big as a quarter. I killed around 4 or 5 of them. I don't remember seeing
so many big spiders around my house. Do you think there is a chance that they might get in my house?

I seen on TV that spiders love dark places like
your shoes. I would hate one of them to bite me
or one of my family members. Should I get some kind of bug spray for the yard to kill them??


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[This message was edited by Pace~Ace on 08-05-02 at 04:41 AM.]

[This message was edited by Pace~Ace on 08-05-02 at 04:42 AM.]
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08-05-02, 09:52 AM
Georgia85
Unfortunately if they are outside your house good chance they are inside as well. I live in Atlanta and this past month have had a spider problem inside. It might be a good idea to call an exterminator. And if you have kittens, puppies, or hamsters keep them away from the compound being sprayed. It should irradicate the problem - at least for a few more months!

08-05-02, 09:18 PM
gizmogram
Unlike my tolerance for Daddy Long Legs as noted in another post, I am terrified of just about any other kind of spider, especially if I don't know what it is.

I'd definitely be calling an exterminator, yesterday! eek

Last summer we had a huge spider in a web on the awning of our deck. Hubby, who is fearless, bless his heart, knocked it down and got it into a jar (altho even I noticed the goosebumps by the time he finished wink

Anyway, we had no idea what this was - it was cream in color and it's legs were only about 1/2" long & thicker than normal, almost like a crab. It had a small head area, but a huge abdomen - and it wasn't an egg sac which I'm sure is your first thought. I was as big around as a small marble, with two brown stripes down the back, and a little pointy on each side at the rear.

In Nevada we had a spider that we called a "Cat Faced" Spider, but they didn't look quite the same in the legs, etc. In any case, I never got a chance to take it to the University for an ID, and haven't seen another one since. Very weird though!

08-06-02, 11:53 AM
billmasters
A bug bomb would take care of that. Just remember, you are a LOT bigger than the spider. wink

08-06-02, 02:37 PM
babthrower
I have to say a word for the spiders! They will not attack you in batallions! They are useful, good animals, a lot less harmful than the pesticides you are considering for their extermination! Spiders are not a threat to humans. Some bites are toxic, so it makes sense to kill black widows and brown recluses. But to use toxic spray on your entire yard, without even knowing what species the big spiders are (if they're big, they are neither widows or recluses) is not sensible.

You will kill earthworms, birds, and predatory beetles, you might harm pets and even children, and you are leaving a legacy in the water table that could cause genetic defects in humans later on - maybe even to your own children and grandchildren!

I live in widow and recluse country, and I live in the country, with lots of wildlife and bugs of all kinds. I work outdoors every day. I work in outbuildings, in the crawl space, and whereever I need to go in the process of gardening, building, repairing and maintaining outbuildings, and just hanging around. I often work in sandals, shorts and no gloves. I have NEVER been bitten by a spider. They don't run towards me to attack, they run away!

A few find their way into the house in autumn, and I catch them in jars and boot them out again. I have even been known to carry them down to the woodshed to keep down the population of creepy crawlies that come in on the firewood. I am healthy as a horse. No spider side effects at all.

Of course if one has a phobia, that's different. But therapy (there are even some good self-help books for phobia sufferers) is better than using pesticides to kill beneficial bugs.

08-06-02, 03:52 PM
babthrower
Postscript:

Here are a list of insect- and tick-borne diseases:

west nile fever
encephalitis
malaria
dengue
lyme disease
hantavirus
sylvatic plague
dog heartworm

(Potentially AIDS, because bodily fluids are ingested by mosquitoes and ticks, but there are no proven cases.)

Spiders help protect you against some of these by killing the insect vectors. I have seen outdoor webs full of mosquitoes! They also kill harmful insects such as fireants.

I could find no cases of any disease carried by spiders. In only three cases, black widows, hobo spiders and brown recluses, is the bite itself harmful. The site I visited said that many cases of reported recluse bites are probably tick bites instead.

By knowing the species of spider, you can learn to recognize these species, and use pesticides on THOSE SPECIES ONLY. You could spray the web and surrounding area, then keep your eyes peeled for other individuals of the same species, because where you find one, you might find more. Destroy the egg web, too, if any.

The internet has pictures of widows, hobos and recluses. The widow is dark brown or black with an hourglass pattern on its underside. The recluse is brown, with a sort of violin pattern on its back. Here in the northwest we also have a the hobo, which has large palps, so is easy to spot. You could download and print pictures of these spiders so you'll know venemous spiders when you see them.

None of these spiders is aggressive. You have to contact it before it will bite. Its venom is not for the purpose of attacking humans, but to immobilize its bug prey so it can eat them. So of course one should be sensible: use gloves when work involves lifting old boards or rubbish; wear protective socks and jeans when working in old sheds or similar places, and check when removing the protective clothing; handle cobwebby items in the yard and garden carefully.

Killing all members of the hundreds of species of spiders in the environment just because 3 species can cause problems is overkill.

Worst of all: spiders are mobile. You could drench your yard in pesticide and still have spiders move in from the neighborhood as soon as the pesticide has been washed away by rain.

08-07-02, 03:48 PM
cattywampus
Babs, I have read and heard many times that the hobo spider (whose habitat is the Pacific Northwest) IS aggressive and will attack on sight. I wonder who is right? Catty (who hates spiders but loves to talk about them) eek

08-09-02, 06:48 PM
babthrower
Kitty, the name 'Tegenaria Agrestis' was incorrectly translated as 'aggressive house spider' instead of 'mat weaver of the field' as the scientific name of this chap. The Star and some other papers got hold of this and featured stories of people murdered and carried off by platoons of killer spiders. This passed into folklore and so some people recall vaguely that they read somewhere that hobo spiders are very aggressive.

But although this spider is more likely to be in the house than the others, it does not attack. Think of it: if these spiders actually were aggressive and attacked people, they would have been extinct long ago. But like most spiders, if your skin presses against them, or if you reach into their webs, they might bite. This bite is nasty, people get sores from it. If I found a hobo spider in my woodshed I would kill it, and spray for any young that might be lurking about. But again, no need to kill all spiders because a very few can give you a bad bite.

05-25-03, 07:56 PM
FredPuli
Poor old tegenaria ! All of them are from immigrants from Europe and are now proud to be good Americans. They are all useful and not dangerous. The hobo spider lived in fields here, rarely in greenhouses, never houses. There is some sign that it's reverting to this outdoor habitat in the US ( 'not fast enough' we hear you say). Mind, what replaces it in houses is even bigger (tegenaria gigantea).

Hobo spiders are no more aggressive than any others of these scuttling house spiders ; the idea is a false one but they have a disconcerting habit of running apparently at you but they can't see beyond a foot at most, it's not deliberate and, as with gigantea, you need to work to get a bite off one ( it's a marvel if ours can puncture skin).

The males are around the house in numbers a lot in July and August ( unlike our males, who are then on holiday in Spain). They are there looking for females (just like our males ) and fall in the bath ( leave a 'ladder' of paper towel over the edge; they escape). Not pretty, I grant, but harmless, not aggressive and they kill insects inside, so don't kill them, please !

07-05-03, 02:24 PM
kittypal
Holy cow, I saw what looked like a trantula in my garage, I live in Michigan and have never seen a spider even remotely close to being that huge. I walked next door to my neighbor who was cleaning his car and told him there was a GIANT spider in the garage, he rolled his eyes like "sure little lady" LOL, you should have seen his face when he saw this thing. Why would there be a spider that big here and do I have to look for his family??? Eek

07-22-03, 07:14 AM
FredPuli
Should still be a tegenaria spider, Kitty. The most likely candidate is the hobo spider, tegenaria agrestis; its relation tegenaria gigantea is a bit bigger but not, apparently, recorded in Michigan yet; hey, you may have a first ! The hobo is only one and three quarter inches across but 'only' is meaningless to anyone who does not like spiders.It will certainly look bigger than that to them. It is capable of quite impressive speeds but usually is rather leisurely when out.At this time of year they are commonly seen. The males in particular wander looking for mates. The fact that it is in your garage is a clue to its identity.Near human habitation the spider likes barns,outbuildings ,garages, cellars and other cool dark places . In the UK the tegenaria are known as house spiders. On this farm they commonly emerge for a stroll across the room of an Autumn evening when you are watching TV.They disconcertingly fall into the bath quite often when looking for moisture too. (The only one native to the US lives in caves in New Mexico; yours is one of the immigrants from way back).

If you look around the roof space of the garage you will likely see the untidy sheet web with a small hole in the middle.Insects blunder in to it though the spider is a keen hunter on occasion.

No it won't have brought family!It is a solitary beast. In big old barns you may find several webs but they are nearly all old ones; the inhabitants are long gone.

You would need to do exceptionally well to get bitten ! The spider can bite humans but the bite is feeble and you would be very unlucky to get a reaction.It is not aggressive There seems to have been a misunderstanding of the name 'agrestis' ( =rural, of the field )

Of course it could just be an escaped spider from a collection or even from a whole stem of bananas . This is unlikely. The large 'tropical' spiders are very slow moving, very hairy and very big; say six inches plus across. The ones in bananas are found there, not miles away in garages !There are spiders of this appearance found in the US but only in desert and arid regions of the South.

08-17-03, 11:51 PM
Tree
babthrower...

Your "I have to say a word for the spiders"
was such a cute post!

It almost makes my spider phobia tolerable!

I know that all insects have to live.. it's all part of the echo system...

Why are we un-easy with these critters?


Frown

08-18-03, 03:19 AM
FredPuli
You are not alone. A report in the local Nice paper is of the fire brigade being summoned by a young couple on holiday from the North of France. The call was to capture 'a large animal with a crest on its back' that they'd seen running in the hall. The brigade arrived followed soon by a man from the zoo. They expected an iguana or even a Komondor dragon escaped from a collection. It turned out to be a large spider of the 'tarantula' type lurking in a dark space.

With commendable Gallic calm the firemen wished the couple a good day, informed them that the animal was harmless and beneficial in controlling insects and left it where it was ! Big Grin

08-28-03, 11:26 AM
Pace~Ace
I haven't seen as many big spiders around my house this year as I did last year. I'm glad Big Grin
but I soon as I walk around in the yard or driveway I bet I'll spot one. Wink

I did see one in my house. It jumped on my lap as I was posting stuff at answerpool. It must of been on my computer desk or something. Eek

Do frogs like to eat spiders? There are 100's of frogs around my house and I see them at night.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,

Do frogs eat spiders? They certainly do. All your frogs will take spiders; frogs are pretty broadminded about diet, anyway; if you had the European Agile Frog you'd have one that actually chooses them above anything else in the invertebrate line,but it's not worth importing it from the Urals just for that. You'll find that your locals do a great job even without making a big deal out of it !