Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't like this one at all. I love tarantulas, though. I'm used to them and the size isn't an issue. I live in the desert...Oddly, I haven't seen any for quite some time...
To me it appears to be a Haitian Voodoo Spider. This spider’s bite is almost, but not completely, fatal.
After foreclosures or evictions people often release their exotic animal collections into the wild and they sometimes find their way into people's houses.
I'm not in the spider relocation program either. If it is in my house, it dies. Outside, I only kill poisonous spiders like black widows. I have a really pretty garden spider living in a flower bed right now.
I don't like this one at all. I love tarantulas, though. I'm used to them and the size isn't an issue. I live in the desert...Oddly, I haven't seen any for quite some time...
We have tarantulas here. They're pretty harmless. You can pick them up and pet them if you're gentle. They won't generally bite unless someone has seriously pizzed them off, and they have a long fuse. I've heard people claim that Black Widows are shy, not aggressive and won't bit unless monkeyed with. I say that is a flat out falsehood. They are aggressive and will ambush you. I've seen it far to often and I've been bitten before. Hazard of the trade.
Now, this spider here? Obviously not a native son, far to large to take chances with and in the house. In the baby's room no less. Terminate on sight, look for team mates. Extreme prejudice. I wasn't kidding when I said a 22 rifle would have been an option considered were I have come across such a spider.
For the longest time I though Huntsman spiders were only found abroad in places like Australia and many parts of Asia/Southeast Asia.
I then shuddered to realize that Huntsman's were actually found in some U.S. states. Arizona and Florida for sure there have been sightings. And now, Michigan. How soon before it reaches every state....
I love garden/writing spiders! Exterminators are not very effective for spiders. Unless you squirt them directly, or they get caught on a glue trap - you can do that yourself. You have to be vigilant cleaning out their cobwebs and watch for nests. I do love seeing a web full of little gnats or flies or... mice?
I won't even click on the link! I hate spiders. I don't much mind them outside but in the house - oh hell no. They're dead.
Around here, the most common poisonous ones we have are black widows and brown recluses. I was bitten once by a brown recluse and had to have the bite lanced, and a big shot in the butt, and then a round of antibiotics. I am lucky not to have a big scar or pit in the back of my calf where it bit me. I got off easy and I was limping with a swollen calf for weeks.
It's very common to find black widows in places like garages around here - we have to look carefully if we plan to reach in behind something.
We don't have many tarantulas but I've seen one or two over the years. I saw them regularly when my parents lived in Hot Springs Arkansas and I would visit them. AUGH. But it's true that they are not aggressive. For some reason they don't bother me as much as black widows and brown recluses do, even though all spiders give me the heebie jeebies.
With one exception - those big, pretty black and gold garden spiders. I like them and their webs and they are always safe in my yard.
For the longest time I though Huntsman spiders were only found abroad in places like Australia and many parts of Asia/Southeast Asia.
I then shuddered to realize that Huntsman's were actually found in some U.S. states. Arizona and Florida for sure there have been sightings. And now, Michigan. How soon before it reaches every state....
I won't even click on the link! I hate spiders. I don't much mind them outside but in the house - oh hell no. They're dead.
Around here, the most common poisonous ones we have are black widows and brown recluses. I was bitten once by a brown recluse and had to have the bite lanced, and a big shot in the butt, and then a round of antibiotics. I am lucky not to have a big scar or pit in the back of my calf where it bit me. I got off easy and I was limping with a swollen calf for weeks.
It's very common to find black widows in places like garages around here - we have to look carefully if we plan to reach in behind something.
We don't have many tarantulas but I've seen one or two over the years. I saw them regularly when my parents lived in Hot Springs Arkansas and I would visit them. AUGH. But it's true that they are not aggressive. For some reason they don't bother me as much as black widows and brown recluses do, even though all spiders give me the heebie jeebies.
With one exception - those big, pretty black and gold garden spiders. I like them and their webs and they are always safe in my yard.
Those big garden spiders are cool. They are safe on my place to. Reminds me of reading EB White's Charlottes Web when I was a kid. My Grandmas place always had lots of them in the Summer. They come in all manner of color schemes, they never come in the house and spin THE webs. The big brown wolf spiders are harmless enough as well and of course the little jumpers. I'll relocate them outside unless they are coming in in numbers which does happen, then I bug bomb and that runs them out.
Black Widows and Fiddlebacks die wherever I find them. No remorse there. Scorpions pretty much the same. They have 8 legs but are an arthropod, not a spider. The big green or black ones here are extremely aggressive. They WILL come after you. I've had them actually charge me. Meet Mr Redwing and his Vibram sole. SQUISH! They said the spider in the story was an Australian one, and this type isn't particularly venomous. OK. Sure. Everything with either no or more than four legs down there that bites , stabs, or stings is seriously venomous from what I've come to know. Australia has the largest concentration of and the most venomous snakes and spiders in the world.
I would not have spared this critter. No way. In my childs room? Goodbye. ZAP!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
